Finding the Balance Between Activity and Rest

With the advent of modern society, the instantaneous technological experience, and an external life that puts a value on being active, being productive, we see the increased pressure for people to stay in motion without taking into account the factor of fatigue and the need for rest. People tend to brag about how many hours they work, how little sleep they get, and how active they are at every moment. It is almost as if any time spent in quiet reflection, simply breathing, daydreaming, sleeping or otherwise engaging in ‘quiet time’ is considered to be time ‘wasted’. A famous proverb in the West says that “time is money”. This is meant to equate the leveraged use of our time to our potential to gain financial power at some level or another. Many people work 2 or 3 jobs, plus maintain a household and care for children and keep the cooking, cleaning and other activities all in motion at the same time. Traditional societies in various parts of the world still maintain a less frenetic life and are not so wedded to the clock (and to the idea of constant striving) as modern civilisation, but with the spread of technology, they too are adapting to the demands of modern-day life over time.

Of course, for most people this constant state of activity brings eventually what is called ‘burn out’. There can be deep fatigue, exhaustion, physical, nervous, emotional or mental breakdowns, and there is frequently an attempt to forget about the pressures of the outer life through use of alcohol, drugs or through participation in mindless entertainment, such as is provided by television, mass sporting events, or through frequenting of bars, nightclubs or other venues where the individual can release the pent up pressures on the nervous system. This cycle of frantic action, followed by periods of exhaustion and dissipation, eventually leads to breakdown of health at all levels of the being. Some people then use times of vacation to visit places that give them a sense of peace, relaxation and restoration of their energy, well-being and balance, although the drive toward activity sometimes defeats the positive aspects of taking a vacation!

There is another way, a way that spiritual seekers try to incorporate into their lives. They may still have residual habits pushing them to try to be and stay active all the time. They may begin, however, to appreciate that there is a need for balance between activity and rest, and that times of quiet are not being wasted, but are restoring the energy and helping the seeker redirect attention to aspects of existence not tied to worldly activity and success in the terms of monetary or other forms of remuneration. They may start with a class, or with a retreat. Some individuals join monasteries, cloisters, communes or ashrams in order to shift their life focus away from the fixation on the pattern of worldly action followed by fatigue and dissipation. Others may simply use times of vacation to visit places that give them a sense of peace, relaxation and restoration of their energy, well-being and balance.

Spiritual disciplines which encourage development of a harmonious and balanced life take into account the needs of the body, the nervous system, the emotional being and the mind for periods of activity and periods of quietude, and help the seeker thereby to see the pattern imprinted by the society and overcome its subtle influence on the way they see and act as they focus on the work before them.

Sri Aurobindo observes: “When you feel tired, don’t overstrain yourself but rest — doing only your ordinary work; restlessly doing something or other all the time is not the way to cure it. To be quiet without and within is what is needed when there is this sense of fatigue. There is always a strength near you which you can call in and will remove these things, but you must learn to be quiet in order to receive it.”

“… it is a mistake to overstrain as there is a reaction afterwards. If there is energy, all must not be spent, some must be stored up so as to increae the permanent strength of the system.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Looking from Within, Chapter 3, Action and Work, pp. 66-67