Mark Vernon ruminates on the spiritual virtue of laziness

Idleness is a central virtue in the spiritual life. It’s an oft forgotten insight in an age when mindfulness apps set targets for sitting still, and church-going is an obstacle course of activity, from food banks to flower rotas.

Take Rumi, the great spiritual writer of the Sufi tradition. He once told a story. A man left instructions on how to divide his estate. He was a devoted father and so wanted to do the wise thing. He told the town judge: “Whichever of my sons is laziest, give him all the inheritance.”

It is a striking will, almost incomprehensible to the modern mind. But the man’s sons were not spiritual lightweights. They knew their father was onto something.

So when his father died, the eldest son told the judge that he was adept at laziness. It had made him patient. He explained how, for example, he could read another man’s mind by the sound of his voice and, if the man refused to speak, he could watch him for three days and know him intuitively. Impressive, thought the judge: anyone who can wait three days shows promising signs of laziness. But what of the second son?

Laziness had made a different impact upon him. It had made him crafty. He too could understand another by the sound of their voice and, if they refused to speak, the second son would start talking. The other was then bound to reply, and give themselves away. Not quite so impressive, thought the judge: craftiness is a common human trait. All you have to do is know the trick. So what of the third son?

Laziness had achieved its best with him. The youngest had the gift of presence – of being, not doing, we might say. And what comes with presence? The ability to be receptive. He could sit in front of another and feel what the other drew out of him. With that sense, he could understand anyone. Moreover, he could receive insights from a place beyond joy and grief. The deepest and darkest recesses of the soul were as clear as day to him. He knew the way between voice and presence where information flows.

“The youngest was, obviously, the laziest,” Rumi concludes. “He won.”

Other spiritual teachers have echoed the value of this key quality. Jesus told his followers that the burden is light. If it feels heavy, hard work, impossible then something has gone wrong. Ease is the key guide.

The Buddha taught “right effort”, which in our day invariably means less effort. When your legs are dead, your back is aching, and your mind feels caught up in a storm, it’s time to stop meditating. A mindless, joyful chat with a friend will be more spiritually beneficial.

But why? Why is it that idleness, laziness, and ease offer the surest path to enlightenment? The quick answer, the gurus tell us, is that our own efforts can accomplish nothing. They key task is not to achieve, but to let go; it’s not to be in control, but to release; it’s not to live, but in a sense to die.

Then, and only then, by a supreme non-effort of the will – which is so hard in a world orientated around work, status, and responsibility – something radically new might be glimpsed. It’s a source of life and pleasure on the other side of partying hard. It’s a resting place that is also alive. It’s an intelligence that does not manically accumulate facts but calmly issues wisdom.

Idleness is a central virtue in the spiritual life.

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