If a man could understand all the horror of the lives of ordinary people who are turning around in a circle of insignificant interests and insignificant aims, if he could understand what they are losing, he would understand that there can only be one thing that is serious for him – to escape from the general law, to be free.
What can be serious for a man in prison who is condemned to death?
Only one thing: How to save himself, how to escape: nothing else is serious.
– G. I. Gurdjieff
Cosmic Flotsam 