…it is only by labor that thought can be made healthy, and only by thought that labor can be made happy, and the two cannot be separated with impunity. —John Ruskin—
We all require a balance of thought and labor, intellectual and muscular effort in our lives, The workout that most of us do doesn’t exercise either our brains or our bodies fully. Most us aren’t scientist or scholars, or farmers or dancers; we spend our working lives doing routine tasks and our leisure time on passive amusements. It’s within our power to enhance the quality of our health and happiness.If we look around,
the world is full of challenges to our mind and bodies. We need only open ourselves to them. Other people will welcome what we can give—physical effort, mental gymnastics, or any combination of the two. Ideas that aren’t applied or tested tend to become anemic; and work that isn’t examined and evaluated tends to become stale. We can’t really separate our minds from our bodies without injuring them both. Or knowledge that we are whole, integral beings is precious; let it illuminate this day. My spiritual well-being depends on living deeply with both my though and my labor.