leisure and creativity

“For the Greek, the treasures of the mind were the fruit of his leisure, and for the free man any time that was not claimed by the State service, war, or ritual counted as free time, so that he had ample leisure indeed.

the word, “school” has a curious history behind it. Meaning originally “leisure” it has now acquired precisely the opposite sense of systematic work and training, as civilization restricted the free disposal of the young man’s time more and more and herded larger and larger classes of the young to a daily life of severe application from childhood onwards.

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Aristoteles says: “Nowadays, most people practice music for pleasure, but the ancients gave it a place in education, because Nature requires us not only to be able to work well but also to idle well.” This idleness or leisure is the principle of the universe according to Aristoteles. It is preferable to work; indeed, it is the aim of all work.

Johan Huinziga “homo ludens” p. 147 and 161