“Leisure cannot be achieved at all when it is sought as a means to an end, even though that end be ‘salvation of Western Civilization.’ Celebration of God in worship cannot be done unless it is done for its own sake. That most sublime form of affirmation of the world as a whole is the fountainhead of leisure.”

Pieper, Leisure: The Basis of Culture

Simplify, Simplify, Simplify, as old Hank said…….

The early American Protestant approach to time as money has permeated our entire culture. It has its benefits, I think, but it has ruined some of the greatest and most important aspects of man considered as a human being. When man converts himself into a machine, he may become more efficient, but the proper ordering of the soul – which is more important – is lost.

Josef Pieper’s “Leisure: The Basis of Culture” (referenced by Mr. Price) is definitely worth reading, for anyone out there who may not yet have been exposed to it. True wasting of time is deplorable; leisure, truly understood, is a beneficial and enriching enterprise.

This post was mentioned on Twitter by freeselfhelp: Wasting Time | Front Porch Republic: This newly-won time, occurring on weekends, evenings, and during paid vacatio… http://bit.ly/5m6U70...

Needless to say, the time has passed when individuals will endure that intense dutiful devotion necessary to become “cultured,” especially in an age expecting instant gratification. Beauty is no longer engrained in our culture, it is no longer expected, and therefore little appreciated. We live in such degenerate relativism that even if a Mozart, Milton, Michelangelo or Maderno were to impossibly materialize among us, they would likely be pushing papers or running pest control. Art is truth, and truth is in exile. The more freakish one is, the more lauded; the more intellectually vapid, the more powerful. What incentive, then, is there to pursue excellence? What reason is there to study the times before strip malls, parking lots, and rap? It will lead only to miserable dissatisfaction and alienation: to be an artist today is to be in exile. Mammon is our god, mass consumption is our worship, and all is maintained by a steady stream of continual ugliness and consequent restlessness. Anything that lifts our minds to the heavenly is threatening to the established religion, and therefore verboten.

The arts are dead: atheistic, greedy industrialism killed it, and no ridiculous amount of free time will bring it back.

“Leisure” by W. H. Davies

WHAT is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?—
No time to stand beneath the boughs,
And stare as long as sheep and cows:

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass:

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night:

No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance:

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began?

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

For some, myself included, it then becomes a matter of how to disentangle oneself while providing sufficient material ‘wealth’ to the family in hopes of wasting time in areas of personal interest.

Not an easy road to hoe. Thanks for an inspiring piece.

“After seeing work exploit and demolish the world, laziness seems like the mother of the virtues.” (Nicolás Gómez Dávila)