Anna Karenina

After lunch Levin "was not in the same place in the string of mowers as before, but stood between the old man who had accosted him jocosely, and now invited him to be his neighbor, and a young peasant, who had only been married in the autumn, and who was mowing this summer for the first time." Levin is positioned between an experienced old man and a newlywed beginner. "The old man, holding himself erect, moved in front, with his feet turned out, taking long, regular strides, and with a precise and regular action which seemed to cost him no more effort than swinging one's arms in walking, as though it were in play, he laid down the high, even row of grass. It was as though it were not he but the sharp scythe of itself swishing through the juicy grass." The old man's technique is so perfect it seems effortless, as if the scythe moves by itself. This is mastery - decades of practice making hard work look easy. "Behind Levin came the lad Mishka. His pretty, boyish face, with a twist of fresh grass bound round his hair, was all" eager and young. The chapter describes the physical experience of mowing in detail - the rhythm, the technique, Levin struggling to keep up but finding flow in the work. At one point: "he just as ever, and moving his feet in their big, plaited shoes with firm, little steps, he climbed slowly up the steep place, and though his breeches hanging out below his smock, and his whole frame trembled with effort, he did not miss one blade of grass or one mushroom on his way, and kept making jokes with the peasants and Levin." Even climbing steep slopes with a scythe, the old man maintains perfect precision and good humor. "Levin walked after him and often thought he must fall, as he climbed with a scythe up a steep cliff where it would have been hard work to clamber without anything. But he climbed up and did what he had to do. He felt as though some external force were moving him." Levin is in a flow state - beyond conscious effort, feeling moved by "some external force." This is one of literature's most famous descriptions of physical labor producing transcendence.