Leisure the Basis of Culture
One of the foundations of Western European culture is leisure. The Greek word for leisure schole, is the origin of Latin scola, German Schule, English school. The name for the institutions of education and learning means "leisure". The original meaning of the concept of "leisure" has practically been forgotten in today's leisure-less culture of "total work." We must confront the contradiction that rises from our overemphasis on the world of work. "One does not only work in order to live, but one lives for the sake of one's work," quoted by Max Weber. Aristotle: the sober, industrious realist, says "We are not at-leisure in order to be at leisure." For the Greeks, "not-leisure" was the word for the world of everyday work; and not only to indicate its "hustle and bustle," but the work itself. The Greek language had only this negative term for it as did Latin neg-otium "not-leisure." Aristotle's...