Vita Contemplativa: In Praise of Inactivity

Synopsis

In our busy and hurried lives, we are losing the ability to be inactive. Human existence becomes fully absorbed by activity – even leisure, treated as a respite from work, becomes part of the same logic. Intense life today means first of all more performance or more consumption. We have forgotten that it is precisely inactivity, which does not produce anything, that represents an intense and radiant form of life. For byung-chul han, inactivity constitutes the human. Without moments of pause or hesitation, acting deteriorates into blind action and reaction.