Without a doubt, this is going to be an incredible book club experience. We are all going to be bringing such diverse baggage, definitions and history (our own personal story and the history that brings us from Aristotle to today) to the table that I believe the ideas we study in this book will change us, even if we disagree with them.
One of the concepts of the mimetic sequence that Andrew Kern teaches is to always move from the known to the unknown. For the Christian the obvious place to start in understanding Pieper is the idea of sabbath. This opens up plenty for contemplation. For many a sabbath is a negation. It is defined by what we are not doing rather than what we are doing: resting. I think the key to whether the sabbath is a legalistic adherence or a celebration lies in our understanding of rest and leisure. But I am going to have to ponder that for a while.
Interestingly, Pieper says the idea that "we work in order to be at leisure" almost appears as immoral to us. I agree. I am uncomfortable thinking about leisure.
It is going to take some time for me to sort out my thoughts but I am trying to take this all back to my own agrarian experience before I became philosophical. My years of trying to live in the modern world and the pre-Civil War agrarian world at the same time failed miserably, much of the failure centered around servile labor that in the end seemed rather fruitless. Maybe I was just a short-timer. But I think there was more to it than that. Maybe something tied into the concept of works righteousness and pulling myself up by my bootstraps. Maybe. I am still working through it all.
So there you have a tiny drop of the baggage, definitions and history that I am bringing to the table. I would love to hear what baggage, history and definitions you are bringing, if you know. If you don't know now maybe you will know by the end of the book.
HOUSEKEEPING:
We may end up reading more than one chapter a week but not until everyone has gotten their books in the mail and caught up.
18 comments:
Looking forward to everyone's links, I'm donning my raincoat and heading out the door.
Back in a bit.
Providentially, this past Sunday, we enjoyed a sermon entitled *Delighting in the Sabbath*
It dovetails nicely with the opening of Pieper's because after understanding the definition of the Sabbath, *rest*, or *leisure* - whatever you want to call it...
we must practice it.... just the same a learning a piece of music, a few measures at the time, starting with the right hand, then the left, and then together.
I break that down into teaching childing how to occupy themselves on Sundays... how to sit still in church.
All seems very basic to me, although I will admit to not knowing how to be alone with myself (very well) until I was much older.
I mean, really? some cannot even sit still through a short dinnertime meal of 15 minutes, nevermind a worship service.
Practice makes perfect :)
I think one large piece of baggage is thinking that leisure is entertainment or idleness. And that goes against our American drive and our Protestant work ethic.
But aren't the best times of contemplation really in the mundane, repetitive tasks of life: weeding, walking, laundry-folding, etc.? So, I'm curious to see where he goes with definitions of work and leisure. I am still not ready to give up that what we do (homemaker, teacher, etc. -- sure, these can be who we *are*, but if we don't *do* the associated duties can we *be* them?) is a part of who we are. And, Aristotle's vision of the Free Man depends upon having a class of Not-Free Men doing the servile arts so the Free Man has leisure. How does this look or fit when there is no class distinction between aristocracy and peasant/servant?
Mystie,
This is an excellent point and one that we skimmed over at the apprenticeship after a devotional. I would love to hear what others think and I am tempted to ask a few specific people.
Today a quote went around ClassEd: "No person who can read is ever successful at cleaning out an attic." Ann Landers
And in truth, some very tidy people can be tedious to be around. As a matter of fact, I find it interesting that people who were in ATIA (Gothard) often quoted the verse about God being a God of order, in reference to all their petty standards. As an aside, this is why we must have fiction; we have to have some way to gossip :)
But on the other hand, is true spirituality only for the cloistered monk? We know that work is good. But there is no denying that learning is tied irrevocably to leisure whether that leisure is actual or just a part of a tedious task.
We want our children to grow up to work and work hard. But my husband goes to work in a very different way than I do and frankly, I have more time for learning, reading and contemplating.
And, of course, I relate very well to the absent-minded professor or the blue-stocking with a sink full of dishes.
All that I say above is off the cuff and only basic thoughts. I am not at all ready to defend a thesis only think out loud.
What are you thinking?
The thing I like the most about the work/leisure statements in the first chapter is the hint that it might be ok for a man to only fulfill an occupation so that he can provide for his family and have a life outside his job. I think there is a lot of pressure for men to find their identity or fulfillment in their job.
In the preface it says that leisure is not possible apart from "cultus" which is defined as "divine worship." What is the purpose of work *or* leisure? All is to be done to the glory of God and for building His kingdom. It reminds me of how Jesus said that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. We are to honor the Sabbath day, deliberately setting it aside as a respite, not as an imposition on us, but for our benefit.
That's not the only time for contemplation, but it is one which is commanded by God, and we are blessed in many ways when we "keep" the Lord's Day. I liked the reference to festivals given by the gods (Plato quote at the beginning) as our Lord does intend we ought to be refreshed by such times. It reminded me of the tithe God required that In Deuteronomy 14, where He told His people:
"and spend the money for whatever you desire—oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves. And you shall eat there before the LORD your God and rejoice, you and your household."
Would that be being "not-at-leisure" in order to "be-at-leisure"? Or maybe I'm confusing ceasing work and having a party with Pieper's view of leisure as a time of contemplation?
Cindy,
I'm following along, but I'm not done with chapter one yet.
This may have been obvious to some searching for this book to buy, but I don't think I saw this mentioned yet--it's free on the internet at:
http://www.archive.org/details/leisurethebasiso007390mbp
(Just in case someone wanted to join in but hasn't received their book yet--or like others, didn't have this one in the budget. :) )
Well Cindy, I spent a little more than a week off the internet for various reasons (mostly time) and I came back to catch up here and wow - there is much to catch up on. I'm sorry I missed the last week - some great thoughts here. This book sounds great - I'll enjoy following the discussion.
Okay, after reading the comments, I find myself traveling down a road I sort of started down when writing my post, only to turn around because I couldn't figure it out yet.
But something like this: agrarian work can be more leisurely than Industrial work.
My husband and I were discussing this. My dad has all of these stories from his twenties about these great thoughts that came to him while he was...plowing a field...fixing a tractor...spraying cotton.
His work was a skill of his hands that, over time, he learned to do in the freedom of something like autopilot. And while his body did the work, his mind "worked" upon whatever it was that he had been thinking about.
My husband, on the other hand, sits at a desk with a computer in front of him, a computer which demands his complete attention for at least six of his eight hours there. If that is not "total work" I don't know what is. He has not the freedom to think outside of his various breaks.
All of this is to say that I think that certain times of manual labor can become leisurely activities in a contemplative sense. I remember reading a blog post once by a woman. While her children were scrubbing the dining room floor, she sat beside them and read to them. In this way, they learned to work and think at the same time. And a chore that could have been irritating turned into a spontaneous book club.
Just something I'm thinking about.
The seven-year-old is hungry, so I guess that's all I've got. :)
Not sure how it fits into this discussion, but I was reminded of it reading some of the comments. It's a quote by John Adams. He seems to be saying that certain times lend themselves more to contemplation than others, and that it must be earned to some extent, through sacrifice:
"The science of government it is my duty to study, more than all other
sciences; the arts of legislation and administration and negotiation
ought to take the place of, indeed exclude, in a manner, all other arts.
I must study politics and war, that our sons may have liberty to study
mathematics and philosophy. Our sons ought to study mathematics and
philosophy, geography, natural history and naval architecture,
navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children
a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary,
tapestry and porcelain."
Yes, Brandy's comment clarified the question in my mind. Is "total work" working most of your waking hours or is it all-absorbing work? I started in on chapter 2, also, and I became even more confused about what he was actually saying because I didn't know what he meant by his terms and he didn't define or clarify. It could also be a function of the translation or translator, too.
Carmon -- I think we do need more parties. We need introverted leisure and extroverted leisure. :) Mostly, as your passage points out, we need to recover the rejoicing in our bounty (whatever it may be) and in creation and food and wine and fellowship.
Yikes, I need to hurry and catch up! Waaaait for meeeeee!
FWIW - Eliot's Introduction is much better than Scruton's.
Eliot's anything is much better than nearly everyone else's.
;-)
(random comment so I can subscribe to the comments)
Hoping to get over to read Eliot sometime.....life comes fast.
Mystie,
You got me thinking again...go away..jk.
My husband and I often wonder if we really messed up our financial picture by following teaching that said the Tim must be at home. So for years he worked outside the home and stressed and worried and started home businesses. Those businesses so drained our finances and his leisure that I honestly think he would have been better off just going to work 'for the man' and then coming home with all that behind him. As a matter of fact, he does like his job now and is not planning on trying to come home :)
Anyway, I think about that sometimes.
Interesting about your husband, Cindy. It made me think about a man I met in seminary. His father owned his own business, and this man, as a boy, felt like he was in a situation of...TOTAL WORK. He used different words, but I think he would have liked the phrase. His family lived in an apartment over his dad's business, and his dad couldn't let a day's work ever be over. He'd run downstairs during meals, he'd bring a portable phone with him to any evenings he was actually at home. Even though the family was Christian, the result seemed to be that the whole family lived not for the Lord, but rather for the father's work.
This makes me think about the situation Si is in right now. He was self-employed for a few years, and the lifestyle was wonderful, but we could no longer afford our growing family, so he got a job literally for the man, as he works for the government.
He likes his job fine, but I do think what he finds fulfilling is that the union...makes him go home. (We are not members, but they are still in charge of his workplace.) So he comes home, gardens, plans classes he teaches, and basically lives with more leisure than a lot of self-employed men.
Reading your last comment makes me want to be more supportive of that. Something to think about, and it might require me to work a bit harder during the day. Hmmm...
I can't take part in the reading at this time, but I am thoroughly enjoying "listening" in on the discussion. Thank you, everyone!
I'm reading along and have started a few comments here only to have small people distract me or a baby help type! But I'm very much enjoying the discussion so far and really appreciated your blog post, Brandy, about having a pre-fall understanding of work. My Bible study has been in Genesis lately, so I've been freshly aware of how man was given good, purposeful work to do from the very beginning as part of fulfilling his nature. AND given a day to rest from his labors before those labors were harder because of sin.
I think it very much matters that we separate our cultural view of work and leisure from a *right* view of work and leisure. Maybe add to Aristotle's quote--we are [rightly] not-at-leisure so that we can be [rightly] at leisure.
Cindy--thank you for sharing your experience with trying to re-integrate home and work in the modern world. Our family, too, has tried to understand what this would look like in an idealized way. And for us, it just didn't work. My husband needs the creative energy that comes from working with others outside the home (not just online either). And he's just a better husband and daddy, more fully *with* us, when he's been away and comes home to us.
Hopefully my 8 month old will sleep more soundly at night soon and my mind will find it can focus well enough to participate more in the discussion! For now, reading seems to be about my limit!
Jami
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