On Wed, Sep 13, 2017 at 10:33 AM, Suresh Ramasubramanian <[email protected]> wrote: > Toda Raba, right? Heard a lot of it, not seen it.
Actually from his travelogue, "Travels in China and Japan", you can read the full quote here, https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/903001-when-i-close-my-eyes-to-see-to-hear-to Kazantzakis led a life steeped in mysticism and spiritual inquiry, and like everyone who went down that path of meaning he quits material life [1] in his early years to dwell deep in himself, only to re-emerge and grasp life - differently than before, doesn't take it seriously anymore, but grasp he does all the same. This passage is a reflection of that phase of his insight. His Rabbi clearly isn't smoking anything. The heaven hereafter can wait, he says, give me the dirt I can touch. [1] A quote from an earlier work, When shall I at last retire into solitude alone, without companions, without joy and without sorrow, with only the sacred certainty that all is a dream? When, in my rags—without desires—shall I retire contented into the mountains? When, seeing that my body is merely sickness and crime, age and death, shall I—free, fearless, and blissful—retire to the forest? When? When, oh when? -Zorba the Greek
