In Praise of Slow: How a Worldwide Movement is Challenging the Cult of Speed

Satish Kumar,

every living being, event, process or object has its own inherent time or pace, its own tempo giusto.

shifting down a gear can boost communication, accuracy, creativity, strategic thinking and productivity.

Ultimately, the success of the Slow movement will depend on how smoothly it can reconcile people like me with decelerators of a more spiritual bent.

In the absence of accurate clocks, life was dictated by what sociologists call Natural Time. People did things when it felt right, not when a wristwatch told them to.

publishes Resurgence,

Anyone or anything that steps in our way, that slows us down, that stops us from getting exactly what we want when we want it, becomes the enemy. So the smallest setback, the slightest delay, the merest whiff of slowness, can now provoke vein-popping fury in otherwise ordinary people.

For many, boycotting the Big Mac is a way of saying no to the global standardization of taste.

In driving, as in life, one way is to do less, since a busy schedule is a prime cause of speeding. Another is to learn to feel comfortable with slowness.