Fate

Work is not the opposite of rest. Work and rest are not opposed if they follow one another, if they follow a secure rhythm. And when they don’t? Rest becomes worse than idleness. Nothing is possible because everything is possible; the horizon is open. In one sense, it is like being a child, insofar as the future is not determined. But you know you are no longer a child, that you are a certain kind of person, that although everything is possible it is not possible for you as an agent, that is to say, as one who acts in the first person. Yes, anything is possible – but this means you are victim of blind fate, of the god’s whims. And work? When you work too hard, the imposture upon which work is based reveals itself. You think you are the author of your actions, that your labours are under your control. But a kind of compulsion takes over – it mocks you, mocks you idea that it is you who are in control. In truth, once again, it is a question of fate, of compulsion, of the gods’ whim. Work and rest: the same.