It must be said. Don’t get me wrong, all the great vacations I’ve taken were just that and I quite enjoy my regular weekends as they stand. But for the first time in probably a couple of months I really have nothing to do today — my errands are run, I’ve figured out a tentative title for the EMP proposal (“Wide Awake In a World That Sleeps”) and I slept in this morning for quite a bit.
Some time ago I talked with very good friend Stripey about how you’ll never see in movies or in books (well, most movies and books) that the moments of silence, calm, reflection and meditation play a key role in regular functioning. Or so it does for me — you can’t accurately dramatize the feeling of slouching on your couch for hours at a stretch, letting free association run amok and otherwise allowing your body to let all sorts of workaday feelings slough away. Certainly this is not good drama to start with, but this is partially reflective, I think, of the emphasis in Western life, ever increasingly so, that one must be active and engaged at all moments (‘enjoy today’s active lifestyle, with your new hair!’). It is devalued, underplayed, misunderstood.
I need these stretches of solitude and nothing much, more than I can say. They’re crucial, necessary. They allow me to balance out once again, and I suspect I’m hardly alone. As for me, I shall enjoy the lovely crossbreeze through the apartment right now, be happy that the heat wave snapped upon my return and probably take a nap after a light lunch. Or even before it.
Ned Raggett Ponders It All 