莫里茨·科內利斯·埃舍爾: 上上落落循環不盡的樓梯 / M.C. Escher: Infinite Staircase

In the YouTube video above, we see a man who is living in a Escher-like nightmare in which there is no escape. That reminds of the Chinese poet Tao Yuanming 陶渊明 who wished he had quit his bureaucrat career earlier in life. Instead, he found himself kowtowing to his superior in return for his pay cheque (five pecks of rice) which begs the question whether it is worthwhile prostituting one's own values, principle and integrity for a few dollars more.

《晉書·陶潛傳》: 『吾不能為五斗米折腰，拳拳事鄉里小人邪。』

官場打滾,

斗米折腰,

頻頻撲撲,

上上落落,

勞碌奔跑,

所為何事?

According to Wikipedia:

"Ascending and Descending" is a lithograph print by the Dutch artist M. C. Escher which was first printed in March 1960. Escher said there are 'free' people and these recalcitrant individuals refuse, for the time being, to take part in the exercise of treading the stairs. They have no use for it at all, but no doubt, sooner or later they will be brought to see the error of their non-conformity. Escher suggests that not only the labours, but the very lives of these monk-like people are carried out in an inescapable, coercive and bizarre environment. Another possible source for the people's looks is the Dutch idiom "a monk's job", which refers to a long and repetitive working activity with absolutely no practical purposes or results, and, by extension, to something completely useless.

References:

* Wikipedia: Ascending and Descending http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascending_and_Descending

* Wikipedia: 莫里茨·科內利斯·埃舍爾: Maurits Cornelis Escher（1898年6月17日－1972年3月27日），荷蘭畫家，其作品包含了不少數學內容，有分形、對稱、不可能物件、密舖平面和多面體等

* 藝術家這麼說 http://www.ylib.com/art/artist/10/artist10-11.html 一九六○年作品〈向上與往下〉，兩對士兵在一座城堡裡走樓梯，一隊士兵一直是上樓梯，爬得累得要死；另一隊相向的士兵下樓梯，輕鬆自在的往下走。如此走法，按正常道理兩隊人應該越走分離越遠，但是圖中這兩隊人卻走成了個循環，這到底是怎麼一回事？

* Wikipedia: 陶渊明 Tao Yuanming http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tao_Yuanming