Author Nikos Kazantzakis received a Law Degree at the University of Athens then he went to Paris to study philosophy under Henri Bergson. Next he went to Germany and Italy for further studies in literature and art. In 1945, he was the Greek Minister of Education and the President of The Greek Society of Men of Letters.
He wrote novels, poetry and travel literature. His epic work, The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel, took twelve years to complete. It continues the story from the point where Homer ended the original. It is one of the masterpieces of the twentieth century. Most people are familiar with The Last Temptation of Christ. Certainly, everyone is familiar with the character of Zorba The Greek. It is a miraculous author that can distill the ocean of human existence into three hundred pages. It is a skilled writer and philosopher of human nature who can incorporate the best and the worst of man into so few characters.
Zorba The Greek needs to be re-read at each new season of your life. As you mature, the book will teach you more and it will confirm what you already now know from bitter experience. I am always concerned when a beloved book is made into a movie. This book was turned into an outstanding movie. No actor could have been Zorba except Anthony Quinn. I do not think that this casting triumph was an accident. There are many fatherless sons in the world. Kazantzakis was a brilliant man and his brilliance is in full evidence in the pages of Zorba.
In the character of Zorba, I was immediately reminded of a favourite actual Chinese Sage of my literary acquaintance called Layman Pang. Sage Pang studied long and hard to be a master of Zen. He came to eventually renounce the world. He also renounced fame and fortune. That is the endpoint most students of Zen attempt to attain. Not Pang. He, in a very Zorba like fashion, realized that although he understood philosophy and psychology, he was yet a man. He knew when it was time to burn his books and go to live as one.
He did just that. He took a wife and they had many children. They had a nomadic existence of selling pots and pans. He was challenged to Zen duels by all the contemporary Masters of Zen whom he encountered. He won those koan contests each and every time. In time, when he came to each new town, Pang would go to visit the resident Zen Master and have a koan exchange.
[“koan: noun -a paradoxical anecdote or riddle, used in Zen Buddhism to demonstrate the inadequacy of logical reasoning and to provoke enlightenment.”]
-Definition from Oxford Languages
He was never defeated to my knowledge. That is known as transcending an art. A common mistake of students is to attempt to go too fast. The next most common mistake is to get lost in study. Now we arrive at what, in my opinion is the message contained within Zorba The Greek.
Certainly we must learn how reality works but then we must realize that we are an inextricable part of the whole of life. If we can accomplish this and preserve our compassion for the pitiful abject creatures that we all are struggling to rise above being; then, as Zorba might say, “It is time for a sip of raki boys and girls. I have much to tell you.”
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