I argue in chapter 6 of my book that there’s an important distinction between recreation and restoration, and that it’s better for us to pursue the second rather than the first.

This morning I came across a quote by the great Abraham Heschel (whose book The Sabbath is one of my favorites) that expresses a similar idea:

People of our time are losing the power of celebration. Instead of celebrating we seek to be amused or entertained. Celebration is an active state, an act of expressing reverence or appreciation. To be entertained is a passive state–it is to receive pleasure afforded by an amusing act or a spectacle…. Celebration is a confrontation, giving attention to the transcendent meaning of one’s actions.

reading abraham heschel’s The Sabbath, via flickr