Basketball players talk about “being in the zone” or “on fire.” Musicians describe losing themselves in the score. Characters “lead” their writers through a story. Gamers can lose hours in their digital worlds. What do all of these disparate practices and descriptions have in common? Well, for someone playing at or near their potential, each of these activities allows their practitioners to achieve what Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi calls the “flow” state: a sort of transcendence or a complete mental and physical absorption in a task. Conor Kelly, assistant professor at Marquette University, begins to unpack the relationship between flow state and leisure in this episode. Kelly argues that leisure can have intrinsic value, as opposed to purely instrumental value because, through leisure activities, we can achieve flow state, which he likens to the Catholic idea of “resting in God.” Join us for a look at free time and a thoughtful discussion on making it as productive as possible, and whether that should even be the goal. Sponsored by: Georgetown University Press