The-Conquest-of-Happiness-by-Bertrand-Russell

more disinterestedly. Even if he has to use his
mind in order to follow what is said, his reading is
nevertheless a relaxation, because it is not
connected with his responsibilities: If the book
interests him, his interest is impersonal in a sense
which cannot be applied to the books upon his own
subject. It is such interests lying outside the main
activities of a man’s life that I wish to speak about
in the present chapter.
One of the sources of unhappiness, fatigue, and
nervous strain is inability to be interested in
anything that is not of practical importance in one’s
own life. The result of this is that the conscious
mind gets no rest from a certain small number of
matters, each of which probably involves some
anxiety and some element of worry. Except in
sleep the conscious mind is never allowed to lie
fallow while subconscious thought matures its
gradual wisdom. The result is excitability, lack of
sagacity, irritability, and a loss of sense of
proportion. All these are both causes and effects of
fatigue. As a man gets more tired, his external