Leisure: The Basis of Culture chapter 3

This may be why I am not a philosopher:  I simply cannot think of these things without trying to break them down and understand them in a systematic, and sometimes, visual way.  Go ahead, laugh.

WORK	LEISURE
Activity	Stillness
Effort	Celebration
Social function	Stands on its own, rather than serving a “purpose.”

I was especially struck by Pieper’s last attribute of leisure – the idea that the purpose of leisure is not to refresh a person so that he can return to work with renewed strength, although it does do that, but that leisure is an end in itself.  Leisure in service to work, as demonstrated by the coffee break or two week vacation, is in opposition to the idea that “we are not-at-leisure in order to be at leisure.”

I want to start asking people, “What are you working for?”  “Is this all there is?”  As a Christian, there is so much more than empty toil and for an unbeliever it seems there should be even more of an imperative to enjoy the here and now.  If not for God, one might as well eat, drink and be merry.  Is this a digression on my part?  Sorry.  I’m getting fired up for some reason.

I also really liked this concept of knowing, experiencing in true stillness, that which has “not yet descended into words.”  I have, on occasion, felt a thought, and tried to capture it, to hold it in my head, to express it in words, but the very act of grasping seems to make the experience vanish.  It sounds like an acid trip to me even in my explanation.