Creativity, Idleness, Amusement, and Bob Dylan

Someone – let’s call him “Ethan” – recommended a book to me, “How to be Idle” by Tom Hodgkinson. It was a great delight! I loved the many, many literary excerpts on the subject that Hodgkinson compiled from the past five plus centuries. Ethan knew I would be interested, as I am an accomplished Master in the discipline of Idleness, and have been for years.

For Ethan, the book’s central insight is the relationship between Creativity and Idleness. Throughout history, the most creative people have been relatively idle, and Ethan’s new objective is to be more idle and hence more creative. And me?

My objective is to explore the literal meaning of amusement, the difference between amusement and Idleness, what all of this has to do wBob Dylan, and to note an even deeper dynamic relating Idleness and Creativity.

The Literal Meanings of Amuse and Amusement

  

To muse generally means to reflect or meditate on something, often with a sense of wonder or awe.

In classical mythology, the Muses were the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne who presided over the classical Greek arts. And somewhat more recently, a “muse” came to mean any source of artistic or poetic inspiration. 

Given this root, what is the literal meaning of amusement? Just as amoral means without morality; as atheism means without theism (without belief in God); as apathy means without feeling; as atypical means not typical; etc:

“To amuse” then might literally mean to take away one’s muse; one’s inspiration; one’s imagination. And to replace these creative gifts with external distractions.

What does this have to do with Bob Dylan?

Do you remember the lines from Bob Dylan’s great 1965 caustic anthem Like a Rolling Stone: 

 

You never turned around to see the frowns on the jugglers and the clowns


When they all come down and did tricks for you




You never understood that it ain't no good  


You shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you

Who can know Bob Dylan’s mind? But to my mind, these words are about the negative aspect of amusement. Amusement distracts us from deeper creative wellsprings; it stunts our spiritual and creative growth; it diminishes us.

The Difference between Amusement and Idleness

How many times have you heard the phrase “idle amusement?” Driven by our Protestant work ethic, we often confuse Idleness and amusement, but in fact “idle amusement” is a contradiction.

True Idleness, as Hodgkinson explains, generates open, calm space in an otherwise noisy, pressing, preoccupied world … the very space that is necessary for creativity.





Amusement, on the other hand, fills that space with inauthentic noise and activity – Dylan’s “jugglers and clowns.”

Today we are “amused” as never before. Television, radio, movies, CDs, iPods, email, Facebook, Twitter, and the Internet in general - how can anyone be creative when the mind is so jangled?

It is impossible; Creativity requires Idleness.

A Deeper Dynamic between Idleness and Creativity?

Ethan wants to become more idle and hence become more creative. But is this possible? Or does this notion put the cart before the horse?

I believe that some truly creative people are born that way. These people create their own Idle space almost as their lungs create breath: they must be Idle; they crave Idleness and Solitude; the drive is innate; it is in their bones; they cannot and never have been otherwise.

But what about one who has lived his life amused rather than Idle? Can one then become more Idle and consequently more Creative? I do not know … But I suspect yes, at least to some degree. It can’t hurt, and I wish him well.

Stephen Rowe welcomes correspondence of all sort at StephenRowe.OriGraphics@yahoo.com

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