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.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Beyond the fleeting physical body lies an ancient self; our thoughts and passions predate our current form.
- In plain terms
- An ancient self lies beneath the temporary body.
- What can you take from it?
- Recognize that deeper aspects of identity transcend the present form.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What does the ancient self mean to you?
- How does this view affect your daily decisions?
Another view
The claim of an ancient self is metaphysical and not empirically testable.
More from Nikos Kazantzakis
Everything you do reverberates throughout a thousand destinies. As you walk, you cut open and create that river bed into which the stream of your descendants s…
Permalink to quote #43 Your first duty, in completing your service to your race, is to feel within you all your ancestors. Your second duty is to throw light on their onrush and to c…
Permalink to quote #45 Enlighten the dark blood of your ancestors, shape their cries into speech, purify their will, widen their narrow, unmerciful brows. This is your second duty. F…
Permalink to quote #42
Related quotes
There's a devil inside me which cries, 'You're not the son of the Carpenter, you're the son of King David! You are not a man, you are the Son of man whom Danie…
Nikos KazantzakisNikos Kazantzakis quote #4 The body is the outermost layer of the mind.
David MitchellDavid Mitchell quote #7 The moment is ripe: leave the heart and the mind behind you, go forward, take the third step. Free yourself from the simple complacency of the mind that thinks…
Nikos KazantzakisNikos Kazantzakis quote #23