In his book On the Unseriousness of Human Affairs, the Rev. James V. Schall, who was a legendary Jesuit and teacher at Georgetown University, argues for the importance of fun. Dancing, gardening, bike riding, and other fun activities, he writes, are more important than politics.

Having fun in so-called frivolous activities is a way of acknowledging our limits and mortality, Schall says. Jokes, ping pong, surfing, and dancing signal that there are limits to what we can do with our time on Earth and that our ego-driven politics are not really what makes us spiritual creatures. “The governance of God over his creation, His ability to bring it to its end, does not depend on the affairs of men, though it does include them,” Schall wrote. “He is present in our tragedies and our elations. The Cross is, as a Kempis said, a ‘royal road.’”