Burden and Lightness

The heaviest of burdens is simultaneously an image of life's most intense fulfillment. The heavier the burden, the closer our lives come to the earth, the more real and truthful they become. Conversely, the absolute essence of burden causes us to be lighter than air, to soar into the heights, take leave of the earth and our earthly beings, and become only half real, our movements as free as they are insignificant. What then shall we choose? Weight or lightness? 

Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being