A familiar feeling for many is the anxiety that comes at the end of the weekend. Believe it or not there is a sociological term for this phenomenon: “The Sunday Scaries”. As silly as it might sound, it is, unfortunately, an all to real phenomenon that many people identify with. A simple Google search reveals dozens of articles written on the subject. One article goes so far as to suggest that they may be a connection between suicide and “Sunday Scaries”. This problem, trivial though it may be, is symptomatic of a deeper sickness in our society. It is symptomatic of a society that does not know how to rest. By rest, I do not mean the absence of work. Rest is not, as talked about in a previous post, lying in front of the TV while mindlessly consuming the newest show. It is also not catching up on chores that we did not quite have time to get to during the week. Rest is leisure. The latin word for leisure is otium, and the word that is used for business is negotium, literally, “not leisure”. Negotium is where we get the word negotiate from. So in antiquity, leisure was not the absence of work, but work was the absence of leisure. Leisure, especially contemplation, was seen as necessary for a good life as I point out in another post on the nature of happiness. Aquinas even states that leisure and contemplation are necessary for the perfection of society. So what happens to a society when leisure is thrown aside? Isn’t it just a luxury?
The Utility of Life
Leisure is an activity sought as an end in it of itself. It is differentiated from work which is a means to an end. While work is productive, leisure is creative. It is certainly no accident that a society which has forgotten leisure, has also forgotten the goodness of having and raising children: man’s most creative act. Without leisure man’s life just becomes a series of means to an end. Even the time he does spend resting is spent so that he may be rested for work. Academia becomes glorified job training. Entertainment becomes advertisement. Life itself becomes all about efficiency.
Such a society will find that even its morality is infected with this spirit. An act is no longer right or wrong on its own merit, but instead is judged by the goal of the intention. Every act is judged by its usefulness in reaching the desired end. In a sense, morality itself becomes a game of efficiency. Ultimately, morality becomes utilitarian. And the ends themselves will only remain good for so long, because without leisure man forgets his nature and purpose. Worse still, people become justified to a society based on their usefulness. The unborn become discardable, and the elderly become a burden. John Paul II makes the same observation when he speaks about the culture of death in Evangelium Vitae when he says, “This culture [the culture of death] is actively fostered by powerful cultural, economic and political currents which encourage an idea of society excessively concerned with efficiency… a life which would require greater acceptance, love and care is considered useless, or held to be an intolerable burden.” A society which forgets leisure is doomed to utilitarianism.
Reclaiming Leisure
Leisure is a preparation for the eternal. It is a preparation for Heaven. It is as Jesus tells Martha, “the better part” (Luke 10:42). Leisure is a fundamentally human activity because it is an abstraction from the day to day tasks of our lives. So how can we return to it again? First, it is necessary to take the 3rd commandment seriously again. When God rested on the seventh day, it was not just a lack of work. As John Paul II points out in Dies Domini,
It would be banal to interpret God’s “rest” as a kind of divine “inactivity”. By its nature, the creative act which founds the world is unceasing and God is always at work… The divine rest of the seventh day does not allude to an inactive God, but emphasizes the fullness of what has been accomplished. It speaks, as it were, of God’s lingering before the “very good” work (Gn 1:31) which his hand has wrought, in order to cast upon it a gaze full of joyous delight. This is a “contemplative” gaze which does not look to new accomplishments but enjoys the beauty of what has already been achieved
Thus, Sunday should be a day spent in “joyous delight”. First, in the sacrifice of the Mass, and then in the truth, beauty, and goodness of creation. There will of course be those for whom it is not possible to make Sunday a day of leisure because of extenuating circumstances, but this is the exception and not the rule. Sunday should not be a day to catch up on work, instead it should be a day dedicated to becoming human again.
Second, to reclaim leisure, we must be intentional. This is all the more necessary in the age of laptops and smartphones which mean that our work can follow us everywhere. Leisure must be a priority, and not just another item on a to-do list. On the other hand, we must also be mindful of our free time as we live in an age with seemingly endless distractions. While leisure need not be productive and perhaps ought not be, it is not just a distraction from life. It is the place where we can see meaning and beauty in life. So, as we move into 2025, let us struggle to reclaim leisure in a culture that is constantly demanding our attention.