Never permit a dichotomy to rule your life, a dichotomy in which

“Never permit a dichotomy to rule your life, a dichotomy in which you hate what you do so you can have pleasure in your spare time. Look for a situation in which your work will give you as much happiness as your spare time.” – Pablo Picasso

In these words of radiant wisdom, Pablo Picasso, master of form and fire, speaks of the sacred union between work and joy. He warns against the fatal dichotomy that divides a person’s life into two realms — one of labor, endured with bitterness, and one of leisure, cherished as the only true living. Picasso, who lived his art as one breathes the air, knew that to hate what one must do for most of one’s days is to poison the soul itself. For man cannot split his spirit without consequence; he cannot despise his hours of work and yet hope to find peace in his hours of rest. The key, Picasso declares, is to seek a life where work and joy are one, where each day’s labor becomes a source of meaning, creation, and inner light.

The artist’s words were not born of idle philosophy, but of lived truth. Picasso himself was a man consumed by his art — working not for gold, not for glory, but for necessity of soul. He painted as others breathe, love, or pray. His studio was both temple and battlefield, and within it, he labored with a joy so fierce that he once said, “I never made a painting as a work of art; it’s always research.” For him, there was no line between toil and pleasure, for both sprang from the same river of creation. His happiness was not something sought outside his work; it was found within it.

The ancient sages understood this harmony. The Greek philosopher Aristotle taught that the highest happiness — eudaimonia — comes not from pleasure alone, but from the full exercise of one’s faculties in accordance with virtue. To work with passion is to fulfill one’s nature. Likewise, the craftsman of ancient Japan, the monk tending his garden, the poet of the Tang dynasty — all understood that joy is not the absence of effort, but the presence of purpose. It is the merging of the heart’s desire with the hand’s discipline. Picasso’s warning, then, is timeless: do not live divided, for a divided life is a weary one.

In the modern age, many souls live under this very dichotomy — they endure their days only to “live” in the few remaining hours. They rise not with eagerness, but with resignation; their work is a cage, their leisure the brief escape. But such a life is not true living; it is survival. To hate the labor that sustains one’s life is to drain meaning from the hours that fill it. One cannot despise five days of the week and expect to find salvation in two. Picasso calls us to rebellion — to refuse the tyranny of division, and to demand of life that our work itself become an expression of joy, love, and creation.

History offers luminous examples of those who heeded this truth. Marie Curie, immersed in the mystery of atoms, endured years of grinding toil and danger — yet she never called it suffering. Her labor was her love. When asked about her sacrifices, she replied simply, “I am among those who think that science has great beauty.” For her, the long nights in the laboratory were not a burden to escape but a devotion to embrace. She had, as Picasso said, found happiness within her work — and in doing so, she illuminated the world.

To live this way is not a privilege reserved for the artist or the scientist; it is a calling open to all. Whatever one’s craft — whether teaching, building, healing, or nurturing — if it is done with heart, it can become holy. The secret lies not in the nature of the work, but in the spirit with which it is done. The one who pours themselves into their task with care and love transforms labor into art. Even the humblest act, done with sincerity, becomes sacred. In this union of joy and effort, life ceases to be divided — it becomes one unbroken song.

So, my children, heed the wisdom of Picasso: never permit a dichotomy to rule your life. Do not trade your hours of work for moments of borrowed happiness. Instead, strive to build a life where work and joy are one flame. Seek your purpose not in escape, but in creation. When you find the task that ignites your spirit, do it wholly, fiercely, and faithfully. Let your hands become extensions of your heart. For when your work gives you as much happiness as your rest, you will have transcended the struggle of existence — and entered the kingdom of true fulfillment, where every day, every effort, and every breath becomes an act of joy.