This comment has received too many negative votesshow
I'm sorry, but I can't help coming to the conclusion that this guy is a middle-to-upper class idealistic wanker.
Having read 'How to Be Free' I think I managed to find a flaw/impossibility/impracticality in every single one of this guy's arguments.
I work for 8 hours a day (giving me 16 to do what I like) and make the most of my wonderful weekends before earning an honest living again on a Monday morning.
This gives me immense satisfaction - more than over-sleeping ever could.
Your defensiveness hints maybe you dont really enjoy working as much as your trying to convince us random youtubers of.
It also sounds as though his ideas are a bit threating to the more conventional ethics you are operating under, which is fine too. But then why are you here defending yourself? Idleness "seems" impractical. It is something we need to figure out for ourselves. He's not giving you a perfected model, but rather pointing to another way to experiencing Life and our role in it.
Its not necessary that you accept his way as complete code, if he can get your attention and you can spend sometime doing nothing and be relax as well, than i guess the purpose is served.
Im about to leave school and do my leaving cert (like the A levels)
....and i'd like to thank you, im now going to get terrible marks!!! but who cares... i don't want to go to college anymore.
It's not that i dont want to study anything... im just not going to let some overly competitive classmates and too much work ruin my interest in things!
@MoJoRoYoYo Very true. The insincere decisions to work for charity (for the sake of improving application forms) and the obsession with constant, narrow study pains me to watch. It's symptomatic of an obsession with meeting other peoples' standards, rather than meeting your own, and it can only lead to unhappiness. As Tom mentions, Lao Tzu and the other great Taoists understand how pointless this is, and I would certainly recommend the Tao Te Ching to anyone who enjoyed How to be Free.
:) absolutely. That is a great book you mentioned. I kinda tried to get people to read Mr. hodgkinsons fantastic book but they say ' i'm sorry, thats not my cup of..' you know. it's kinda sad but for me, i'm playing music, i'm writing and reading and i've found a job at a crematory. Next stop is Paris to hang out :) You should check out the organisation called Lancelot! anyway, cheers from Belgium.
I've just finished reading the marvellous How To Be Free, by Tom Hodgkinson, and wondered if there might be anything of him on YouTube: YES! Thank you Samuel.
Idling is the sweet stream of sanity chuckling merrily through the endless meadows of motivational madness.
I, a Nova Scotian, saw the book The Freedom Manifesto recommended in the Nov '08 Discover magazine, in a profile of Laurie Santos, a "monkey whisperer from Yale" on pg 72.
Idlers save $ by friends who pass on mags after reading!
your books are wonderful nourishment for my ever-rebellious mind. the freedom manifesto encourages me to be myself. i want to change the world, but i have to start with one stale mind at a time. thanks!
Sadly, not dressed like a chap...
priapus56 1 week ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
I'm sorry, but I can't help coming to the conclusion that this guy is a middle-to-upper class idealistic wanker.
Having read 'How to Be Free' I think I managed to find a flaw/impossibility/impracticality in every single one of this guy's arguments.
I work for 8 hours a day (giving me 16 to do what I like) and make the most of my wonderful weekends before earning an honest living again on a Monday morning.
This gives me immense satisfaction - more than over-sleeping ever could.
ragnampizer18 2 years ago
Your defensiveness hints maybe you dont really enjoy working as much as your trying to convince us random youtubers of.
It also sounds as though his ideas are a bit threating to the more conventional ethics you are operating under, which is fine too. But then why are you here defending yourself? Idleness "seems" impractical. It is something we need to figure out for ourselves. He's not giving you a perfected model, but rather pointing to another way to experiencing Life and our role in it.
UrbanHomesteadFL 2 years ago 4
Its not necessary that you accept his way as complete code, if he can get your attention and you can spend sometime doing nothing and be relax as well, than i guess the purpose is served.
waheedAzad 2 years ago
tom's books and those of the idler's contributers are truely golden.
humanism before capital gain.
philjamprimate 2 years ago 16
Im about to leave school and do my leaving cert (like the A levels)
....and i'd like to thank you, im now going to get terrible marks!!! but who cares... i don't want to go to college anymore.
It's not that i dont want to study anything... im just not going to let some overly competitive classmates and too much work ruin my interest in things!
MoJoRoYoYo 2 years ago 5
@MoJoRoYoYo Very true. The insincere decisions to work for charity (for the sake of improving application forms) and the obsession with constant, narrow study pains me to watch. It's symptomatic of an obsession with meeting other peoples' standards, rather than meeting your own, and it can only lead to unhappiness. As Tom mentions, Lao Tzu and the other great Taoists understand how pointless this is, and I would certainly recommend the Tao Te Ching to anyone who enjoyed How to be Free.
autumnspiders 1 year ago 3
@autumnspiders
:) absolutely. That is a great book you mentioned. I kinda tried to get people to read Mr. hodgkinsons fantastic book but they say ' i'm sorry, thats not my cup of..' you know. it's kinda sad but for me, i'm playing music, i'm writing and reading and i've found a job at a crematory. Next stop is Paris to hang out :) You should check out the organisation called Lancelot! anyway, cheers from Belgium.
texasB666 1 year ago
Thank you very much.
steeeeevve 2 years ago 4
I've just finished reading the marvellous How To Be Free, by Tom Hodgkinson, and wondered if there might be anything of him on YouTube: YES! Thank you Samuel.
Idling is the sweet stream of sanity chuckling merrily through the endless meadows of motivational madness.
I, a Nova Scotian, saw the book The Freedom Manifesto recommended in the Nov '08 Discover magazine, in a profile of Laurie Santos, a "monkey whisperer from Yale" on pg 72.
Idlers save $ by friends who pass on mags after reading!
not2tees 2 years ago 10
your books are wonderful nourishment for my ever-rebellious mind. the freedom manifesto encourages me to be myself. i want to change the world, but i have to start with one stale mind at a time. thanks!
h7opolo 3 years ago 6