I was brought up - I hesitate to use the word upbringing - to believe that procrastination is a virtue. A case of truth being stranger than fiction. These days I am a list- maker as are at least two of my sisters. I consider a list- maker to be the complete opposite of a procrastinator. Does anyone know of any religious/ spiritual/personal development teacher, author, social commentator or philosopher who considers procrastination to be a virtue?
perhaps not procrastination for its own sake, but deliberation and detachment certainly. also calmness and freedom from anxiety. some of the ancient asian sages. which may seem ironic, considering how much go-getting modern asia is inclined towards.
Hmmm, interesting question. I have some thoughts about this as well, but I'm in no hurry to post them now, maybe tomorrow.
Fools rush in - so they say. There's an element of what you could call procrastination inherent in some eastern philosophies. Confucianism for instance. You could see some western 'folk' ideas as promoting it - things like 'engage brain before speaking'.
Procrastination due to laziness or lethargy , as per Hinduism or Buddhism , is a tamasic or demonic trait, and does not create any merit for the individual. The so-called procrastination prescribed by ancient sages mentioned, is actually but a call to meditate in solitude and silence, so as to slow down the turbulence and waverings of the agitated mind. Any action or hard work done with such a mind will be highly counter-productive, and hence their teachings in this regard. As Mahatma Gandhi himself stated, "There is more to life than increasing its speed."
I don't think list-making is the opposite of procrastination. It can even give a false sense of organization/accomplishment and waste time. I'm trying to procrastinate right now. It's hard, all I can think about is all of the things that I should be doing. How do people do this all of the time?
It is very easy once you get the hang of it. First tip: procrastinating doesn't mean you don't think about those things anymore. On the contrary, you can think about all the stuff you still have to do all the time! The art of procrastinating is to just not give in to that.
I've been procrastinating about trimming down my life to those things that are only absolutely necessary, so that there are less things to procrastinate about. I'm going to get right on that. :crowngrin:
