The art of leisure

In the U.S., we call it vacation. But the root meaning is ‘to vacate’, and I far prefer the term our friends overseas use for a time off and away…..a holiday.

Leisure has had a bad press.

So says the introduction of one book I packed, Leisure, the Basis of Culture by Josef Pieper. Time to re-read it, so it went in the bag with three others. This is the only one cracked open so far, and this the only internet access in four days. Both a holiday and a vacation, it turns out.

About leisure…

We mistake leisure for idleness, and work for creativity. Of course, work may be creative, but only when informed by leisure. Work is the means of life; leisure the end. Without the end, work is meaningless – a means to a means to a means…and so on forever, like Wall Street or Capitol Hill. Leisure is not the cessation of work, but work of another kind, work restored to its human meaning, as a celebration and a festival.

We need to be reminded of this. I’m working on it. Pieper is a good aide.