The Something of Nothing

"Is Nothing sacred?"

In talking to people about retirement, it’s clear that for many, staying active and productive is very important. For these folks, the value of just taking it easy is only in service to getting back to getting things done. These people will often quote examples of those who die soon after retiring. There are mixed studies about this, some even suggesting that the stress of working longer shortens life. Here are some:

• https://www.quora.com/Do-people-tend-to-die-when-they-retire
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/627711
• https://www.biznews.com/thought-leaders/2013/09/10/retire-at-55-and-live-to-80-work-till-youre-65-and-die-at-67-startling-new-data-shows-how-work-pounds-older-bodies

There are folks who understand human life as measured by how productive it is in worldly terms. Most religious traditions (Islam being a notable exception) have a clear notion that, in some contexts, doing nothing is just fine, thank you. Monks, yogis, shamans, and swamis dedicate their lives to the understanding that there is value in the renunciation of appetite and the worries of productivity. This is a refined form of nothingness that is, of course, not just eating chocolates in front of a screen.

As I sit on a porch on a sunny day in South Africa typing on a computer, I would like to think that I am in some kind of monastic tradition, but here I am writing words for some vague urge to produce something of value on my sabbatical. I do feel some things slipping away, however. There are some worries that don’t seem quite so worrisome anymore. There are some distractions that now appear a bit unnecessary if not compulsive. The very intentional online shopping prohibition that I managed to pull off with some difficulty for the season of lent now seems a natural thing. Since I’m not constantly trying to solve problems, I’m not seeking consumerist solutions. For the moment.

We will see how long this kind of peace will last. In the past, I get ‘done’ with vacations after about a month. There is a difference in the way we think about things if they are a temporary suspension of the ordinary or if they are the new ordinary. This sabbatical of mine is an interesting dry run for retirement, but doesn’t have that notion of permanence that reframes the whole experience. We’ll see.