At every moment
we are crushed
by the idea and the sensation of time.
There are only two ways of escaping
from this nightmare, of forgetting it:
pleasure and work.
Pleasure exhausts us.
Work strengthens us.
Let us choose.

In every man, at every time,
there are two simultaneous tendencies
-one towards God, the other towards Satan.
The invocation of God or spirituality
is a desire to be promoted;
that of Satan,
or animality,
is the joy of descending.

–excerpt Journaux Intimes by Charles Baudelaire pub 1887

Pleasure is the positive form of tangible life;
we cannot experience it without unproductive expenditure
of our resources (it exhausts us).
Work, on the other hand,
is a form of activity.
Its effect is the increase of our resources (it strengthens us).
Work corresponds to the care of tomorrow,
Pleasure to the present moment…

–excerpt Literature and Evil by Georges Bataille 1937

We are spending four days in Taverse City, Michigan.  It is a destination on the Lake Michigan shore, wine country, home to many vineyards visited by travelers from surrounding states.  Thursday evening we enjoyed dinner next to a couple from Ohio.  Having a meal in proximity with others, in a restaurant appointed with tasteful decor, and especially when the aroma of oregano welcomes the olfactory sense, conveys the truth that there is nothing more supreme for any of us, than to love life.

I am continuing to read essays by Georges Bataille collected in the small book, Literature and Evil.  I cannot help but mull over ideas gathered by Bataille from his understanding of poets such as Charles Baudelaire.

A few hours ago while visiting the Chateau Chantal Winery, engaged in a wine tasting, I was reminded of what Baudelaire had to say about pleasure, and the relation between pleasure/play and work.  Certainly the poet observes the two states of activity to be markedly different, but they exist in relationship.  The Chateau Chantal Winery offers stunning views, as it sits on the peninsula’s highest point allowing one to see the bay on both sides of the land.  The view begins with the rows of vines covering the hills with a backdrop of maples, some beginning to flame orange.  Then there’s an expanse of water reflecting the graying sky, with the straight line horizon of the big lake.  One is dumbstruck by the view.  Without doubt such experience is pleasure, play, our body responds with appreciation.

There is also no doubt that the vineyard and winery symbolize a great deal of hard work, planning and planting, of what is soon to be two generations.  The couple that founded the winery began the planting in 1986.  Work is precursor, requisite to the expenditure of our energy, indeed of our life-force — in play.

Baudelaire’s suggestion that work and play is associated with the metaphors of God and the Devil respectively is brilliant.

The choice is difficult, but a choice must be made.  “Let us choose,” wrote Baudelaire.