When we were in school, we were told that the rate of technological advance was so rapid, and the labor-saving devices planned for production would be so efficient and effective, that the chances were very good we’d only work 24-hour workweeks as adults. We’d be wallowing in oodles and oodles of leisure time in all the years ahead. But that seemingly utopian vision never materialized for us, or for very many others. What happened?
According to various researchers, the proportion of our lives spent working only declined slightly in the last half of the twentieth century. And in some occupations, the average workweek has actually extended considerably to 50 or even 60 hours per week or more. Most of us aren’t idle. We’re productive. We’re diligent. We’re committed. And we’re tired.
According to author Wayne Muller in his book, “Sabbath,” we Americans have come to value money more than time, and so we spend our time in pursuit of the commodity of greatest significance to us: money. And then when we are not spending our time at work making money, we spend the remainder of our time spending the money we’ve made. Apparently we Americans spend over three times as many hours per year shopping as Europeans do. We’re busy accumulating stuff and pursuing the good life as we see it temptingly portrayed in the media every day.
Even our leisure time is more likely than before to involve spending money. No more lounging around the house during our days off from work: grilling, reading, picnicking or gardening. Instead, a great vacation is typically thought to be one that involves expensive travel to distant places or engagement in exciting and extravagant activities.
Of course, securing greater earnings and then enjoying greater rewards in the form of purchases isn’t really a bad thing. We should enjoy the fruits of our labor. But, as Muller points out, if we labor only for money and what it can buy, we’re probably missing out on the possibility of accumulating a lot of other things that our time could have helped us acquire, but our money cannot.
When we are not busy being productive and industrious, for example, we have the opportunity to indulge ourselves with some rest and relaxation. And far from being a useless waste of our time, such rest actually changes our brain function in some astonishing ways. When we are idle, the Default Mode Network (DMN) of our brains kicks into high gear, incubating our earlier ideas and eventually resulting in greater creativity and greater joy, claims author Lawton Ursrey.
We wonder if other “unproductive” ventures such as prayer, meditation, reflection, dreaming, hoping and imagining might also yield surprising results.
Maybe spending more time on these options won’t yield immediate tangible rewards, but they just might be the means by which we develop a far richer interior life – more patient, more thoughtful, more loving, more faithful. And when you get right down to it, those things may be the real essentials.
