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What is the purpose of this struggle? This is what the wretched self-seeking mind of man is always asking, forgetting that the Great Spirit does not toil within the bounds of human time, place, or casualty. The Great Spirit is superior to these human questionings. It teems with many rich and wandering drives which to our shallow minds seem contradictory; but in the essence of divinity they fraternize and struggle together, faithful comrades-in-arms. The primordial Spirit branches out, overflows, struggles, fails, succeeds, trains itself. It is the Rose of the Winds.

Nikos Kazantzakis#60

SpiritualityStruggleSpiritFaithPurposeDivinity

About this quote

What does it mean?
Human minds question the purpose of struggle, but the Great Spirit operates beyond human limits, embracing contradictory drives.
In plain terms
The Great Spirit works beyond time and place, containing all struggles and contradictions.
What can you take from it?
Trust that life's struggles have purpose beyond human understanding.

Where it applies

  • spiritual crises
  • existential doubts
  • meditation

Putting it to work

  • trust the process
  • meditate on nature

Questions to consider

  • What is the purpose of your struggle?
  • Do you trust the mystery?

Another view

This perspective may not help in immediate practical problem-solving.

More from Nikos Kazantzakis

  1. From every joy and pain a hope leaps out eternally to escape this pain and to widen joy. And again the ascent begins - which is pain - and joy is reborn and ne…

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  2. All hopes and despairs vanish in the voracious, funneling whirlwind of God. God laughs, wails, kills, sets us on fire, and then leaves us in the middle of the …

    Permalink to quote #61
  3. Pain is not the only essence of our God, nor is hope in a future life or a life on this earth, neither joy nor victory. Every religion that holds up to worship…

    Permalink to quote #58

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