For another special meaning of “work,” I’d like to point your attention to “rest.”

When I say that “ work is rest,” some will (once again) say I’m crazy. But that’s the way it is — we need to rest. Without rest, we die. At a minimum, we won’t have the energy to work.[1] 

Nobody forces us to be so stupid about this; we just don’t know how to rest properly. We rest in ways that are unrestful, even stressful. For the most past, our ways of resting interfere with our working energy. Instead of sleep, we go to movies and clubs. We try to claim that sensual and sexual indulgence is rest. This is because craving, selfishness, foolishness, and delusion run our lives, making us misunderstand the meaning of “rest.”

We would do better to stick to the natural principle that rest means not using our labor, both physically and mentally, as well as spiritually. Only then is it really rest. When tired, rest. It’s simple. Actually, dogs and cats are smarter about this than people. People are stupid enough to rest in ways that destroy their capacity to work, physically, mentally, and spiritually.

Instead of providing more rest for their bodies and minds, not to mention spiritual capacities, people behave in ways that waste their physical and mental energy. For example, what they call social drinking or having a smoke with friends. Nowadays, the economy forces people to drink and gamble for the sake of the circles one moves in. This is what fools claim thoughtlessly. They say it’s restful. Better take another look.

Rest needs to complement work; they always go together. Without rest, life dies. There must be a balance: work during the day and rest at night. When the sun comes up, one has plenty of strength to work well and enjoy it. In other words, rest is a kind of investment, so that one has the strength and energy to continue working. So we need rest to work, recognizing that we can’t have one without the other. Rest is what recharges our batteries. We need enough time to charge up adequate to the tasks we undertake.

Rest can’t be skimped on; the battery will go dead. Without sufficient rest, good work is impossible. This is why we say that resting is another kind of work. Rest is a job that all of you must do. All the duties that cannot be avoided must be considered “work.” Thus, we need to rest correctly and sufficiently; otherwise, illness, disease, and neurosis will occur. One might even go off the deep end. In the end, lack of rest leads to death. So, we need the right kind of rest as part of our work.

 What Is What (37.C), p. 57-59.