|
 Philosopher
of the Month
January
2003 - Nikos Kazantzakis
Lewis
Owens
Although
many may be familiar with the novels Zorba the Greek and
The Last Temptation of Christ, both of which have been adapted
into films, few are as familiar with their author, Nikos Kazantzakis.
Although Kazantzakis has a large following in the United States,
and is becoming more and more accepted in his homeland of Greece,
he has, as yet, failed to achieve the recognition elsewhere that
he so richly deserves. Novelist, dramatist, poet and journalist,
Kazantzakis's philosophy consist largely in a pioneering attempt
to retain a spiritual world-view whilst heeding Nietzsche's devastating
attack on metaphysiscs.
Kazantzakis
was born in Iraklion, Crete, in 1883. He studied law in Athens before
moving to Paris to study under the influential French philosopher
Henri Bergson. In Paris he also developed a deep appreciation of
Nietzsche, and soon afterwards became heavily interested in the
teaching of the Buddha. He also composed travel books about his
journalistic visits to Europe and the Far East. His magnum opus,
The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel consists of a monumental 33,333
verses and was completed in 1938.
In
the latter part of his life he concentrated on his novels. One of
these, The Last Temptation of Christ, was placed on the Roman
Catholic Index of Forbidden Books by the Pope in 1954. Due primarily
to the condemnation of Kazantzakis's portrayal of Christ, permission
was refused for his body to lie in state in Athens after his death
on October 26, 1957. It was finally transferred to Crete and his
humble grave now overlooks his beloved Iraklion.
He
narrowly missed out on the Nobel Prize for literature by one vote
in 1956 and remains one of the most highly respected writers of
his time. Albert Camus, recipient of the Prize in 1957, claimed
that Kazantzakis deserved the honour "a hundred times more"
than himself. Other strong admirers included Thomas Mann and Albert
Schweitzer.
Kazantzakis's
work is linguistically challenging, at times conceptually disarming,
but ultimately existentially inspiring. Many commentators have labelled
Kazantzakis's work nihilistic and pessimistic, particularly in the
light of his 1927 book The Saviours of God: Spiritual Exercises,
which remained the philosophical backbone to all his subsequent
poetry and prose. This work ends with the assertion that one must
stand on the edge of the abyss and proclaim the terrifying secret:
"Even this 'One' does not exist!" On the surface, the
ending of the Spiritual Exercises implies that Kazantzakis
has no religious priorities - the non-existence of God is to be
heroically accepted with Nietzschean strength of will. However,
in correspondence subsequent to its publication, Kazantzakis was
at pains to emphasise its deeply spiritual content, resulting largely
from his profound interest in the theory of "creative evolution"
espoused by Bergson.
Central
to Bergson's theory, from which Kazantzakis develops his concept
of "God", is the notion of the élan vi tal,
a pre-existent life-force that wills to become alive and ascend
to higher levels of self-sconsciousness. Yet to become alive it
must collaborate with matter, which it then seeks to "unmake"
in a perpetually dialectical system. In this sense, therefore, the
"abyss" or "Silence" is, for Kazantzakis, symbolic
of a non-material "womb" from whence Bergson's élan
vital (Kazantzakis's "God") can re-enter the material
world and resume its evolutionary ascent. As self-consciousness
is the prime channel through which this spirit flows, Kazantzakis
asserts that we all have a duty to "save God" by preventing
our own spiritual stasis.
Kazantzakis
believed that his was a transitional age in which one civilisation
was collapsing and another raw, untamed civilisation was emerging.
In every age, he claimed, it is our responsibility to seek out and
work with the most vibrant ideological movement that enables life's
élan to ascend. The dominant aim in every society
in every age is thus to further creative evolution.
This
dialectic of destruction ("unmaking") and creation ("renewed
manifestation") runs throughout Kazantzakis's cosmology, existentialism
and politics - in sum, his "world-view". Kazantzakis
predominately used the novel genre to formulate his philosophical
world-view, whilst at the same time challenging elements of a religious,
Christian tradition in which he was immersed but which, he felt,
no longer spoke to humanity's existential concerns.
Kazantzakis
seeks answers to the most profound questions that impinge upon our
individual existence, whilst recognising the importance of the process
of questioning itself. His work challenges the individual to act
authentically in this "brief lightning flash" of life.
We are called upon to 'save God' by overcoming spiritual lethagy.
Moreover, it is our existential duty to do so.
Suggested
reading
Zorba the Greek (Faber and Faber)
The Last Temptation (Faber and Faber)
A
new philosopher of the month will be featured early February 2003
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