The beauty of doing nothing
| Image: All Rights Reserved |
| New York : Penguin |
| 2006 |
Generally speaking, though, Americans have an inability to relax into sheer pleasure. Ours is an entertainment-seeking nation, but not necessarily a pleasure-seeking one. Americans spend billions to keep themselves amused with everything from porn to theme parks to wars, but that’s not exactly the same thing as quiet enjoyment. Americans work harder and longer and more stressful hours than anyone in the world today. But as Lucas Spaghetti pointed out, we seem to like it. Alarming statistics back this observation up, showing that many Americans feel more happy and fulfilled in their offices than they do in their own homes. Of course, we all inevitably work too hard, then we get burned out and have to spend the whole weekend in our pajamas, eating cereal straight out of the box and staring at the TV in a mild coma (which is the opposite of working, yes, but not exactly the same thing as pleasure). Americans don’t really know how to do nothing. This is the cause of that great sad American stereotype—the over-stressed executive who goes on vacation, but who cannot relax.
I once asked Lucas Spaghetti if Italians on vacations have that same problem. He laughed so hard he almost drove his motorbike into a fountain.
“Oh, no!” he said. “We are the masters of il bel far niente.”
This is a sweet expression. Il bel far niente means “the beauty of doing nothing.” Now listen—Italians have traditionally always been hard workers, especially those long-suffering laborers known as braccianti (so called because they had nothing but the brute strength of their arms—braccie—to help them survive in this world). But even against that backdrop of hard work, il bel far niente has always been a cherished Italian ideal. The beauty of doing nothing is the goal of all your work, the final accomplishment for which you are most highly congratulated. The more exquisitely and delightfully you can do nothing, the higher your life’s achievement. You don’t necessarily need to be rich in order to experience this, either. There’s another wonderful Italian expression: l’arte d’arrangiarsi—the art of making something out of nothing. The art of turning a few simple ingredients into a feast, or a few gathered friends into a festival. Anyone with a talent for happiness can do this, not only the rich.
Extract from the book Eat, pray, love : one woman’s search for
everything across Italy, India, and Indonesia
By Elizabeth Gilbert
All Rights Reserved.
New York : Penguin, 2007, c2006.
Call Number: English 910.41 GIL -[TRA]
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Do you think that there is beauty in doing nothing (il bel far niente)? Is that something you’d appreciate and desire to achieve?
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September 13th, 2010 at 9:52 am
Oh yes I whole-heartedly agree with this! I think we in Singapore are very much influenced by American culture, including the American obsession with material success. And of course, the busier you are, the more successful you apparently are as well. It’s the first time I’ve across this phrase “The beauty of doing nothing” and – it is indeed a sweet expression and it really should be the end goal of all the work done in life. It’s amazing that the Italians consider it the “highest accomplishment”. Wonderful
November 15th, 2010 at 11:44 am
hahaha…agreed
There is much beauty in doing nothing at all…though i thought americans were also rather slack 
But anyways, good job! 
November 15th, 2010 at 12:16 pm
For someone as hyper as myself
doing nothing is not as fun u guys portray it to be!
On the contrary it is rather irritating, boring a dull
November 15th, 2010 at 12:26 pm
I don’t think you can find beauty in doing nothing. Usually, ‘doing nothing’ comes in the form of day dreaming, which is not beautiful.
November 15th, 2010 at 2:18 pm
Lao Tse, the founder of Taoism, said the best way of governing a country is doing nothing, drift with the natural trend. it is a wise way of living. at the same time we have to remember if doing nothing becomes ultimate accomplishment, our civilization will stop developing. doing nothing is after all a pessimistic view of seeking pleasure
April 25th, 2011 at 8:33 pm
I absolutely think that there is beauty in doing nothing. Singapore is a fast-paced society, and everyone rushes everyday. Very rarely, people slow down to gaze at stars, to feel the wind in their face as they think about life. When we do nothing, we can relax our body and refresh our mind. There’s also this saying by Nell Dixon, “Leave any problem alone for long enough and it will solve itself.” This is the beauty of doing nothing.
However at the same time, we cannot be doing nothing in excess. We must work for what we want, and even if you leave any problem alone for long enough and it will solve itself, the solution need not be what you wanted. Thus we should balance our life between working and relaxing.
September 24th, 2011 at 8:09 pm
When I had nothing to do, I like to sit on the floor and closed my eyes, then imaging myself as a child standing right in front of me. I would talk to the child and listen to what it want to say, sometimes it will cry, and sometimes it will suddenly burst out laughing. The child’s like a mirror, it reflects and show my emotions, the more I talk to it, the more I will know about my true self. When I finally open my eyes, I found my self still in the same place, in the same position and doing nothing at all. But I feel like I just talked to an old friend, and those memories brought the smile to my face.
We have to do a lot of things if we want to understand the world we lived in, but by doing nothing we can face ourselves and understand our hearts better.