"Niksen": The art of doing nothing
theguardian.com
theguardian.com
This feel wrong to me, the concept is definitely older. It just went by nietsen instead of niksen, which is (or was) more grammatically correct/formal as niks is an informal/spoken version of niets.
Here is an example [1] from 2006 with nietsen, defined as to do nothing on a grammar forum. And before 2008 [2] as “not doing anything”. Even a use from 1997 [3].
[1] https://www.dutchgrammar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=627 [2] https://www.dutchgrammar.com/en/?n=Verbs.Ot04 [3] https://ronald-giphart.nl/vrouwen-zijn-de-baas/
https://renevanmaarsseveen.nl/14273/niksen-iets-wat-nederlan...
I particularly like this definition. Moments like those I enjoy a lot.
We also say 'Niks'
I think Niksen is the 'cute' word for Niks. The ending -sen is the familiar -sen from 'son (of)' found in 'Jensen' 'Hansen' 'Larsen' or in swedish 'Hansson' 'Larsson'
We also have nix/nichts which means nothing. And "nichtsen" would somewhat make sense in german, at least I think most people would understand it.
Niksen is the verbified form, so 'to nothing'.
It has an -en ending like most verbs, unrelated to the -sen ending as in those names.
‘What is your purpose in life?’
‘I am Alexander and I am out to master the earth.’
‘What do you plan to do after that?’ asked the sadhu probingly.
‘I shall take all the wealth, horses and elephants from the conquered lands to Greece’.
‘Presuming you accomplish your goal, Emperor, what next?’
‘I shall take all the men from these wretched countries as my slaves and all the women to regale us in Greece’.
‘What a motivation! All the men as slaves and women as entertainers!’ commented the sadhu wryly.
Not stopping, he asked him further: ‘Assuming you accomplish even that, what will you do next?’
Contrary to his extrovert and energetic nature, Alexander was quiet for some time. Finally, he stated, with an exhalation: ‘After that, undoubtedly I will sit on my throne and relax’.
‘That’s what I am doing,’ said the ‘unusual Indian sadhu’ with a content smile.
Source: https://www.esamskriti.com/e/History/Indian-History/Alexande...
Diogenes was knee deep in a stream washing vegetables. Coming up to him, Plato said, "My good Diogenes, if you knew how to pay court to kings, you wouldn't have to wash vegetables."
"And," replied Diogenes, "If you knew how to wash vegetables, you wouldn't have to pay court to kings."
Alexander went in person to see Diogenes, and he found him lying in the sun. Diogenes raised himself up a little when he saw so many people coming towards him, and fixed his eyes upon Alexander. And when that monarch addressed him with greetings, and asked if he wanted anything, "Yes," said Diogenes, "stand a little out of my sun."
My favorites:
"In a rich man's house there is no place to spit but his face."
"As a matter of self-preservation, a man needs good friends or ardent enemies, for the former instruct him and the latter take him to task."
"Of what use is a philosopher who doesn't hurt anybody's feelings?"
"The great thieves lead away the little thief."
This guy would have been king of ancient Twitter, banned and reported everyday.
Things like reading HN, such great articles, most of which I don't need to know, but fascinating none the less. Sometimes someone will not like a reply I made, who cares? (I do love the replies!) I'm not asking for anything, I'm just being.
The best part, however, is that I can suck at everything. When I had a job I felt a ton of responsibility to meet a high standard in everything I was paid to do, but now I can afford being an absolutely moronic beginner at everything I attempt, because ultimately it doesn't matter. It's liberating.
Do you think you could’ve learned to not feel that? I feel fine doing an OK job as long as my OK is the standard my employer expects.
I have a rather anxious response to work, probably because of how much was at stake earlier in my career. I was an immigrant with a flimsy work permit that meant if I lost my job I would have to move to another country, with the added stress of being the only income in our family with no real prospect of my wife being able to find a job that would cover our expenses either. We couldn't count on anybody else helping us out either.
It was a lot of pressure, and my fear-driven response was to work as hard as possible and save as much as possible. I got lucky and ended up effectively retiring at the age of forty. Do I recommend it? No, it was a pretty miserable experience. But those were my circumstances and I did what I thought was best for us.
<It's like a prolonged weekend> I tell my friends it feels like I'm getting away with something!
For example, I can afford to be a lousy jogger, because nothing bad is going to happen if I don't become faster. I couldn't afford to be a lousy engineer, because my family could end up homeless in a foreign country. That was the reality I lived at the beginning of my career.
Due to family circumstances i had to take "retirement" from the industry for the past decade and focus my life on care-giving. So w.r.t. studying Philosophy/Science/Technology/etc. i have been in this mode for a while and it has been quite enjoyable intellectually. Nassim Taleb in one of his books calls himself a "Flaneur"(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fl%C3%A2neur) which i think perfectly embodies this mindset i.e. a intellectual stroller/dilettante interested in anything/everything, cursorily exploring/diving deep into whatever takes his fancy and in general being an observer rather than a participant. The goal (if any) is knowledge for knowledge's sake and not money/job/status/etc.
One suggestion i have for your retirement is to buy lots of books on any/every topic that catches your fancy. Books are cheap, last forever, helpful to the next generation and intellectually rewarding at many levels.
Snow is pretty rare in Ireland/UK winters, rarer in Ireland. Due to the Gulf Stream and such.
Niks = nothing. Closely related to procrastination but not exactly the same. It actually helps getting/regaining focus and relieving stress.
Anyway, it’s a pity that today it wasn’t sunny while ice skating on my daily commute.
Disclaimer: did not read the article but am Dutch
'Puttering' is an English term which I feel is closely related to 'Niksen' but not exactly the same. With 'Puttering' there's always an action. But with 'Niksen' you can be sitting in a chair, looking around, 'doing nothing'.
I would even argue that meditation is not 'Niksen', because with meditation there's intent. It's actively calming yourself down.
And just like 'Niksen', that too is without deeper intent. You just hang. Closest I can come in English is probably 'idling about'.
You do or don't do stuff. Your brain is meandering about. You don't really care about time passing.
It's definitely an art form, most people get bored after a while - true masters can do days on end ;)
This really is the Silicon Valley definition of “meditation”. Not what it’s meant to be.
True meditation seems to fit the definition of “niksen” perfectly. “Calming oneself down” is a side-effect of it, not the primary goal. As Alan Watts said (I paraphrase) - meditation has no purpose. You just do it because you’re grooving with the eternal now.
GP cites watching a movie while one's mind is wandering as an example of Niksen. That doesn't seem to fit any definition of meditation I'm aware of.
The idea is that when something "takes" your mind you just focus on it to the exclusion of everything else i.e. no judgements, past, future etc. When your mind "moves" to the next thing it drops everything (with no residue) and gets "fully filled" with the new thing. This happens instant to instant leading to a state of "enjoyable peacefulness".
I often end up doing something hobby-like, like reading a book, some gardening, maybe even some woodworking. It's all about creating a moment where you can be in the moment.
Source for the quote: https://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/06/11/time-you-enjoy/
"I like that too," said Christopher Robin, "but what I like doing best is Nothing."
"How do you do Nothing?" asked Pooh, after he had wondered for a long time.
"Well, it's when people call out at you just as you're going off to do it 'What are you going to do, Christopher Robin?' and you say 'Oh, nothing,' and then you go and do it."
"Oh, I see," said Pooh.
"This is a nothing sort of thing that we're doing now."
"Oh, I see," said Pooh again.
"It means just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering."
"Oh!" said Pooh.
https://web.archive.org/web/20190319105206/http://www.alangu...
Also, in the west, meditation is often seen as something you do to clear the mind so that you can be more productive later. Niksen has no such association in Dutch culture, it's just unproductive full stop. Note that Dutch culture is much less focused on productivity than US culture, so this does not necessarily have a negative connotation.
And though it's nice to have dutch on the front page of HN, I don't think there's much of a cultural insight to be had here. (Unlike say "Gezellig" or "Gunnen", for instance)