The modern mind, which mistakenly believes or at least behaves as if the natural purpose of human life were the pursuit of pleasure, cannot understand how a life oriented in this way leads to the opposite result. It cannot understand how, invariably, such a practice leads to little pleasure and a lot of emptiness; nor how, from the emptiness, comes a despairing frustration. As unpleasant as responsibility may seem, the life around it seems oriented to the modern mind. But responsibility, more lasting and productive, provides a sense of continuity, satisfaction and value that pleasure of any kind can never offer.