And this confession of a man's obligation constitutes the gist of
the third answer to the question, "What is to be done?"

I tried not to lie to myself: I tried to cast out from myself the
remains of my false conceptions of the importance of my education
and talents, and to repent; but on the way to a decision of the
question, "What to do?" a fresh difficulty arose. There are so many
different occupations, that an indication was necessary as to the
precise one which was to be adopted. And the answer to this
question was furnished me by sincere repentance for the evil in
which I had lived.

"What to do? Precisely what to do?" all ask, and that is what I
also asked so long as, under the influence of my exalted idea of any
own importance, I did not perceive that my first and unquestionable
duty was to feed myself, to clothe myself, to furnish my own fuel,
to do my own building, and, by so doing, to serve others, because,
ever since the would has existed, the first and indubitable duty of
every man has consisted and does consist in this.

In fact, no matter what a man may have assumed to be his vocation,--
whether it be to govern people, to defend his fellow-countrymen, to
divine service, to instruct others, to invent means to heighten the
pleasures of life, to discover the laws of the world, to incorporate
eternal truths in artistic representations,--the duty of a
reasonable man is to take part in the struggle with nature, for the
sustenance of his own life and of that of others. This obligation
is the first of all, because what people need most of all is their
life; and therefore, in order to defend and instruct the people, and
render their lives more agreeable, it is requisite to preserve that