The writer of this blog did at one time take heart in the notion that ‘laziness’ was a misnomer, a misdiagnosis; to be lazy was only and surely, it made such common sense, the outward appearance of paralytic anxiety.
For indeed, anxiety can turn energy against itself and render it, by appearances, inert. However, if we are truly honest in our self-examination, does this explanation account for all our human idleness?
No, for the writer of this blog, at least, it does not. No, in point of fact, there are instances in which one may very placidly scour one’s internal stores for gusto and, having scoured them, discover exactly none.
Might exhaustion, a lack of sleep, account for one’s disinterest in rising from the couch and painting a landscape or feeding the homeless? Yet the energy to watch television and eat a sandwich does uncannily reveal itself.
Truly, don’t we all know, at least transiently, what it is to simply lack the inclination to do what we ought? There are other contributing factors, to be sure; resentment, conflicting desires and a “hundred forms of fear”. Ultimately, though, we must face the fact that a lack of inspiration may be innate in us. A failure of passion, like power, may figure into “our dilemma”.
What is the remedy?
Drugs and alcohol worked wonders for a time, but the consequences, we found, were too severe. The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous tells us to “ask God for inspiration. An intuitive thought or a decision… What used to be the occasional inspiration gradually becomes a working part of the mind… Having just made conscious contact with God, it is not probable that we are going to be inspired at all times… Nevertheless, we find that our thinking will, as time passes, be more and more on the plane of inspiration.”
If you search and you find yourself uninspired; keep searching. Never forget, dear reader: at the other end of every decision you make is another human being.
And if God exists, he loves people who love people who love people.
