Why Passivity Breeds Mediocrity and Mental Illness

This is one of the most urgent problems for civilized man. He has created civilization to give himself security. Security for what?

For boredom? His chief problem seems to be that most human beings need a certain amount of challenge, of external stimulus, to stop them from sinking into the blank stare and blank consciousness of the idiot". For most of human history leisure was a rare luxury Toiling from dawn to dusk just to survive was the lot (= fate) of almost all men, women, and children Up until a couple hundreds years ago The english geologist Sir Charles Lyell wrote that in the 1840´s America was a country where all whether rich or poor, were labouring from morning till night without ever indulging in a holiday.

With the onset of the second industral revolution in the late 19th century, and the rapid intensification of the division of the labour that went with it, there occured a leisure revolution. Not only did this period of rapid industrial development drive many from the farm lands into large cities in search of work, but the regiment of hours associated with industrial work left the masses for the first time in the modern era, with scheduled free time to direct their own activities. While over one hundred years have passed since this leisure revolution And the fruits of civilization have become more plentiful and leisure more bountiful Perhaps more than any point in the history of civilization The average individual today is free from the daily struggle for survival.

But with this new found freedom, a crucial question confronts each of us, that being: What are we free for? In other words, how are we going to use the time we have that is not devoted to the necessities of life. Few contemplate this question, rather as with many important questions regarding how to live Most people sink into conformity and implicitly assume their free time is best spent resting, relaxing and passively consuming, and as a result, such lives assume a common mold and follow a course analogous to the one described by the 20th century philosopher Richard Taylor Most people are, in the most ordinary sense, very limited.

They pass their time, day after day, in idle, passive pursuits, just looking at things -at games, television, whatever. Or they fill the hours talking, mostly about nothing of significance- of comings and goings, of who is doing what, of the weather, of things forgotten almost as soon as they are mentioned. They have no aspirations for themselves beyond getting though another day doing more or less what they did yesterday.

They walk across the stage of life, leaving everything about as it was when they entered, achieving nothing, aspiring to nothing, having never a profound or even original thought. . .

This is what is common, usual, typical, indeed normal. Relatively few rise above such a plodding existence. Some may argue there is nothing wrong with this type of normal existence.

Modern life can be high-paced and stressful and with mental health problems on the rise perhaps what is needed is more time spent resting and relaxing. The prolific 20th century english writer Colin Wilson however disagreed with this sentiment. Too much inactivity rather than promoting mental health, tends to breed unhappiness in a plethora of psychological problems Wilson came to this conclusion early in his life In his autobiography, "dreaming to some purpose" He notes that as an adolescent he struggled with bouts of depression and sympathized with the wisdom contained in the book of Ecclesiastes.

"Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. " Wilson, however, had an astute mind and was intent on discovering why he always felt so gloomy. He began to observe that his bouts of depression were typically preceded by prolonged periods of passivity When he did not occupy his days with interesting tasks, challenges and problems to solve He discovered that depressive moods would soon wash over him Fog his perceptions And cause him to become a pessimist of the human condition The idle mind is the devil's workshop, for as Wilson writes: If Wilson's discovery of the connection between passivity and mental illness has merit Then we are confronted with the following options: We can waste our leisure in idle pursuits Live our untapped potential untouched And render ourselves prone to mental illness Or we can strive to spend the majority of our free time creating, exploring, learning, doing Challenging our capacities and improving our talents While the latter option entails perseverance struggle, and the sacrifice of short-term pleasures and comfort, the pay-off, mental health and personal growth, is worth the effort But what if Wilson's discovery of the connection between passivity and depression is not applicable to all but only to a minority, who, like Wilson possess an unusually strong, creative urge?

Maybe for some people passivity does not breed the suffering it did for Wilson Will this mean that the struggle to spend our free time engaged in creative activity is a waste of time and energy? In his book "Restoring Pride" Richard Taylor provides a cogent argument for why the struggle to produce and create is always worth the effort for as he explains: "it increases our possibility of being able to attain the rare state of pride" Taylor defines pride as "the justified love of oneself" and notes that, while many people claim to love themselves, more often than not their self love is not pride but narcissism, or an arrogant shield to protect their underlining insecurity and self-hate To be truly proud, Taylor explains, one must "have the kind of love that is justified by the kind of person you are" That is: you must cultivate an extraordinary skill in a specific domain and thus attain personal excellence of the kind that sets you apart from others. The idea that some people are superior to others offends the modern taste, for as Taylor points out, many have confused equal rights with equal worth.

Just because every individual has natural rights and should be treated equally before the law does not mean that every individual possesses the same worth. For the ancient greeks, this was self evident. They recognized that, while most dedicate their life to fitting in with the herd, a relative few cultivate an uncommon virtue or skill, produce a work of exceptional worth or proceed upon a path in the pursuit of personal greatness, irrespective of the applause or opinions of others and, as Taylor notes, it is these latter individuals, "the superior ones" who, alone, can love themselves in a manner not based on false pretenses.

Therefore, the next time we find ourselves with leisure, and the freedom to direct our own activities, rather than reflexively reaching for the remote, engaging in passive activities on the internet, or socializing about superficial subjects, we should ask ourselves if the comfort and pleasure these activities provide is worth the cost. For even if our passivity does not plant within us the seeds of pessimism and depression, then it, most certainly, is decreasing our worth as a human being in minimizing our chances of ever being able to achieve the self-love that accompanies genuine pride or, as Taylor explains: Some people, no doubt, are born and destined to to be common. To live out their lives to no significant purpose.

But that is relatively rare. Most people have the power to be creative. And some have it in a "God" like degree.

But many people, perhaps even most, are content with the passing pleasures and satisfactions of the animal side of our nature. Indeed many people will account their lives to be successful if they get through them with only minimal pain. With pleasant divergence from moment to moment and day to day.

And the general approval of those around them. those around them. And this, not withstanding, that that they often have within them the ability to do something perhaps which no other human being has ever done.

Merely to do what others have done is often safe and comfortable. But to do something truly original, and to do it well, whether it is appreciated by others or not, that is what being human is really all about. And it is alone what justifies the self-love that is pride.