Definitions from the books Creative Live and A Space for God---from sessions of The Maker's Space

Definitions

Leisure is not the inevitable result of spare time, a holiday, a weekend or a vacation.  It is, in the first place, an attitude of mind, a condition of the soul.  Leisure implies an attitude of nonactivity, of inward calm, of silence, it means not being “busy,” but letting things happen.  Leisure is a form of silence, of that silence which is the prerequisite of the apprehension of reality:  only the silent hear and those who do not remain silent do not hear.  Silence is the soul’s power to answer to the reality of the world undisturbed.  For leisure is a receptive attitude of mind, a contemplative attitude, and it is not only the occasion but also the capacity for steeping oneself in the whole of creation.  Leisure is not the attitude of mind of those who actively intervene, but of those who are open to everything: not of those who grab and grab hold, but of those who leave the reins loose and who are free and easy themselves—almost like someone falling asleep, for one can only fall asleep by letting oneself go.  When we really let our minds rest contemplatively n a rose in bud, on a child at play, a divine mystery, we are rested and quickened as though by a dreamless sleep…It is in these silent receptive moments that the soul of man is sometimes visited by an awareness of what holds the world together.  –Piper, {Leisure, The basis of Culture.}

Such an attitude pits us against compulsive busyness, against drivenness.  It leads toward solitude and contemplation—toward creating an inner receptivity, a space where we can hear our deepest longings, realize what life is about, penetrate into reality.  It can mean making a space for God.  It is prayer.  –Don Postema, {Space for God}

The contemplative life is the God-conscious life.  It is the life that knows its end and can rest in that knowledge.  “Be still and know that I am God.”  John Calvin said, “What is the chief end of man?  To know God and enjoy Him forever.  That is the eternal Sabbath which begins here.”

“I define creativity as the availability to a new thought that leads to an expression.”  --Alice Bass,{The Creative Life}