Nothing exists! Neither life nor death. I watch mind and matter hunting each other like two nonexistent erotic phantasms - merging, begetting, disappearing - and I say: 'This is what I want!' I know now: I do not hope for anything. I do not fear anything, I have freed myself from both the mind and the heart, I have mounted much higher, I am free. This is what I want. I want nothing more. I have been seeking freedom.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- The speaker claims to have freed themselves from hope and fear, finding freedom in nothingness.
- In plain terms
- Freedom comes from wanting nothing and fearing nothing.
- What can you take from it?
- True freedom requires letting go of all desires and fears.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Can you be free without hope?
- Is nothingness peace?
Another view
It equates freedom with total emotional emptiness.
More from Nikos Kazantzakis
I surrender myself to everything. I love, I feel pain, I struggle. The world seems to me wider than the mind, my heart a dark and almighty mystery.
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Permalink to quote #28 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 …
Permalink to quote #25
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