Understandably upset, the Catholic Josef Pieper produced his "Leisure the Basis of Culture" in 1947. As opposed to the "Live to Work" motto of Weber, he resuscitated Aristotle's motto of "Work to have Leisure." Here Culture is derived from its root "Cultus" which means Divine Worship. Later its meaning expanded to embrace all Creative work in the arts as opposed to Servile work undertaken for monetary gain at the behest of others.
Here it should be made abundantly clear that leisure does not mean the present day weekend spent in mindless travel and/or binge TV watching or drinking. Leisure is only worth its meaning when it is not a break from work in order to go back to it rejuvenated, in which case it is just an adjunct to work.
In 21st Century Bharat, there is a similar glorification of work for its own sake. Governments are considering 12 hour work days & Corporate Barons are glibly talking about 14-16 hour workdays as if the only goal of human (?) life is Wealth Creation.
We share the instinct to preserve our life, feed ourselves, have a pecking order (called "Status" in human society) & reproduce ourselves with other creation. The only distinguishing difference of humans is the capacity for Divine Worship & interest in the Creative arts. If there is no time or inclination for these, we are no better than we should be.
To conclude, we can heed Pieper, who warns that unless we recover true leisure - the ability for silence, contemplation & insight; for receptivity & intuitive openness to truth - & replace our frenetic amusements & relentless striving, we will destroy our Culture & Ourselves.
