Indolence

                                 (art: artnet.com)

Poloho! There are theories that as people age, their drive towards being productive would lessen. A lot of studies refuted that. There is no direct relationship with age and the interest to be functional. Although physical movements can really be affected as time goes by, it is the mind that stimulates the so-called interest. Motivation, as countlessly mentioned, comes from a psychological point of view. That is addressing the needs or deficits in a person. Ergo, the motivation of a person simply depends on his or her drives to satisfy a certain need. If this will be curtailed or impossible to attain, the person would simply become unmotivated.

According to Kiki (2019), many people have a lack of responsibility for their life and live blaming others, justifying, seeking pretexts and even giving up their dreams. They believe that the world is against them and that the “enemy” is outside them, not inside. They fail to realize that their own enemy is themselves.

One of the major reasons why people become unmotivated is that they are SELFISH. They do not perform anything which cannot benefit them in one way or the other. LIFEHACKS mentions that focusing on yourself will not get you far. You will be your own enemy when you refuse to give, help and serve others. You should be a generous person who knows that by giving and sharing (time, effort, knowledge and even money) you are sowing the seed to make a better world and leave your mark on it. Helping others will come back to you, sooner or later.

But is laziness or sloth an innate characteristic developed during childhood in the confines of the home? The probability is strong. Children are great mimics and can adopt the behaviors of their parents until sufficiently motivated to change their own behavior, most likely in pursuit of a relationship or objective goal. This was theorized by Levine in 2015.

This is one of the problems in organizations during these demanding times. There are those who do not SEE the enemy in them. The Dalai Lama said: When your mind is trained in self-discipline, even if you are surrounded by hostile forces, your peace of mind will hardly be disturbed. On the other hand, your mental peace and calm can easily be disrupted by your own negative thoughts and emotions. So I repeat, the real enemy is within, not outside.

Usually we define our enemy as a person, an external agent, whom we believe is causing harm to us or to someone we hold dear. But such an enemy is relative and impermanent. One moment, the person may act as an enemy; at yet another moment, he or she may become your best friend. This is a truth that we often experience in our own lives. But negative thoughts and emotions, the inner enemy, will always remain the enemy.

They are your enemy today, they have been your enemy in the past, and they will remain your enemy in the future as long as they reside within your mental continuum. Therefore, Shantideva says that negative thoughts and emotions are the real enemy, and this enemy is within.

When the person cannot identify the inner foe, he or she will continue to blame the outside forces and then become unmotivated and eventually become unproductive. There is nothing more powerful for self-motivation than the right attitude. You can’t choose or control your circumstance, but you can choose your attitude towards your circumstances.

A person is being lazy if he/she is able to carry out some activity that s/he ought to carry out, but is disinclined to do so because of the effort involved. Instead, s/he carries out the activity perfunctorily; or engages in some other, less strenuous or less boring activity; or remains idle. In short, s/he is being lazy if the motivation to spare effort trumps the motivation to do the right or expected thing (Burton, 2014).

Synonyms for laziness are indolence and sloth. Indolence derives from the Latin indolentia, ‘without pain’ or ‘without taking trouble’. Sloth has more moral and spiritual overtones than laziness or indolence. In the Christian tradition, sloth is one of the seven deadly sins because it undermines society and God’s plan, and because it invites sin.

A mature person must understand how to situate in the community where he or she belongs. The understanding of what the person can give to others is the main consideration since selfish motives are beyond the individual’s mind and intentions. The person is able to transcend the SELF and has defeated the inner enemy.  He or she must find the meaning of life through the small tasks he or she is doing. The person is not indolent for it kills the inner gift to be of purpose to the greater good.

Else, the person’s life will become meaningless if not absurd.

Albert Camus introduces his philosophy of the absurd in his essay of 1942, The Myth of Sisyphus. In the final chapter, he compares the absurdity of man’s life with the plight of Sisyphus, a mythological king of Ephyra who was punished for his chronic deceitfulness by being made to repeat forever the same meaningless task of pushing a boulder up a mountain, only to see it roll back down again.

There is more to life than doing nothing. There is meaning in life when we work hard in serving people. There is no other enemy worse than the inner one. Let us conquer it and become better versions of ourselves.