“Leisure is better than work and is its end; and therefore the question must be asked, what ought we to do when at leisure? Clearly we ought not to be amusing ourselves, for then amusement would be the end of life…”
Aristotle, Politics
Sometimes a distinction in terms or words helps us see a distinction in reality that had escaped us. Aristotle is careful to distinguish leisure and amusement. Both should be distinguished from work inasmuch as they each refer to something we do when we are not working. Yet therein ends their similarity.
Amusement is an activity that diverts the mind by something pleasant, as when we play a game or watch a movie. This entails a resting from things onerous or serious. Amusement is, in a sense, enjoyable in itself, but its main justification and purpose is to be a relaxation that regenerates us for a return to work and to more serious affairs.
Leisure on the other hand is serious and meaningful in itself. It is not so much a resting from something as a resting in something. Unlike work and amusement, leisure contains its primary purpose in what is being done. Here we see a conviction central to Aristotle’s conception of human life: there are certain actions that are worthy-in-themselves, and in these especially is human life most fully lived.
To lose sight of these, and to reduce free time simply or primarily to amusement, is to threaten human existence at its core by removing the deepest meaning of both work and amusement.
Amusement activities have an important place; pleasant diversions are often in order. But they are not the real stuff of leisure. Aristotle writes, “Happiness, therefore, does not lie in amusement; it would, indeed, be strange if the end were amusement, and one were to take trouble and suffer hardship all one’s life in order to amuse oneself.”
The point here is certainly not to suggest that we shouldn’t ‘have a good time’ or that we must always be ‘serious.’ Rather, human life is so rich, so wonderful—and yes also so arduous—that there clearly is something much better than mere amusement that gives meaning to it all. There is some kind of ‘having a good time,’ that far transcends mere amusement. Yet unlike amusement, it will require cultivation, discipline, and a clear conception of what we are after.
Next week we will consider leisure activities themselves. This is the second in a series on leisure.
Leisure Mini-Series
I. The Leisure Question: A Series
II. The Difference Between Leisure and Amusement
III: Fostering Leisure
IV: An Amazing Connection: Education and Leisure
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.), student of Plato, tutor of Alexander the Great, has been considered by many to be the greatest ancient philosopher. The Politics is one of his major ethical works.
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Oh my but this is countercultural. You poke your finger in the eye of society with these types of observations. Our penchant for endless amusements will never lead to satisfaction.
The wisdom of the ancients strikes again.
Sometimes ancient wisdom does indeed shed a challenging light on our current situation.
If you haven’t already, read Josef Pieper’s ‘Leisure The Basis of Culture’ which lays this idea out really well.
Thanks for the reminder on leisure with this article.
Thank you, John. Indeed, Josef Pieper has certainly been my teacher on this point.
Thank you for this post! In class, we’ve just covered the difference between the workaday world and the world of philosophy/leisure – and today I challenged them on whether entertainment belongs in one or the other of these, or whether it makes up its own category. I will give them this post next class!
Maria, I am very glad to hear that, and I’d love to know what you and the class come up with in your discussion. Thanks for sharing this.
Have you read Cal Newport’s book Digital Minimalism:
Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World? (If not, it’s a worthwhile read and available at Samuels! 🙂
I was particularly struck by his assertion that, when filling free time, people too often think that they need to ‘relax’ and turn to entertainment, when in fact spending time in challenging and engaging leisure activities/hobbies is actually much more fulfilling and refreshing. (If I remember correctly, he said (or quoted someone as saying) that man generally needs changes in activity, not a lack of activity.)
Breana, Thank you very much for this. I’ve been meaning to read Digital Minimalism, but I haven’t done so yet. I’m all the more inspired to do so now. A good point to add to my written post here would be that leisure activities are actually more rejuvenating than amusement/entertainment. Thanks again.
John, thank you for these reflections on leisure. They’ve prompted me to reread both Pieper’s Leisure the Basis of Culture and Pope St. John Paul II’s apostolic letter Dies Domini (On Keeping the Lord’s Day), all of which have prompted me to refocus my efforts on approaching Sundays differently, and certain quotes which, if I may be indulged, I share with the hope of prompting others to do the same, and consider reading Dies Domini.
Pieper noted that the “soul of leisure” is “celebration,” which is “man’s affirmation of the universe and his experiencing the world in an aspect other than its everyday one.” And the most “intense affirmation of the world” is the “praise of the Creator of this very world.” So, leisure’s “possibility, its ultimate justification derive from its roots in divine worship.” He links the capacity for true leisure to worship and its spiritual dimension: “[t]he vacancy left by absence of worship is filled by mere killing of time and by boredom, which is directly related to inability to enjoy leisure; for one can only be bored if the spiritual power to be leisurely has been lost.”
Pope St. John Paul II’s apostolic letter Dies Domini (On Keeping the Lord’s Day) continues this thread of underscoring leisure’s spiritual component and its central place in our lives by focusing on something specific: Sunday. Dies Domini beautifully refers to Sunday as “a true school,” or “vera schola” in Latin (“schola” derived from the Greek “schole” or leisure). Sunday, understood properly, instructs us on the true work of leisure, that is celebration, worship, affirmation of reality, making Sunday “the soul of the other days.” “Through Sunday rest, daily concerns and tasks can find their proper perspective: the material things about which we worry give way to spiritual values; in a moment of encounter and less pressured exchange, we see the true face of the people with whom we live. Even the beauties of nature — too often marred by the desire to exploit, which turns against man himself — can be rediscovered and enjoyed to the full. As the day on which man is at peace with God, with himself and with others, Sunday becomes a moment when people can look anew upon the wonders of nature, allowing themselves to be caught up in that marvellous and mysterious harmony which, in the words of Saint Ambrose, weds the many elements of the cosmos in a ‘bond of communion and peace’ by ‘an inviolable law of concord and love’. Men and women then come to a deeper sense, as the Apostle says, that ‘everything created by God is good and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for then it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer’ (1 Tim 4:4-5).”
Looking forward to your next post.
Anthony, Thank you very much for sharing these excellent quotations. Pieper is the master of explaining leisure, and you make an outstanding connection to the reasoning in Dies Domini. Thank you again for providing the fruit of your reading and reflection. Given the nature of Sunday, it is indeed the perfect day to engage in true leisure.