"When we really let our mind rest contemplatively on a rose in bud, on a child in play, on a divine mystery, we are rested and quickened as though be a dreamless sleep." It seems so simple. It is a passive reception not of sensory data: colors, shapes, and sounds. It is a passive reception of the reality behind these things: who made them, that they in some way reflect His beauty, that this is a person who is made in His image and after his own likeness and has inalienable dignity. It is amazing. These are the things that bring about the emotion of joy. They elicit from man a resting in a present good. This then goes back to the discussion of the difficulty/reward ratio. The end is the good. Leisure seems to me, so far, as the apprehension of a creature's participation with the divine attributes. Leisure is, consequently, connected with theology and philosophy. It is the prerequisite for doing both. Before philosophy there must be leisure and before theology ther must be philosophy. This is where I find myself. I have tried to philosophize or theologize without first being at rest. I saw it as work, a task to be performed and accomplished.
a reflection on Chapter III of Leisure: The Basis of Culture
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