The one feature that sets life on Earth apart from a paradise is suffering. It poses a problem for humanity and calls for a solution. This problem relates to human desires, the satisfaction of which is often difficult and uncertain, if not impossible, and always transient, in need of renewal; it is doomed to end sooner or later in death.

One extreme way of solving this problem is to kill these desires by detaching oneself from their objects, while providing the body with minimum care, or to simply kill oneself. This detachment consists in regarding these objects as illusory or vain. It proceeds from a defeatism or a mysticism. In cases where life offers possibilities of fulfillment in the accomplishment of pleasurable activities and honorable duties, this detachment is premature or suspicious. Like suicide in such cases, it may indicate a morbid disposition, marked by laziness and cowardliness.

The opposite of this extreme way is the foundation of modern civilization. It implies a stubborn attachment to the objects of one