kazantzakis is a masterful writer. his knowledge of scripture dwarfs my own. his tactful placement of words and phrases that are familiar to me through the bible remind me how much i don't read the bible. this assignment for my class is turning into something much more. the teacher knew this would happen. it will definitely push me to read more of my bible, and this book so the attempt at piecing together the two and all the intentional parallels can have some sort of coherence.
even though i'm behind in my reading, my eyes are alighted to a completely different understanding of my savior. true enough, the jesus christ i know is not the jesus, "the son of mary, son of the carpenter" mentioned in this novel. then again, he's not who i've made him out to be either.
understanding this and knowing this are two very different things. i have neither. i am simply aware of its existence. much like the parallels that are drawn in the novel to the Scripture, i am only aware, but knowing why--not even close. which leads me to the great struggle.
struggle is the cornerstone of man. his self-consciousness is hidden from all. there is no manual on how to be you. nobody else ever has, or ever will be. that's the frustrating part. so we try to fit in, be like others--at least that way we have something to see, hear, act like. it fails. all we see of others is just a moment, a snapshot. we need a purpose, a why behind the what that we do. and since the purpose of our lives is so vastly different--one from another--and since it can't be obvious from the outside, we are lost.
[insert the obvious part about how God is great and magnificent for coming down and giving us an example, and how perfect it was (despite the fact that we are millennia removed from the context of our great example and savior and have no way, no guide to the struggle inwardly, only a directive on how we should be motivated and how frustrating that is)]
