In these days of dislocation, some of us are scrambling to do everything from home - our jobs, our families, our friendships and spiritual communities. Many feel busier than before! Others find themselves at a loss, as they are laid off or work commitments are cancelled. The COVID crisis is laying bare and exacerbating the growing inequality and divisions in our societies.
I am relatively protected from this, but I'm definitely on the "more open" end of the spectrum. Some retreats have been cancelled, the gym is closed, all sorts of trips are off the table. I find myself with time to reflect, to write, to listen to music. I'm rediscovering my early novitiate, when I had few obligations beyond study and prayer.
Recently a friend returned a book I had loaned her, that I had forgotten about. Leisure, The Basis of Culture, was written by Josef Pieper S.J. seventy years ago. Pieper distinguishes leisure from idleness and argues that creativity and spiritual growth depend upon it. Indeed, the root of our word for "school" is the Greek for "leisure." Leisure allows time for ideas to emerge, for insight to be gained, for challenges to be faced. Without leisure we become trapped by compulsion and habit, even as we seem to be serving and ministering and even praying.
What a perfect time to return to this book and its lessons! I felt guilty at first as I did a jigsaw puzzle. Then I found that as I did that I heard hymns and psalms in my head, then thought of people I hadn't talked to in a while, then had ideas for my writing. I remembered what I used to know - that a puzzle, a walk, are for me part of the creative process. Now I sit down a bit each day and do the puzzle, and listen to classical music or nothing.
This is not just for our own sake, people. The world desperately needs people of courage and clarity and peace right now. The world needs a way forward. Long ago the monasteries were the holders of culture, of learning of all sorts, when the world around them was collapsing. Today the monasteries aren't enough. We each need to, and deserve to, live into what they knew.
If you are a parent working from home and coping with your kids, I don't have great insight. I can't tell you what to do here. But I can urge you to make 15 minutes to pray for a creative way forward. Don't rush it or force a solution. Leisure is only real if it's not programmed or aimed too sharply. I am praying for you, in my expanded leisure, and I will pray for you to find some.
If you are alone, unemployed and challenged with bills, I hate to sound like I know what you should do. I do have a strong opinion (about everything!). If there's nothing to do, nothing that worrying will help with, sit still for a bit. Enough cleaning. Look out the window. Listen to music. Read a poem or a novel. Let your heart teach you something new. Something will emerge - at least that's my experience. I am praying for you too, every day.
We are bound together. Those who make use of leisure are not opting out of our collective responsibilities, but are taking up the challenge of letting God inspire them and, through them, those around them. Your leisure, rightly engaged in, will enrich my life.
Don't just do something, stand there!
Get the book:https://www.ignatius.com/Leisure-P1445.aspx
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