Sleeping Well at the RAND Corporation

I was a fanatic follower of the RAND Corp. research publications, about demography and war strategy, but somehow I fell out of the habit. Today I visited their site and found nothing of interest to me. They write a lot about sleeping well, about the economic loss of sleeping badly, and little more. It reminded me of Friedrich Nietzsche making fun of the academic philosophy of sleeping well as the supreme object of life.

Ten times must thou reconcile again with thyself; for overcoming is bitterness, and badly sleep the unreconciled.

Ten truths must thou find during the day; otherwise wilt thou seek truth during the night, and thy soul will have been hungry.

Ten times must thou laugh during the day, and be cheerful; otherwise thy stomach, the father of affliction, will disturb thee in the night.

Few people know it, but one must have all the virtues in order to sleep well. Shall I bear false witness? Shall I commit adultery?

Shall I covet my neighbour’s maidservant? All that would ill accord with good sleep.

Peace with God and thy neighbour: so desireth good sleep. And peace also with thy neighbour’s devil! Otherwise it will haunt thee in the night.

Honour to the government, and obedience, and also to the crooked government! So desireth good sleep. How can I help it, if power like to walk on crooked legs?