Meandering in thought . . .

Today is the birthday of Nikos Kazantzakis (February 18, 1883 - October 26, 1957), writer and philosopher. He is best known for Zorba the Greek (Vios kai politeia tou Alexi Zorba) and The Last Temptation of Christ (O teleutaios peirasmos).

Here again is an author whose work was banned. His book, The Last Temptation of Christ, was considered quite controversial when first published in 1955, and prompted angry reactions from both the Roman Catholic Church which banned it, and from the Greek Orthodox Church which excommunicated him. - source (1)

"Where are we going? Do not ask! Ascend, descend. There is no beginning and no end. Only this present moment exists, full of bitterness, full of sweetness, and I rejoice in it all." Gather your strength and listen; the whole heart of man is a single outcry. Lean against your breast to hear it; someone is struggling and shouting within you." - Nikos Kazantzakis

"Every perfect traveller always creates the country where he travels." - Nikos Kazantzakis

"A man needs a little madness, or else he never dares cut the rope and be free." - Nikos Kazantzakis
"Gather your strength and listen; the whole heart of man is a single outcry. Lean against your breast to hear it; someone is struggling and shouting within you. It is your duty every moment, day and night, in joy or in sorrow, amid all daily necessities, to discern this Cry with vehemence or restraint, according to your nature, with laughter or with weeping, in action or in thought, striving to find out who is imperiled and cries out. And how we may all be mobilized together to free him." - Nikos Kazantzakis

"You are not a miserable and momentary body; behind your fleeting mask of clay, a thousand-year-old face lies in ambush. Your passions and your thoughts are older than your heart or brain." - Nikos Kazantzakis

Kazantzakis stamp image source (1)