The Art Of Laziness Order Printed Copy

Author: Library Mindset
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Exceptional piece. Highly recommended!

- hashini dissanayaka (6 months ago)

About the Book

"The Art of Laziness" by Library Mindset is a guidebook that explores the concept of strategic laziness, emphasizing the importance of efficiency, prioritization, and self-care. The book provides practical tips and strategies for achieving more by doing less, and encourages readers to embrace rest and relaxation as essential components of a productive life.

Augustine of Hippo

Born in 354 CE in the North African city of Tagaste to a Christian mother and pagan father, Augustine began his career as a pagan teacher of rhetoric in, among other places, Carthage. In search of better students, Augustine traveled to Rome in 383, assuming considerable personal risk in doing so, but was disappointed to discover his newfound students lacking the virtue he thought the necessary prerequisite for a proper education. Failing to acquire satisfactory students, Augustine moved once again, this time to Milan where he accepted a position as a professor of rhetoric. It was in Milan that Augustine adopted the study of Neoplatonism in earnest, though he had shown a fondness for classical philosophy, particularly the works of Virgil and Cicero, from an early age. In Neoplatonism the still-young Augustine thought, with great confidence and enthusiasm, that he had found an academic school capable of uniting the teachings of Christianity with those of Greek and Roman philosophy. Shortly thereafter Augustine converted to Christianity and, returning to North Africa, accepted the position of bishop in Hippo in 396, one that he would retain for the remainder of his life. It was arguably his encounter with Neoplatonism that caused Augustine to recognize the teachings of the Church as a source of intellectual insight not unlike that of classical philosophy. An autobiographical account of his religious conversion is the subject of Augustine’s Confessions, which numbers among the most famous and influential of his works. Upon rising to the position of bishop, Augustine increasingly immersed himself in the daily routine of monastic life and became entangled with internal Scholastic controversies facing the Church, particularly those involving the Donatists and Pelagians. Because of his considerable intellect and rhetorical skill, Augustine grew to be a particularly skillful and persuasive defender of Christianity against critics from multiple directions. At the same time, Augustine appears to have grown increasingly skeptical of his youthful opinion that Christianity and classical philosophy might be readily reconciled by way of Neoplatonism. Though Augustine’s work De Civitate Dei (The City of God) contains considerable praise for Platonic philosophy and its intellectual inheritors, more apparent within the work are the major differences between the Platonic tradition and many of the teachings of the Church, with Augustine, not surprisingly, lending his own support to the latter. In his personal life, Augustine is described as living a life of tireless work and rigorous denial of earthly pleasures. Augustine devoted his final days to prayer and repentance as he battled illness and watched his home, Hippo, besieged by Germanic invaders. Shortly after his death in 430 the city was burnt to the ground by its attackers, who, nonetheless, left Augustine’s library unharmed. He was subsequently canonized and was named a Doctor of the Church in 1298. He continues to serve as the patron saint of printers, brewers, and theologians.

my dream singleness: an anthem for unmarried women

As an unmarried woman in my mid-twenties, I know that a season of singleness can often be fraught with disappointment and heartache. I hold hopes for a husband and a family close to my heart, but I also hope to hold Jesus even closer. At the end of my life, whether I am married for forty years or single for seventy, I long for it to be said of me, “She was devoted to Jesus.” Single or married, we belong to another. My marital status may read “single” on my tax return, but I am not unclaimed. I do belong to someone. And this is not some elusive future spouse. I’m speaking of Christ. I am his. Because Christ has bought us with his blood, we are not our own (1 Corinthians 6:19–20). We were not made or saved for this realm, but for another realm, a spiritual one. And in this spiritual realm, Jesus was clear that people are neither marrying, nor married. So despite the fact that marriage is beautiful and sacred, we were not made for earthly wedded bliss. That should free us to live out big dreams for singleness now, while we wait to be married. We were created for Christ, to be one with him. He and I — we were meant for each other (Ephesians 1:5–6). This is a match made in heaven, and for heaven. He is ours, and we are his. And this union can satisfy all other longings. Even if a spouse dies, deserts, disappoints, or never emerges in the first place, we already have a perfect union of glory and joy awaiting us that far surpasses the dim copy we might enjoy for a little while here. Singleness Is Good Paul, apparently, was single, at least for much of his life, and spoke of his marital status in glowing terms. Singleness is good, and is a gift from God (1 Corinthians 7:7–8). I can wake up tomorrow confident that not being married is good for me, and that it is my calling for the day. God does not give second-rate gifts. It’s not that I have asked for bread only for God to give me a stone instead (Matthew 7:9). No, singleness and marriage are different gifts, each with challenges and blessings, but they are equally good. Elisabeth Elliot writes: But having now spent more than 41 years single, I have learned that it is indeed a gift. Not one I would choose. Not one many women would choose. But we do not choose our gifts, remember? We are given them by a divine Giver who knows the end from the beginning and wants above all else to give us the gift of himself. Whatever the years ahead may hold, I know he has called me to the gift of singleness today, however heavy that gift may feel some days. When God gives us gifts we would not choose, he also gives us himself in ways we would not otherwise have known. This World Is Not Our Home Those who are not yet married long for love and a place to call home. We desire good things, and our pain is legitimate. But we are easily disillusioned with temporary treasures, forgetting this bruised and scarred place is not our forever home. No marriage will last forever. Even the best must end with death. This means that the married and the unmarried alike must form their minds around this truth: From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away. (1 Corinthians 7:29–31) Paul is not telling his readers to neglect their families, but he is shifting our paradigms, preparing us to live as pilgrims in a world destined for destruction. This means the married should live as if their spouse is not theirs to keep, and the unmarried should live as if a spouse is not ours to have. At the end of time here on earth, only our union with Christ will survive. Singleness Is for Devotion From the apostle Paul to Elisabeth Elliot, they are all really saying one thing. Singleness is for devotion — for gospel-living and Christ-loving. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. . . . And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit.” (1 Corinthians 7:32, 34) God offers us singleness as an opportunity to run headlong after Christ. Devotion is not merely a hobby to pass the time while we wait for a perfect someone. No, this is what we’ve been waiting for. For Christ. The Perfect Someone has come, and he’s come to give us himself. We’ve been waiting for happiness; here is a love higher than our understanding and a joy beyond our wildest dreams. As unmarried women, let it be said of us that our one concern is to please the Lord, that our only aim is wholehearted devotion to Christ. May this be the banner that flies over the balance of our days, our only mantra, married or not. You were meant to enjoy the one thing that transcends the beauties of marriage and lasts for eternity. Seek him and you will make the most of singleness and marriage, whichever gift God gives you.