June 1

Better to do nothing than to do harm.

We often refuse to participate in the innocent joys of life because we are too busy with something we feel we have to do. We should accept these moments, because the sweet and joyful game is sometimes more important and necessary than most other things. Very often the business which busy people claim to be doing is not important at all, and sometimes it would be better left undone.

Cruel people are busy all the time, as if to find justification for the cruelty of their dealings.

It is a common misconception to think that pleasures and joys are unimportant and sometimes evil, as for example, Islam, or ancient old Orthodox Christianity, or Puritanism would have it. Pleasure is as important as work, and is the reward of work. Work cannot last endlessly, and the necessary rest should usually conclude with some period of pleasure.

Pleasures are only bad in these three cases:

·        When we have to make other people work for us because it is impossible for us to satisfy our desire for pleasures

·        When we plan competitive games to determine who will have the best or the most pleasures

·        When pleasures are allowed only for selected people. But if these evils are avoided, then pleasure, especially for young people, is not an evil, but a good.

Work and pleasure should be alternated, one after the other; they fill our lives with joy, though not every work and every pleasure can do this.