Reading these lines from Italo Calvino's The Nonexistent Knight made me think of someone who would might be called a company man. Many variants of the traditional company man exist no matter what line of work the person is in. They would not have well-defined sense of self beyond what they do for a living. The consider the power, position and money the work affords than as proxies for their own value. So they cling to work like this knight clings to his armor.
Agilulf, always needed to feel himself facing things as if they were a massive wall against which he could pit the tension of his will, for only in this way did he manage to keep a sure consciousness of himself. But if the world around was instead melting into the vague and ambiguous, he would feel himself drowning in that morbid half light, incapable of allowing any clear thought or decision to flower in that void.
Many among us do not check all the characteristics of a archetypical company man and yet we have many of the traits that are lead to nonexistence without the armor. To me this was a cautionary tale of what one can easily become.
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