True Leisure is Much More than the Absence of Work
What catholic philosopher Josef Pieper can teach us about the deepest joys of life.
Illustration of Josef Pieper by Mariya Suzuki
“Leisure […] is a mental and spiritual attitude — it is not simply the result of external factors, it is not the inevitable result of spare time, a holiday, week-end, or a vacation.”
“No one who looks to leisure simply to restore his working powers will ever discover the fruit of leisure; he will never know the quickening that follows almost as though from some deep sleep.”
Mention the words leisure, rest, or time off, and people think of relaxation. But often, whether or not we are consciously aware of it, these thoughts are inextricably tied to work. We define them as the absence, the negative, of effort. In a way, “time off” itself comes with an inherent question: Time off from what?
But, Josef Pieper warned in his book Leisure: The Basis of Culture, if we focus too much on leisure’s restorative power, its ability to prepare us to do more work, we are missing the true essence of leisure. The restorative effects are clearly there and are valuable, but they should not be the main reasons we practice leisure.
Already around the middle of the twentieth century, Pieper, who as a philosopher and Christian was deeply inspired by Thomas Aquinas, was concerned with the influence that our obsession with work had on our experience of leisure.
“The original meaning of the concept of ‘leisure’ has practically been forgotten in today’s leisure-less culture of ‘total work,’” he laments. “In order to win our way to a real understanding of leisure, we must confront the contradiction that rises from our overemphasis on that world of work.”
Pieper recognized that for most people “the normal day is the working day. But the question is this: […] Can the human being be satisfied with being a functionary, a ‘worker’? Can human existence be fulfilled in being exclusively a work-a-day existence?” His answer was no, and his antidote to the problem was true leisure.
The kind of leisure Pieper was talking about goes much beyond the mere absence of work.
“The simple ‘break’ from work — the kind that lasts an hour, or the kind that lasts a week or longer — is part and parcel of daily working life. It is something that has been built into the whole working process, a part of the schedule. The ‘break’ is there for the sake of work. It is supposed to provide ‘new strength’ for ‘new work,’ as the word ‘refreshment’ indicates: one is refreshed for work through being refreshed from work. Leisure stands in a perpendicular position with respect to the working process. […] Leisure is not there for the sake of work, no matter how much new strength the one who resumes working may gain from it.”
True leisure, Pieper believed, is “a condition of the soul.” Not the absence of work, but its active counterpart, “an attitude of non-activity, of inward calm, of silence; it means not being ‘busy,’ but letting things happen.”
To Pieper, “the ability to be ‘at leisure’ is one of the basic powers of the human soul.” As long as we attach a utilitarian goal to leisure, such as being refreshed for more work, we are missing out on its deepest benefits and joys. We are distracted from the essence of inner calm by focusing on external goals.
Pieper talks about “God’s intuitions” — what we might in a secular way see as creative aha moments — visiting men during times of true leisure. Only in those calm and silent moments is our soul receptive enough. Even God rested on the seventh day of creation to contemplate and celebrate.
Almost every culture has set aside days of rest specifically for divine worship. Like temples and churches are locations that are not used except for worship, so rest is traditionally a time set aside for that same purpose.
Pieper believed that in a world where everyone had a strong faith, the need for leisure was obvious. But now, in a world where faith is declining, the justification of leisure is being forgotten along with it. Fortunately, while faith is still declining, we certainly see an increased interest in spirituality again. Hopefully, this will also come with an increased understanding of — and interest in — leisure.
And whether we call the spaces churches or temples, and the times sabbath or the Lord’s Day, or instead use our own secular equivalents, we can all benefit from designating our own “sacred” time off locations and times.
So whether you agree with the religious or spiritual aspects of Pieper’s beliefs or not, we can probably all see the value in his conviction that leisure “is not only the effortless but the direct contrary of effort; not just the negative, in the sense of being no effort, but the positive counterpart.” Defining leisure and time off only as negatives of work misses out on so many of their most valuable aspects. In its truest form, leisure “means everything that lies beyond the utilitarian world.” As such, Pieper concludes, it forms the basis of culture.
Practice: Learn to practice and appreciate time off for its own sake, not as a recovery for more work.
When was the last time you had true leisure in the sense Pieper talks about? Not just a break from work but true inner stillness, effortlessness, and relaxation? Allowing yourself to be visited by “God’s intuition”?
We often keep our minds busy and distracted, even in our free time, because we see time off as a break from work, a means to an end, not an end in itself. But try to celebrate it for its own sake!
Schedule some time to do nothing, and just sit quietly with your mind. It might start out as an uncomfortable experience, so start small, but once you get used to it, it might prove transformative, a vast source of flow and aha moments.
This article was part of an early draft of Time Off: A Practical Guide to Building Your Rest Ethic and Finding Success Without the Stress by John Fitch and Max Frenzel, with illustrations by Mariya Suzuki, but did not make it through the final editing process. If you enjoyed this article, we are sure you’ll love the book as well.