LAW OF LABOR.

Necessity of labor. — 2. Limit of labor. Rest.

Necessity of labor.

Is the necessity of labor a law of Nature?

“Labor is a law of Nature, for the very reason that it constitutes a necessity, 2 and civilization obliges man to labor more, because it increases his needs and his enjoyments.”

By labor are only material occupations to be understood?

“No; the Spirit labors, just as the body does.

Every useful occupation is labor.”

Why is labor imposed upon man?

“Because it is a consequence of his corporeal nature.

It is expiation and, at the same time, a means of perfecting his intelligence.

Without labor, man would always remain in infancy, as regards intelligence. That is why his nourishment, his security, and his well-being depend on his labor and his activity.

To the one extremely weak in body God granted intelligence, in compensation. But it is always a labor.”

Why does Nature provide, by itself, for all the needs of the animals?

“Everything in Nature labors.

Like you, the animals labor, but their labor, in accordance with the intelligence they possess, is limited to their caring for their own preservation. Hence it comes that no progress results for them from labor, 3 whereas that of man aims at a double end: the preservation of the body and the development of the faculty of thinking, which is also a necessity and raises him above himself.

When I say that the labor of the animals is reduced to their caring for their own preservation, I refer to the objective with which they labor.

Nevertheless, in providing for their material needs, they constitute themselves, unconsciously, executors of the designs of the Creator and, thus, the labor they carry out also concurs to the realization of the final objective of Nature, even though you almost never discover its immediate result.”

In the more perfected worlds, are men subject to the same necessity of laboring?

“The nature of labor is in relation with the nature of the needs.

The less material these are, the less material the labor. But do not deduce from this that man remains inactive and useless.

Idleness would be a torment, instead of being a benefit.”

Will the man who possesses sufficient goods to assure his existence be exempt from the law of labor?

“From material labor, perhaps; 2 not, however, from the obligation to make himself useful, according to the means at his disposal, 3 nor from perfecting his intelligence or that of others, which is also labor.

He to whom God has granted the possession of goods sufficient to guarantee his existence is not, it is true, constrained to feed himself by the sweat of his brow, but his obligation to be useful to his fellows is all the greater, the more occasions to practice good are afforded him by the advancement that has been made to him.”

Are there not men who find themselves unable to labor at anything whatever and whose existence is, therefore, useless?

“God is just and, therefore, condemns only him who voluntarily made his existence useless, inasmuch as that one lives at the expense of the labor of others.

He wills that each one be useful, in accordance with his faculties.”

Does the law of Nature impose upon children the obligation of laboring for their parents?

“Certainly, in the same way that parents have to labor for their children.

It was for this that God made filial love and paternal love a natural sentiment.

It was so that, through that reciprocal affection, the members of a family would feel impelled to help one another mutually, which, moreover, is very frequently forgotten in your present society.” Limit of labor. Rest.

Being a necessity for everyone who labors, is rest not also a law of Nature?

“Without doubt.

Rest serves for the repair of the forces of the body and is also necessary to give a little more liberty to the intelligence, so that it may rise above matter.”

What is the limit of labor?

“That of one’s forces.

In sum, in this respect God leaves man entirely free.”

What is to be thought of those who abuse their authority, imposing excessive labor on their inferiors?

“That is one of the worst actions. Everyone who has the power to command is responsible for the excess of labor he imposes on his inferiors, inasmuch as, by so doing, he transgresses the law of God.”

Does man have the right to rest in old age?

“Yes, for he is obliged to nothing, except in accordance with his forces.”

a — But what is the old man to do who needs to labor in order to live and cannot?

“The strong must labor for the weak. The latter having no family, society must take its place. It is the law of charity.”

It is not enough that man be told that it is his duty to labor. It is necessary that he who has to provide for his existence by means of labor find something to occupy himself with, which does not always happen.

When it becomes general, the suspension of labor assumes the proportions of a scourge, like destitution. Economic science seeks a remedy for this in the equilibrium between production and consumption. But this equilibrium, supposing it possible to be established, will always suffer intermittences, during which the laborer does not cease to have to live.

There is an element that is not customarily weighed in the balance and without which economic science is no more than mere theory. That element is education, not intellectual education, but moral education. We do not refer, however, to moral education by means of books, but to that which consists in the art of forming characters, to that which instills habits, inasmuch as education is the sum of acquired habits.

Considering the flood of individuals who every day are cast into the torrent of the population, without principles, without restraint, and given over to their own instincts, are the disastrous consequences that ensue from this to be wondered at? When that art is known, understood, and practiced, man will have in the world habits of order and of foresight, toward himself and toward his own, of respect for all that is respectable, habits that will allow him to traverse less painfully the inevitable bad days.

Disorder and improvidence are two wounds that only a well-understood education can cure. This is the point of departure, the real element of well-being, the pledge of the security of all.