KEEP THE OLD WARM

To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization, and at present very few people have reached this level. – Bertrand Russel

Leisure time…..after we’ve worked hard, how do we spend our time? After we’ve earned money, how do we spend it? After we’ve done what we needed to do, what do we want to do?

All of us are more or less free to do as we please. From the fun and amusing to the abusive and reckless, we can play a sport, watch a movie, or drink ourselves drunk.

None of what we choose I will call wrong or evil. But some things are better than others. Some things we do with our leisure are for ourselves and ourselves only. Some things we do for our friends, family, and community. Some things we do are for all of the world.

I love playing a sport, watching a movie, having a drink, hanging out with friends, getting into nature, and doing other pleasing things with my leisure time. Yet, such things are for my own enjoyment. I spend less of my leisure time doing things for others or for the betterment of my soul.

Does spending leisure time intelligently mean we must always do things for others and our self-improvement? Perhaps, perhaps not.

What if spending our leisure time in an intelligent way means reading, writing, thinking, appreciating music and the arts? What if it means partaking in a democratic system, learning history, and finding ways to be useful and not a burden in such a system?

To me, leisure time must be spent both unintelligently and intelligently.

If we look at the United States and the millions of people who chase the almighty dollar to stack their own millions, what is their aim after they’ve achieved this impressive feat? They typically spend it, on luxury, travel, and consumption. This is fine and fair, but not intelligent.

We are in a system where even if we become rich and achieve that status and title, we merely have more money to spend on consumption. We consume and do not create. I speak only for the general trend in my own country.

To relax and consume with the money we’ve earned is entirely in our right and is quite enjoyable. But we cannot on the one hand consume the fanciest of things while on the other say we are spending our leisure intelligently.

Karl Marx once said it was the duty of the petty bourgeoisie (what we would call upper middle class), that once they’ve achieved a measure of wealth and comfort, it was part of their duty to learn and help those below them who continue to struggle and who have no wealth or peace of mind.

Knowing that, I would say that while we continue to spend our leisure time however we wish (often unintelligently), spending leisure time intelligently must also be mixed in. To use our leisure time intelligently is something along the lines of spending time growing in knowledge, wisdom, and applying it in ways to make ourselves better people, lovers, spouses, parents, children, community members, democratic citizens, and over all human beings.

We cannot spend all of our time enjoying ourselves through pleasure and consumption, for we do not grow. We merely relieve ourselves of the pain and exhaustion that comes with life. This is entirely fine, but not our ultimate aim. Alongside enjoying ourselves and our money in whichever way we see fit, we must set aside time for growth – reading, writing, learning, developing skills, creating with our own mind and hands, seeking wisdom, applying wisdom, helping our community, studying and protecting democracy, and helping the world.

Enjoy your drink, your vacation, your pleasure….but never forget to make time for the intelligent things. For those are the things that will bring you a sense of accomplishment and character, and will help your family, friends, community, and world at large. Those are the things that will starve your ego and feed your soul. Those are the things that will make you happy and proud of your life whenever it is your time to leave it.

Enjoy pleasure and enjoy growth. But beware, civilization will suffer if pleasure is our only goal.