life itself, while my refusal to share in the struggle, my monopoly
of the labors of others, is equivalent to annihilation of the lives
of others. And, therefore, it is not rational to serve the lives of
men by annihilating the lives of men; and it is impossible to say
that I am serving men, when, by my life, I am obviously injuring
them.

A man's obligation to struggle with nature for the acquisition of
the means of livelihood will always be the first and most
unquestionable of all obligations, because this obligation is a law
of life, departure from which entails the inevitable punishment of
either bodily or mental annihilation of the life of man. If a man
living alone excuses himself from the obligation of struggling with
nature, he is immediately punished, in that his body perishes. But
if a man excuses himself from this obligation by making other people
fulfil it for him, then also he is immediately punished by the
annihilation of his mental life; that is to say, of the life which
possesses rational thought.

In this one act, man receives--if the two things are to be
separated--full satisfaction of the bodily and spiritual demands of
his nature. The feeding, clothing, and taking care of himself and
his family, constitute the satisfaction of the bodily demands and
requirements; and doing the same for other people, constitutes the
satisfaction of his spiritual requirements. Every other employment
of man is only legal when it is directed to the satisfaction of this
very first duty of man; for the fulfilment of this duty constitutes
the whole life of man.

I had been so turned about by my previous life, this first and