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Within profound Silence, erect, fearless, in pain and in play, ascending ceaselessly from peak to peak, knowing that the height has no ending, sing this proud and magical incantation as you hang over the Abyss: I BELIEVE IN ONE GOD, DEFENDER OF THE BORDERS, OF DOUBLE DESCENT, MILITANT, SUFFERING, OF MIGHTY BUT NOT OF OMNIPOTENT POWERS, A WARRIOR AT THE FARTHEST FRONTIERS, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF ALL THE LUMINOUS POWERS, THE VISIBLE AND THE INVISIBLE. I BELIEVE IN THE INNUMERABLE, THE EPHEMERAL MASKS WHICH GOD HAS ASSUMED THROUGHOUT THE CENTURIES, AND BEHIND HIS CEASELESS FLUX I DISCERN AN INDESTRUCTIBLE UNITY.

Nikos Kazantzakis#99

SpiritualityPhilosophySufferingUnityMythMotivationPrayerWarrior

About this quote

What does it mean?
A powerful prayer declares belief in a warrior‑like, limited God who embodies suffering, unity, and endless ascent.
In plain terms
Believe in a limited, battling God of suffering and unity.
What can you take from it?
Embrace struggle as a path to unity and power.

Where it applies

  • personal devotion
  • ritual
  • motivational speaking

Putting it to work

  • recite the incantation
  • visualize ascent

Questions to consider

  • How does a limited God change your view of power?
  • What does endless ascent mean to you?

Another view

The language is highly esoteric, limiting broad relevance.

More from Nikos Kazantzakis

  1. How can you reach the womb of the Abyss to make it fruitful? This cannot be expressed, cannot be narrowed into words, cannot be subjected to laws; every man is…

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  2. BLESSED BE ALL THOSE WHO HEAR AND RUSH TO FREE YOU, LORD, AND WHO SAY: 'ONLY YOU AND I EXIST.' BLESSED BE ALL THOSE WHO FREE YOU AND BECOME UNITED WITH YOU, LO…

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  3. This ultimate stage of our spiritual exercise is called Silence. Not because its contents are the ultimate inexpressible despair or the ultimate inexpressible …

    Permalink to quote #97

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