The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Eternal Return

At the very beginning of The Unbearable Lightness of Being we are introduced to this philosophical concept of "Eternal Return".

It is explained to us that in this universe, time is infinite therefore time goes on in a linear line. However, the matter in this universe is finite meaning eventually things will reoccur as time continues as there are only a certain number of combinations of matter before things begin to return, thus an infinite cycle.

Nietzsche links eternal return with heaviness, the more things return and reoccur the more meaningful and remembered it becomes, it becomes a "solid mass, permanently protuberant, its inanity irreparable." With weight, it "crushes us, we sink beneath it, it pins us to the ground... the woman longs to be weighted down by the man's body... The heavier the burden, the closer our lives come to the earth, the more real and truthful they become."

"Conversely, the absolute absence of a burden causes man to be lighter than air, to soar into the heights, take leave of the earth and his earthly being, and become only half real, his movements as free as they are insignificant."

Our human lives are short and considered quite insignificant (therefore it is light), this we find unbearable which is why we add un-necessary weight on our lives. An example of this is when the narrator mentions the African war in which "a hundred thousand blacks perished in excruciating torment." I personally had no idea of this war, however I do know about the 2005 London bombings in which only 52 people lost their lives.

Throughout the rest of this novel Kendera explore contrasting cases of heaviness and lightness through Tomas. Tomas is involved in many mistresses, going from one to the other in a light manner until he meets Tereza who weighs him down with heavy burdening love. Sabina is one of Tomas's regular mistresses who understands Tomas and he enjoys being with her, however their encounters are only ever light and Tomas later goes on with life without her. However even though Tomas and Tereza continue to be unhappy together, they cannot live apart and keep returning to each other making their love even heavier, weighing them both down.