Dialog on Soul and Fate

I observed Vincenz’s secret. I had someone in front of me who had debunked two bloated mythologies in one go. Also the smaller one, that of lamenting “wanderers” ready to waste their whole lives on temporary matters and waiting for a return (return to what?), just to pretend that they are not where they are. His secret was the same reverence for fire, bread, oil, and wine, the lack of which breaks the law and is enough to turn many of your proud attempts to nothingness. He had not been banished from anywhere. No angel stood behind him at the gate announcing that we must choose either utter passivity or chase the Era like the dogs a metal hare. There was land spread around, sufficient, because it was equipped with everything we need for our daily admiration.

(Czesław Miłosz, La Combe, 1958)