I used to go fly fishing. Just to be clear, this is very different than actually catching fish.
I didn’t really want to catch fish. I wanted to put on waders, stand in a cold stream on a hot summer day, listen to the insects, the birds, and the plops and gurgles of the water, while pretending that I was doing something purposeful.
I knew how to catch fish. I had learned the proper techniques, and I loved the sound of the line as I cast it through the air. I didn’t mind standing there switching out and tying the little flies on, and gingerly picking my way across the stream for a ‘better spot’, but it was actually kind of a hassle when I caught a fish.
I always debarbed my hooks, so half the time I wasn’t able to reel them in before they fell off the hook anyway. The other half, I gently removed the hook and let them go again. But mostly I didn’t cast with the intention of catching any in the first place.
Fishing was mostly a ruse. A way to not look weird while hanging out in a stream.
I could have just sat on the bank and enjoyed almost the same thing without the whole fishing activity, but like most of us, it was more comfortable to do something that appeared to have a point.
These days, I have a few shows I watch that have no particular value other than entertainment, but for the most part, my non-work activities are to achieve something: get fit, learn something, renovate a room, improve a skill. I also enjoy (most of) these activities while doing them, but at least part of the purpose is extrinsic - to get something else through doing them, as opposed to simply intrinsic - enjoying them for the pleasure of the moment.
It turns out that I’m not alone in experiencing some discomfort doing ‘purposeless’ activities. Especially in America, we are used to being driven to do activities by some external gauge we feel we ought to measure up to: fitness, beauty (of self, house, yard), cognitive ability, creating new opportunities, volunteering for social good etc.
It’s not that we don’t also enjoy these things, but we’re really good at rationalizing our use of time based on how ‘productive’ we feel as though it is, or how much value we might get from it later.
We take a vacation so that we will revitalize our productivity when we return, we do sudoku to ‘train our brain’, we go for a walk so that we don’t gain weight. Nothing wrong with any of that.
But productivity and extrinsic purposefulness is not all there is. Which seems obvious to say….except that it’s not typically the way we think of it in a daily sense.
Aristotle differentiated between three different types of activities: work, relaxation, and leisure.
Work was about utility (not just paid work, but would also include things like cleaning out the garage or grocery shopping as two modern examples!) For Aristotle, relaxation was so that we could work more productively when we got back to it. This is where a lot of us simply stop in our own distinctions. And this is why we tend to feel guilty when we’re not doing something useful, or preparing to do something useful, or making sure we can be useful later.
But then Aristotle contended that the greatest expression of humanity and the true goal of all human beings was to be found in leisure. Work was what you did in order to have more leisure.
Relaxation - for the purpose of - Work - for the purpose of - Leisure.
In that order.
He believed that culture - artistic, intellectual, and philosophical - was built in our leisure time. Leisure was wasn’t idleness (though he proposed that it should include reflection and contemplation), but pursuits that gave us their own reward. He explored the example of music. For him, leisure wasn’t just about being able to play or perform music, but to be able to listen and appreciate music for its own sake.
There are lots of modern caveats to this view of Aristotle’s, including that he felt you couldn’t really engage in proper leisure without appropriate education and that wasn’t available to everyone. So leisure was only truly available to the upper classes.
I don’t think that’s entirely true today, but it isn’t entirely untrue either. Firstly, there are Americans who have to work several jobs just to afford the basics and any sort of non-productive time is simply impossible. Also, leisure - in the Aristotelian sense - often costs money.
But not always.
Today, we’ve put such a high value on productivity that even those of high economic and educational status don’t spend much time in true leisure even though they could afford it, and there are many ways to enjoy ‘the good life’ that don’t cost money. It’s just that we tend not to think of it as equally worthy to work. When asked how they would spend an extra hour in the day, even perfectly financially comfortable people often respond that they would work.
So, for those who simply cannot participate in non-productive time, we have to have to fix the system. For the rest of us, perhaps we need to be reconsidering why productivity and work has become so all-encompassing and whether there isn’t a fuller expression of ourselves and our collective humanity.
This year, I am committing to get back to sketching - especially nature sketching. Drawing in pencil was something I used to do as a child, but dropped as an adult concerned with more productive pursuits. All I need is some pencils and paper and a trail or field or front yard. Easy. I also need to devote some time that would otherwise be assigned to something productive. Much harder.
Learning to observe the natural word in more detail is its own reward. It likely won’t bring me fortune, fame, or even a better salary, but it will make me a fuller, happier human and that’s all the justification I should have to apply.
That for me is the point of pointless pursuits. And I think humanity could use a healthier, guiltless attitude toward them.
Thoughts?
I was just thinking about this yesterday -- what are things I enjoyed to do as a child but have lost over time? Since I became a stay at home mom 5 years ago, I’ve all of a sudden been concerned with my productivity. Cleaning, homeschooling, etc. Most days it feels like too much and not enough at the same time!
Would love to see some nature sketches if you’re willing to share! ☺️