Bring on the awards for the Very Fine Art of Not-Doing! And especially for not-doing trouble…
The highly nous 17th-century French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal opined that: “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” Perhaps a tad overstated by Blaise. Not much breakfast would be put on the table if all of humanity sat quietly in a room, but we take the point.
On the other hand, toxic Fruit Loops like certain current major-nation presidents sitting quietly in their rooms instead of venom-spreading and general evil-doing during the last few decades would have spared the planet some major atrocities.
Thomas Stearns Eliot (T.S. Eliot) had a slightly more specific take on the theme. He allegedly claimed that “most of the trouble in the world is caused by people wanting to be important.” His most important piece of poesy is fittingly titled ‘The Wasteland’.
Certainly, megalomaniacs and even common-or-garden ego-trippers have a lot to answer for. But should megalomaniacs like Trump and Putin ever be condemned to sitting quietly in a room, could they survive the ordeal?
Imagine, nowhere to roam apart from the interior of your own head. And if you’re a Trump or a Putin, then the landscape’s going to resemble a Hieronymus Bosch painting. Scary.
Worse. The confinement could force them to actually assess the total good achieved by their past deeds, much as the ancient Egyptians judged their departed pharaohs’ incumbencies – a real buttock-clencher for the newly deceased pharaoh. On passing through Death’s door, their lifetime deeds were evaluated to see if they ticked enough boxes to qualify for the Afterlife. If not, Goodnight Nurse. Forever. Total Oblivion. And definitely no statues.
They called it the Weighing of the Soul (or Heart). The jackal-headed God of deathly matters, Anubis, wielded the scales. On one side, he placed the deceased pharaoh’s heart, which held the database for one’s deeds. The counter-balance was the ostrich feather representing Ma’at – the goddess of truth, justice and general cosmic order: a usually virtually weightless object made weighty by its symbolism.
If the scales balanced, it was the ex-Pharaoh’s ticket to eternal paradise in the Field of Reeds. However, if Heart outweighed Feather, not good, it meant Heart was overburdened by sin, and was now condemned to be swallowed by Ammit – a scary composite of crocodile, lion, and hippo. To be snacked by Ammit meant eternal lights out for that particular soul, fittingly termed a Great Death. And a very gnarly one.
Prior to the weighing of the Heart, the deceased also had another tricky hoop to jump through. They had to recount all the sins they hadn’t committed – an opportunity to rack up some good-behaviour credits. Then, if the actual weigh-off between Heart and Feather proved a close run thing, an impressive wad of did-not-sin credits might persuade Anubis to cut some slack and thumb the scales in favour of Heart. For the deceased, it was literally a great weight off his mind.
One suspects, though, that a did-not-sin list for a Trump or Putin wouldn’t overly tax the tally clerk.
The whole point of the feathers and scales and so forth was to reiterate to the current pharaoh that being pharaoh wasn’t just a free pass to do whatever one chose, even if you were a God King. And bad and/or selfish choices had consequences—namely, no legacy – just the Great Death. And forever denied any afterlife cavorting in the Field of Reeds. Or any afterlife, period!
But the point is, there’s a heckuva lot to be said for just NOT doing some stuff. Particularly nasty and mean stuff. Not-doing is a hugely underrated pastime. If we could just cut out the nasty stuff, we’d all be streets ahead overnight. At present, about half our national income goes into dealing with dysfunction and disorder. Excise that side of things out, and we could all live like kings on a 20-hour working week!
Imagine for a minute if the human race were somehow suddenly cajoled into calling time on fighting and invading one another. Someone crunched some numbers and reckoned that world hunger could be eliminated virtually overnight if the USA’s defence budget for just one year was channelled into feeding people instead. And if true, imagine what the world’s combined defence budgets could do if put to worthier causes.
Imagine if the United Nations had as many balls as the Olympic logo, and managed to set up an enforceable system that not only punished miscreants but actually rewarded nations for not causing trouble – the nation-state equivalent of sitting quietly in a room.
As a positive initiative, it shouldn’t be too hard to grasp. Not so long ago, the US government used to pay farmers NOT to grow certain crops such as alfalfa (lucerne) if a glut threatened. It was deemed worthwhile for the greater good if over-supply didn’t crash market prices for the majority. The minority who got paid to put their feet up didn’t make as much as the actual growers, but they didn’t have to get out of bed for it. Good deal all round.
For starters, it would be a great deal for the American taxpayer if Donald Trump were paid extra not to play golf. When the urge to swat a denser and dimpled version of a ping pong ball hither and thither becomes irresistible – which apparently is very often – entire armies of enablers have to be mobilised at astronomical taxpayer expense.
The juggernaut Trumpmobile assigned to deliver him to the field of combat has to be book-ended by a battalion of similar vehicular juggernauts, all oozing Secret Service agents lest wet blanket guerrillas try and hijack the armada and divert the Leader of the Free World from getting his rocks off bashing a harmless albino pellet into submission.
Then more battalions of agents have to scour not only the golf course itself but every potential hidey-hole within a 10-kilometre radius, lest more bomb-in-hand Bolsheviks or devious droners lurk in the shrubbery.
Whenever an untimely shower forces the cancellation of a presidential round of golf, the money saved would be enough to finance a few hundred condominiums to help house the homeless – that’s if Agent Orange didn’t instead choose to convert the savings into 22-carat gilding of a few hundred more White House accessories.
Not-Doing. The world can’t have too much of it. And particularly where it’s a case of not-doing trouble, it can afford to pay a handsome stipend for it and still be streets ahead.
Frank Greenall has been a copywriter, scriptwriter, artist, political cartoonist, adult literacy tutor and administrator, and Whanganui Chronicle columnist for many years, amongst numerous other sundry occupations. His cartoons and articles have appeared in most major NZ newspapers at various times. He has a BA in politics and a Masters in adult literacy/numeracy. https://stevebaron.co.nz/author/frankgreenall/
Davo says:
Mate, all this fancy philosophy is a bit much but you’re bang on about the ego-trippers causing most of the world’s problems. Been listening to Leighton Smith for years and he’s always saying the same thing – these politicians just can’t help themselves, always gotta be the centre of attention. Would save us all a lot of grief if half these clowns just stayed home and kept their mouths shut instead of stirring up trouble every five minutes.
Pat says:
Frank’s invocation of Pascal’s paradox raises some fascinating questions about the relationship between contemplation and governance. Research suggests there’s actually substantial evidence supporting the value of reflective practices in decision-making – studies on “slow thinking” versus reactive responses consistently show better outcomes when leaders pause before acting.
However, the notion that sitting quietly would necessarily lead megalomaniacs to meaningful self-assessment. The psychological literature on narcissistic personality disorders indicates these individuals often possess remarkably robust defence mechanisms that protect them from genuine introspection. They might simply spend that quiet time constructing elaborate justifications for their actions rather than confronting uncomfortable truths.
The Egyptian weighing of deeds concept is intriguing from a governance accountability perspective – it suggests ancient cultures recognised the need for some form of post-tenure evaluation. Makes one wonder whether we’ve actually regressed in how we assess political leadership effectiveness in modern democracies.
Bob G says:
Well Frank, while you’re philosophising about sitting quietly in rooms, I’d suggest our local councillors could benefit from doing a bit less “not-doing” when it comes to their actual job, managing ratepayer funds responsibly. All this talk of ancient pharaohs being judged on their deeds reminds me that our elected officials should face the same scrutiny when they’re spending our money on pet projects and consultants. Speaking of The Wasteland – that’s exactly what I’d call the state of our council’s budget planning these days. Maybe if more of our politicians focused on sitting quietly with a spreadsheet instead of grandstanding, us ratepayers wouldn’t be facing another rates increase this year.
Frank Greenall says:
Bob, your recommendation that council officials spend more ‘quiet time’ with the spreadsheet reiterates Pat’s previous comment about the need for some more ‘slow thinking’.
Perhaps the trend to perpetual rates blow-outs has also got something to do with your other reference to the consultants epidemic. This is part of the culture shift in recent decades whereby elected officials shuffled personal responsibility for municipal works on to anonymous and usually highly over-paid ‘consultants’ and departmental CEOs.
This dovetailed with a new mantra that departmental heads didn’t need hands-on experience in their particular area of operations, they just needed good ‘managerial’ skills. Thus, truck-loads of institutional local knowledge rapidly went out the window at great downstream ratepayer cost.
Coupled with the other world-wide trend for what I call the executariat to funnel public funds from the engine-rooms to the board rooms and we end up with a bloated obscenely over-remunerated top tier creaming it at the expense of basic services for the hands-that-feed-them ratepayers.
Trev says:
Look Frank, all this sitting quietly stuff sounds nice in theory, but someone’s gotta actually build the bloody houses and fix the pipes while these politicians are mucking about. Problem isn’t that people want to be important it’s that the wrong people get the power and then spend all their time making rules that stop the rest of us from getting on with it. I’d rather have a megalomaniac who cuts red tape than a quiet philosopher who doubles the consent process mate.
Frank Greenall says:
As I said in the opening paragraph, Trev, not much breakfast would be put on the table if all humanity were to sit quietly in a room. But then again, room-sitters not making nuisances of themselves wouldn’t be creating unnecessary red tape in the first place.
As per usual, a considered middle path might be the way forward, lest we end up with an epidemic of collapsed apartment blocks.
We currently have a megalomaniacal Agent Orange on the loose not only just cutting red tape, but immolating it. The fear for the USA – and the world – is that he’s also in the process of trying to collapse what’s left of American democracy.
Ngaire says:
Frank, you’ve touched on something that really resonates with me after four decades working in public health and the damage that ego-driven leadership inflicts on society’s most vulnerable. During my nursing career in Dunedin, I’ve seen firsthand how political posturing and the need to “be important” translates directly into poorer health outcomes for ordinary people. The megalomaniacs you mention don’t just create political chaos – they undermine public health systems, social safety nets, and community wellbeing. Perhaps Pascal was onto something after all; imagine how much better our health indicators would be if certain leaders spent more time in quiet reflection rather than creating policy that harms the very people they’re meant to serve. Sometimes the most compassionate action really is the decision not to act at all.
Sarah says:
I love it! As someone who’s watched the endless cycle of performative leadership on social media, there’s definitely something to be said for the power of strategic inaction. The Pascal quote reminds me of how different cultures approach this concept though. My parents’ generation in Malaysia has this idea of “wu wei” from Chinese philosophy, which is basically about knowing when not to act. I wonder if our millennial obsession with constant productivity and “hustle culture” has made us forget that sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is absolutely nothing? Frank, do you think there’s a generational divide in how we perceive the value of stillness versus action – especially when it comes to political leadership?
Frank Greenall says:
Yes, ‘wu wei’ is a good comparable concept, Sarah, predicated as it is on the idea that non-action can be an affirmative action in its own right – going with the natural positive flow while avoiding unnecessary aggro. So this lovely Taoist concept is not really a case of stillness vs action – more a matter of creatively active non-action, if that makes sense.
As for a generational divide, I think there may be to a certain extent, but perhaps allied to other cultural shifts of the last century or so. The extraordinary advances in mass technologies that have fueled rampant consumerism have resulted in an addiction to a form of so-called economic ‘growth’ that’s not far off destroying our finite planet . How that can be considered ‘growth’ is a bit beyond me.
These developments (and most of the profits) have now been captured by an industrial and commercial elite – along with most of the politicians. This is why we now have the hugely destructive social inequalities that plague society, and younger generations having to hustle their butts off just to keep a roof over their heads.
It’s a reversion to a sort of lord-and-vassal society, and the top 10% tier finds that arrangement suits them very well, thank you very much!
Don says:
Frank, all this philosophising about sitting quietly sounds like something dreamed up by people who’ve never had to get up at 5am to check on lambing ewes or fix a busted water trough in the rain. Out here in the real world, we call “not-doing” laziness, and it doesn’t keep the stock fed or the mortgage paid. Sure, some of those politicians you mention could probably benefit from shutting up for five minutes, but the rest of us have actual work to do – something these armchair philosophers in Wellington and the cities wouldn’t understand if it bit them on the backside.
Josh says:
This is such a fascinating take Frank! I’m curious though, do you think there’s a difference between the “not-doing” that comes from genuine self-reflection versus just being forced into isolation? Like, would someone like Trump actually use that quiet time for real introspection, or would they just find new ways to feed their ego even in solitude? My generation seems pretty obsessed with constant activity and validation too, so maybe we all need to learn this art of sitting still – but I wonder if it only works when you actually want to change?
Frank Greenall says:
Pretty hard to generalise, Josh, but I think the main take from Blaise Pascal’s endorsement of sitting quietly in a room is along the same line as a much earlier philosopher, the Greek chappie Hippocrates (he of the ‘Hippocratic Oath’).
Hippocrates allegedly enjoined one and all to: “First, do no harm.” Our old friend Siddhartha Gautama- aka Buddha – also had a very pithy dictum: “Avoid error.” Hard to beat!
Most of the horrors that have been and still are visited upon the planet and its peoples by human agency emanates from ego freaks wanting to project their perceived dominion regardless of pain and suffering to others. From the victims’ perspective, if the egomaniacs had instead chosen to sit quietly in a room and generally avoid error it would have been better for one and all.
But that’s a big ask for egomaniacs like Trump and Putin and countless other despots world-wide. And I think you’re probably right that self-reflection wouldn’t be top of their to-do list. More likely they’d be using the down-time to expand their black lists.
Re the ‘constant activity’ of new generations, that’s no bad thing per se if it rings your bell and you’re abiding by Hippocrates’ dictum of firstly doing no harm. Different strokes for different folks, and all that.
But the dictum can include self-harm. The synapses and emotional capacities of many youngies have simply become swamped and warped by exposure to tsunamis of digital detritus.
A spot of device-free sitting quietly in a room could work wonders for the emotional health, but prising away the security blanket is always a hard one.
But then again, there’s nothing like a good jigsaw puzzle to pass the time..!