What exactly is laziness?

[XYZ]

I want to really explore deeply the concept of laziness. We all have a general idea what it is,  but I'm looking to form a nuanced definition, since there are likely different types of laziness, and figuring out what is at the root of our own laziness would be key to overcoming it.

What is apparent to me right away is that being lazy is not necessarily being sedentary or avoiding work. Someone could work very hard to advance in a video game, learn a new language, collect things, assemble furniture, et cetera- but be to "lazy" to figure out things on their own, where there is no instruction guide to follow. A wage slave may work very hard at their job, but be too lazy to escape wage slavery.

Different tiers of laziness, some so lazy they won't do anything, some unless it's easy, some unless it's spelled out for them. Is it a matter of intelligence, aptitude, ambition? Or is the term actually being misapplied, like if you call someone who is willing to work hard and has a vision lazy, but they are really just lost and confused, don't know where to start. But then again, that seems to be defining procrastination, and is procrastination a form of laziness, or something else entirely? 

As for me personally, the underlying issue I am working to resolve here is to get myself to carry out more complex projects like start a business, learn a tangible skill, or set up a passive income stream as readily as I would open up boxes and put things on the shelf at my last job.

 

 

 

[Joseph Maynor]

There's a difference between being idle and being lazy.  Oftentimes people confuse the two.  Being idle is not being lazy necessarily.  Being lazy is putting things off that you know you should be doing because it's just too much effort.  Laziness is not putting things off while doing other things that are worthwhile, that's procrastination but not laziness.  There's an element of 'that's just too much effort' with laziness.  Laziness goes like ham and eggs with putting off doing exercise.  You don't want to exercise because it's just too much effort.  Laziness is resistance to physical effort, but effort that you know you should be doing.  Plain resistance to physical effort is not laziness, because perhaps what you're doing is something you shouldn't be doing anyway.  Laziness requires two elements: (1) Not doing something you should be doing, usually physical, and (2) For the reason that it's too much effort.  For example, someone who sits on their ass all day long when they know they should be exercising is being lazy.

Edited September 30, 2018 by Joseph Maynor

[Andreas]

Addiction to comfort, either physical comfort or mental comfort. 

[Echoes]

Laziness is fear of failure/fear of success. There is also the thing that some people are not lazy at all in and of themselves, but are perceived that way by industrial society or in comparison to people with a different lifestyle.

Edited September 30, 2018 by Echoes

[CreamCat]

 

Edited September 30, 2018 by CreamCat

[Hellspeed]

My own experience with laziness is a depressed or blocked in a certain way, the central nervous system in the hips, were the source of energy resides in the body. Having this issue, every movement on the lower body seems a drag or even pain. 

[dorg]

 

18 hours ago, XYZ said:

and figuring out what is at the root of our own laziness would be key to overcoming it.

As far as I have got with this:

The root of laziness is the misapplied understanding that you are someone that does things, rather than the pure awareness that is aware of things.

[K VIL]

Me today # Will Improve

[In Sterquiliniis]

I think 'Lazy' is an evaluation or judgement that is static and doesn't have time and context, i prefer to look at specific observable things i am doing and ask why i am doing them.

Edited October 1, 2018 by In Sterquiliniis

[cirkussmile]

Lazyness is a quality of the absolute. 

If you can be lazy without inner resistance you are in bliss! 

[ajasatya]

laziness is lack of excitement due to excess of comfort. having just enough money to survive is a gift.

[XYZ]

@ajasatya @Andreas

So comfort seems to be they key term here. Yes I am very addicted to comforts, and being comfortable is probably the reason why I do or don't do most things. 

But there is also the ability to maintain internal comfort while facing highly stressful and unpredictable situations. This I see as being a very beneficial skill to develop, as it will free up capacity to take more actions and make more sacrifices, overcoming the 'comfort zone' of past laziness.

[DayProv]

In my experience, laziness usually comes from fear of failure. Majority of people choose doing nothing than doing what they can fail at. Here´s one simple technique what you could use even in this kind of situation. This technique will help you decide what to do next, whether be lazy or do something about it. If you want to discover this technique just go here and read this short blog post. 

[Chase Ellfeldt]

I believe a piece of it is that our brains are naturally lazy - in the way that they are constantly searching for the most efficient way to accomplish the task. 

The body is safe when it is comfortable so I believe that laziness stems from lacking the courage to expand beyond your comfort zone. 

[LastThursday]

(Western) Society has a very strong emphasis on 'doing' (and working).  If you're not filling up all your waking hours with 'doing', then you are wasting your time or there must be something wrong with you or god forbid, you're lazy - which all have strong negative connotations.  The only respite, is that you're allowed to go on holiday and 'do nothing'. But even then, when you come back off holiday you will get asked: 'What did you do on holiday?'.

If I have my SD right, then it's a very stage Orange way of seeing things. If you're not constantly doing and producing things or progressing forward then it's sub-optimal and you're potentially a lazy defective person. There is a different way to be and that is just 'to be'.

I say that lazy types should be cherished as much as the doers in life. It's all the doers that have made us wage slaves (I'm not bitter).

[XYZ]

@LastThursday

[LastThursday]

@XYZ exactly it. Laziness doesn't exist.

[purerogue]

 

[DavidK]

Lazyness: chronic lack of freedom that comes with lack of discipline. 

[TheAvatarState]

@XYZ Great question! I love that you're trying to get to the root of things... Use that as a general rule in life, and you will go far.

I'll make this very simple. If we think of laziness as a chronic illness of the mind, where procrastination is a side effect (I believe we have the same general idea of what this shit is), then laziness boils down this: it is the denial of one's true nature and potential. To be lazy is to be in denial. Really think about this, and I think you'll find this to be true. 

So next time you're lazy, try to become conscious of what part of yourself you are in denial about. That will be the root. You can be in denial by second-guessing your passion, and that will lead to laziness. You can be in denial about whether you really deserve what great things this will bring. You can be in denial about whether you'll even get any results. All of these are illusions. Notice that laziness stems from you trying to minimize and belittle yourself. Your ego is afraid of what you could be. "Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate, but that we are powerful beyond measure." -Nelson Mandela

The antidote to laziness is the surrender into one's True nature. But for many of us, we have to learn and observe what that is first.