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Leisure Ethic

All my life I have been familiar with the concept of a work ethic: a devotion to the successful completion of a set of tasks. My understanding of what that means has evolved based on my experiences but the notion of work ethic makes my life seem to me to be more of a vocation than a set of accidents that happen to me.

It wasn't until I was in my thirties that a work colleague, Jim Drummond, introduced me to the notion of a leisure ethic. It clarified for me things I had felt for some time.

Leisure, the part of life separate from our work, includes things that strengthen/weaken us, things that heighten/deaden our senses and perspectives, things that lead us to be more/less reflective, the list is endless. What is most important for a leisure ethic is the realization that along many different scales our leisure lifts us up (whatever that means) or helps us to sink (whatever that means).

Exercise versus sitting still; seeking new ideas versus reinforcing old assumptions; viewed in the framework of a leisure ethic the list of dichotomies is quite long.

When I was young reading was primarily an escape for me; some mix of my family life, poor social skills, uncoordinated body, and innate depression led me to seek different worlds in fantasy and science fiction. At some point (leaving for university seems to have thrown many switches in me) I became obsessed with self-improvement, particularly in my lack of understanding of other cultures and history in general, and my proportion of light fictional reading dropped a good deal.

My career has generously presented me with challenges and between my work and leisure ethics I have felt quite fulfilled; the prospect of retirement in my (near? less than a decade away) future is daunting in trying to convince myself that I will continue to be challenged in my leisure, that I will continue to grow. 

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