Leisure the Basis of Culture

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Leisure the Basis of Culture

• Josef Pieper

The thing that I should wish to obtain from
money is leisure with security.
Bertrand Russell
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Aristotle Redux(We currently have it backwards)

• We are unleisurely in order to have leisure
• Value contemplation (open-minded)
• Leisure is receptivity, not action

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Aristotle Redux(continued)

• Humankinds gifts (much of culture) are not
  necessarily practical
• Holism (not philosophy or science, but science
  and philosophy and)

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Intellectual activity used always to be
considered a privileged sphere

• Piepers influence should be in the direction of
  restoring philosophy to a place of importance for
  every educated person who thinks
  T.S. Eliot

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The Falsehoods of Work
Modern Views of Work Say

• Learning is an active pursuit
• Knowledge comes only through hard effort
• Training is more useful than education (liberal
  arts vs. servile arts) (i ji je chang)

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Leisure is Contemplation

• Leisure is liberal arts that are end in
  themselves
• Leisure comes to those who are open, not grabbing
  
• Leisure is not rejuvenation for work
• Leisure is attitude of inactivity (Wu wei)

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Wu-wei (no-action???)

• Avoidance of unnecessary action
• Desire to be unneeded
• Wu-wei comes only with experience

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Avoidance of unnecessary action

• Not laziness, not idleness
• Satisfied with good enough
• Do as little as is necessary

One must start out with a belief that there are
no catastrophes in this world, and besides the
noble art of getting things done, there is the
nobler art of leaving things undone Lin Yutang,
The Importance of Living
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Desire to be unneeded
The goal is to set up situations where the
leaders presence is not necessary but always
available if needed.
Even after you have achieved non-doing, you
should still carry out undertakings, fulfilling
them and realizing their proper results. Lü Yan
(in Clearys Spirit of the Tao)
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Wu-wei comes only with experience

• Need experience to deviate from the plan
• Confidence to not need any of the credit

Wu-wei must be understood as a form of
intelligence that is, of knowing the
principles, structures, and trends of human and
natural affairs so well that one uses the least
amount of energy in dealing with them. Alan
Watts, Tao The Watercourse Way
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Questions on wu-wei

• What are examples of times when you lived in a
  way consistent with wu-wei?
• Did these experiences work well or not so well?
• Are these examples the norm or something unique?

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Leisure is Contemplation

• Leisure is attitude of inactivity (Wu wei)
• Leisure is liberal arts that are end in
  themselves
• Leisure comes to those who are open, not grabbing
  
• Leisure is not rejuvenation for work

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Leisure is Contemplation (cont)

• Leisure is only possible to person who is one
  with himself/herself
• Leisure is only possible to person who is one
  with the world
• Leisure is celebration (union of peace,
  contemplation, and intensity of life)
• Note Idleness is none of this

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Is it possible to save people from being
excessive workers?

• Leisure is opposite of activity as a practical
  social function
• Need to relax (while relaxation, by definition is
  effortless, it is harder to attain than stress)
• Many are as tied to their jobs as a poor person,
  but not because of the money (inner
  impoverishment)
• Span the gulf between an educated leisure class
  (who are free to pursue knowledge) and the
  proletarian (who know spare time for rejuvenation)

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Deproletarianizing

• Enlarge the scope of life beyond servile work
• Must overcome
• 1. Economic need to always work
• 2. Government forcing constant work
• 3. Impoverishment of the individual

• Honorarium, not a wage

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Leisure must include divine worship

• Organized religion is the one institution which
  forbids useful activity
• Divine worship sets aside time from working
  hours, from utilitarian ends
• Celebration brings together the 3 elements of
  leisure (effortlessness, calm, relaxation)

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Leisure must include divine worship (cont)

• Celebration without the divine becomes diversion
  (and people turn back to work)
• Unless something as encompassing as religious
  worship, no chance for leisure in a workaholic
  world.

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So What?

• What do you think of Piepers notion that
• True leisure, at least for the masses, can only
  exist if institutionalized
• AND divine worship is the only path that will
  make this happen.
• Can you take Piepers ideas and stop short of
  divine worship?

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So What?

• Pieper claims that the central problem of
  liberating people from this condition is
• Lack of significant activities for the working
  person
• Lack of people willing to forego work for
  leisure.
• Can we - do we - should we address these issues?