I often regret having come into this pretty world; not that I hate the world. No ... I love the world, I love high society & even the demi-monde, since I'm a sort of demi-mondain myself.
   But what have I come to do on this Earth, which is so earthly and so earthy?
   Do I have duties to perform here? Have I come here to carry out a mission — a commission?
   Have I been sent here to amuse myself? to enjoy myself a little? ... to forget the miseries of a beyond which I no longer remember? Am I not unwelcome here?
   What should I say to all these questions?
   Thinking, almost from the moment of my arrival, that I was doing some good down here, I began to play a few musical airs which I myself had invented ...
   All my troubles stemmed from there.

(Erik Satie: Recoins de ma vie)

French orginal text