Back in the 1960’s there was a TV “program” called The Beverly Hillbillies. It was a mirthful story about a man and his family of “poor mountain folk” who discovered oil on their land. They became instant millionaires and moved to Beverly Hills because that’s where millionaires obviously belonged. The brunt of the comedy focused on the absurdity of their unchanging hillbilly ways and their innocent refusal to be like the other “sophisticated” Beverly Hills folk.

Though they could buy anything they wanted, they still lived simply, hunted for food, cooked over fire (inside their electric oven), bathed very little and had tight family values. The show poked fun at avarice, keeping the slaves who watched amused and their minds numbed while thousands upon thousands of people killed each other in the jungles of Southeast Asia. The theme song ended with the words, Take your shoes off. Set a spell.

Compare that mid-century propaganda to the more recent brainwashing television “program,” Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (Please forgive me. I quit watching television in 1997 so my TV references are a bit dated. I hear it’s even worse now.)

In this so-called “reality” TV show, people answer trivial cultural questions for a chance to win a million dollars. Sprinkled between the quiz questions are personal inquiries about how the contestants will spend their windfall riches.

The answers usually involve some form of peer perceived, status-enhancing junk, like a condo next to Epcot Center or a new Humvee. The show lauds avarice, keeping the slaves who watch diverted, their minds anesthetized while thousand upon thousands of people kill each other in the deserts of the Middle East.

Although American culture gives lip service to the notion that people need to slow down and relax, there is, hidden within media programming, a disincentive to do so. The “Beverly Hillbillies” was a comedy—a comedy about wealth. “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” is a game show—about money. One is ha, ha, “I wish I were that rich,” and the other is, “Oh, wow, he’s just like me. I could be that rich.”

Meanwhile, civilization is bringing those wishes to fruition for an elite few via battlefields beyond the horizon, far from the homes of American slaves. Few slaves ever make the connection and the few who do don’t particularly care as long as they aren’t personally inconvenienced.

And that’s just the way the Invisible Hand likes it.

Mammon is the one true god of the West and almost every aspect of the culture kowtows to it. Call it wealth, loot, bread, moola, manna, cash, credit, filthy lucre or the economy; money is the yardstick by which success and all other aspects of our lives are measured.

If money grew on trees, you'd still have to get off your ass and pick it.

CZ

No one makes money by sitting around. Even after the money is made we aren’t encouraged to take our shoes off and sit a spell. Go out and spend. Save the economy! If we don’t buy in and choose instead to bypass our fiduciary “responsibilities,” we’re Slackers.

Therefore, the first step to enjoying the benefits of the Slacker lifestyle is to get over the guilt of relaxation.

Wake up. Throw off the prejudice against kicking back. The Slacker way of life is a path to ultimate happiness. It is both an occupation and an avocation and when done right, an art form. Slacking off stops the destruction and the only way we’re ever going to save the planet is to stop co-operating with our oppressors, our programmers.

Why would I give up everything to have nothing, you might be asking?

For one, no other lifestyle offers more free time. If you want to read all day, you can. If you want to watch seagulls dive for fish and you live in Iowa, get off your butt and migrate to Oregon, find a beach and do just that. If you want to write your memoirs, what’s stopping you? You can’t use lack of time as an excuse. You have twenty-four hours every single day to do whatever it is you want to do. Spend time educating yourself, untying the knots of forced programming and job training that form the mental shackles of modern slavery. Libraries are a perfect place to wile away the day while exploring the vast accumulation of human knowledge.

Slacking is good for your health. Without a boss, without employees, without responsibilities stress levels drop. Claim your just desserts. It's a bass-ackwards world and stressed is just desserts spelled backwards.

You might be wondering how having no place to sleep, no surety of a daily meal, or money could possibly be non-stressful.

Once you get the feel for having no material possessions, you realize that you gave up very little for everything. Since you have plenty of time, you never need to rush through a meal or grab an anti-nutritional “convenience” food substitute at the gas station. Take your time. Pick through the produce dumpster or wander in that abandoned orchard until you find the perfect piece of fruit.

Don’t take life too seriously. You’ll never get out alive!

CZ

With no property, live anywhere. Once you purge your programmed negativity and develop a positive self-image, money won’t be a problem; you may never need it again. Once you drop the competitive attitude and begin living below the poverty level (whatever that means) the charity of others manifests without effort. People will freely offer lodging and you’ll acclimate and toughen up to outdoor living. Your way of living may seem like a game to others and in fact, like every human lifestyle, like life itself, it is a game. Once you realize this and learn the rules and nuances of the Slacker lifestyle, life becomes play again, just like when you were a child. When you play without concern for winning, stress doesn’t exist.

Living righteously enhances self-image and cleanses the soul to create loving space for other living beings. Without viewing everything through a monetary prism, you’ll observe your motivations in a clear light. You don’t have to do things that you know are wrong simply to make a buck. Instead, you do things that make the Earth a better place for you and everyone else.

If you so choose, dedicate some time to serving others simply for the joy of it, or quietly sit and contemplate life’s meaning without feeling pressured by social conditioning. By not participating in the economic system while utilizing otherwise wasted resources, you help keep the economy in remission and slow the juggernaut of environmental degradation caused by civilization and its need for insatiable economic growth.

It is far better to sit and watch the grass grow than kill it with Roundup ™.

C.Z.

Herein lies the secret to happiness: to reap the benefits of the Slacker lifestyle, you must understand and purge all of your social conditioning. Let’s start here:

To be continued...

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Image Credit

Preface part 1, part 2
Introduction
Why Slack? part 1