Rental Person Who Does Nothing

I’m nearly thirty and I want to go back and meet my childhood self.

I think that when I was looking for a job, I felt exactly as I do today—that I don’t want my identity to be defined by a set of abilities.

I felt comfortable in a community that existed just for the moment, with simple, temporary relationships uncomplicated by past or future.

– that people have a value even if they do nothing.

Being asked about dreams can be depressing for people, forcing them to think about the future. My dream of doing nothing is already a reality, so in fact, it is a dream of keeping things as they are. Why shouldn’t a dream focus on the here and now? Why is there an assumption that it must be about the future?

Through this do-nothing service, I’ve encountered a lot of different perspectives on money. Everybody wants money and it’s difficult not to feel stressed when you don’t have it. So when we do something, we tend to think about financial benefit. I think that is why new ideas so rarely take shape. If I were to make money a top priority, whatever I did would be dull. Rather than avoiding stress, I’d become even more stressed. So I put the issue of money aside. For now, this allows me to do interesting things. And perhaps these will lead to something that makes money in the future. As I said before, if I charged clients it would lead nowhere. I think ignoring money has allowed me to have different values, which stimulate new and different ways of relating to people.

People can die because of the stress of adapting to society. Or they can lose every ounce of their energy. I’ve seen it happen. If people are pressured by society into saying they have particular abilities, then the true value they have as themselves becomes blurred. If you say you have value because you can do particular things, you will always be judged by established social standards. So I never say I can do anything. And I don’t do anything.

And it seems to me that however much you use your imagination, you can’t really understand another person.

To give something a name is to distinguish it from other things. It draws a line. Perhaps Rental Person sits somewhere along the line between 'friend' and 'stranger'. Where exactly Rental Person will be in any particular case depends on what the client wants. It's up to them. I don't do anything myself. I don't trespass on their territory.

Since I started this do-nothing service, I’ve been surprised to discover that there are so many things people want to talk about but can’t. At least, they can’t talk to people they know. They

If people are pressured by society into saying they have particular abilities, then the true value they have as themselves becomes blurred. If you say you have value because you can do particular things, you will always be judged by established social standards. So I never say I can do anything. And I don’t do anything.