Alexis Zorba

Description

If we in the world were forced to choose a spiritual guide, as the Indians call them, or a wise old priest, as the monks of Mount Athos call them, it would undoubtedly be Zorba. This man possessed everything any cultured person needs to survive: a wild eye that sharply observes its sustenance, creativity, and the renewed simplicity of seeing everything for the first time each morning, granting the eternal, everyday elements a special virginity—the air, the sea, women, light, bread—the certainty of the palm of his hand and the freshness of his heart, the courage to laugh at himself and his soul. He had another strength, stronger and higher than the soul, and finally, a boisterous laughter that came from a deep spring, deeper than the human entrails, a laughter that burst forth in the chest of old Zorba in critical moments, healing and liberating all pain.