Sometimes it seems like all is movement: a maelstrom of obligations, work and opportunity. The constant, powerful flow of life can feel invigorating but exhausting too. Work follows us home, and free time fills with domestic responsibilities, social commitments, fitness goals and keeping up with the rush of information. Rest becomes an indulgent waste of precious time. 

Seventy years ago, the philosopher Josef Pieper argued that we have developed a “prejudice that comes from overvaluing the sphere of work.” This prejudice has clouded our sense for the value of leisure, which for other cultures and other times, he says, “is the center point about which everything revolves.” Our prejudice has only increased as it has become easier to work whenever and wherever we want. Late 20th-...