Pieper & Pausa

the theology of kicking back

“Leisure is only possible when we are at one with ourselves. We tend to overwork as a means of self-escape, as a way of trying to justify our existence.”

— Josef Pieper

Sitting here during a lull between assignments, charging my camera batteries for an evening in the Vatican gardens and trying to find some energy after a very late night out, it dawned on me that I haven’t kept up these little newsletters the way I had hoped.

I don’t want to make this lengthy. So thinking back on May, I tried to determine what the greatest turning point or event was. My conclusion was a conversation I had with a dear colleague, who had shared with me some of his reflections on my work ethic, where I wanted my life to be, and how they were in contradiction.

Ora et labora has great truth to it. But sometimes I focus too much on the labora bit. As a means of distracting from the contemplation of self-existence as my dear friend Josef Pieper would have said.

In the weeks since the aformentioned chat, I have been trying to implement that leisure more in my life. It is ironic, since Piepers’ writings on leisure were the topic of my senior theology thesis, that I am only now beginning to truly delve into them.

What does it mean to live life with leisure? Well, I have observed that it does exponentially increase ones’ creativity. To stop and gaze more at the things that surround oneself. As much as I hate to admit it, I walk a thousand days past the dome of San Pietro and do not think about it twice. So sitting in the shade of the steps during evenings with friends and making it the focal point of musing conversations has been quite fun.

I’m not sure I believe that work life balance can exist. But having strived for it more, I will say that the reflection, the disconnection and the fruits of those additional conversations in piazzas, on train station benches and over a lazy cup of spontaneous coffee, have been some of the best in years.

So if you need some motivation to sleep in an extra 10 minutes, take a day trip on a saturday morning or pause work to watch the sun set, consider this your motivation.

“The essence of leisure is not to assure that we may function smoothly but rather to assure that we, embedded in our social function, are enabled to remain fully human.”