Cindy of Dominion Family aka Ordo Amoris fame not only helped me to appreciate *leisure* by idealizing it on her blog, but also challenged me to re-assess my working definition of the word. Basically she kept using the term in relation to education or schooling.
Here's a link to the instigating post.
The result was an interesting online book club discussion that clarified her position and undergirded mine.
Here's a link to my comments on Pieper's book.
In short.... Leisure is not for the faint-hearted.
W. H. Davies, who interestingly enough spent a significant part of his life as a vagabond, entertained the concept in the following poem:
We have not time to stand and stare.
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or 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.
W. H. Davies
1871 - 1940
Welsh Poet
Leisure can be a trigger word.
Much like the word *boredom*.
What do you think?
Photo borrowed from Flickr:
Sculpture by Andrew Brown 2005
Fisherman
Port William, Scotland
Ooh, I do like this one. That discussion on leisure was a great help to me -- I'm so glad we had it -- but it's still a concept I don't know how to discuss with anyone outside my family (and my blog buddies, obviously) because it's so misunderstood and undervalued.
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