Everyday Musings > Useless

Useless - that thing that the dictionary says has "no practical value, no beneficial use". We would call it a waste of our time and money. That thing that we never want to do or be.

Logical, sensible people, I have often heard, only do Useful things - like getting an MBA , managing time, going to the gym, taking breaks on long weekends, buying a car, investing in a house or winning awards. All Useful things that have been tried, tested and verified by repeated action, much like Hamsters running on the wheel - active, stereotypical and explorers of the already known.

Which leads us to the unknown. Which leads us to progress, technology and inventions. How does Useful lead us to the unknown, the black hole of the unexplored? To get there you have to try new things, new ways, new formulations. To get there you have to perform Useless actions and hope for new Useful results. Eureka.

Progress, technology, inventions largely fall on the shoulders of people who spent a lot of time doing Useless actions and experiments. The rest of the world doesn't have time to be Useless. They are Hamsters, in a speeding circle, running, to live. Examples of the effects of Useless are all around us - Greeks chattering and discovering Philosophy, Magellan sailing around the world and proving that the earth was round, Columbus discovering continents, all the isms in Art, the birth of the Internet, creation of facebook. Useless actions that led to Useful things.

Useful runs the world, but the Useless makes it jump forward, into a new dimension. By only doing Useful things, we may be losing out on the most interesting aspects of what we can create or be. Life changing inventions aside, it has practical applications in our daily life.

If I had only one advice to give, it wouldn't be sunscreen. I'd say, discover Useless.