Nietzsche meets Zorba the Greek

The Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis (1883-1957) is most known for his novels “Zorba the Greek” and “The Last Temptation of Christ”. The latter has been turned into a controversial film featuring David Bowie! “The Saviors of God” is sometimes described as Kazantzakis' spiritual testament, and contains his ideas about religion and spirituality. The 1960 Touchstone edition contains a lengthy introduction by Kimon Friar.

The philosophy of Kazantzakis turns out to be a combination of Nietzsche and Bergson, perhaps with a whiff of Zorba. A certain kind of Hindu-Buddhist Tantrikas might also resonate with the contents of “Saviors of God”. Parallels to Aurobindo could be postulated. More disturbingly, the ideas in this little book could be given a fascistic spin.

“God” in Kazantzakis' system isn't a personal being, but rather a vitalistic force permeating all matter. Humans are simply one more manifestation of this élan vital. They are the “highest” at the moment, but cosmic evolution is relentlessly moving forward and upward, making it imperative that Man ascends and gives birth to more spiritual beings. Otherwise, Man will simply be crushed by the forces of evolution, as pitilessly as many other forms of life have already been crushed and disappeared. Contradicting this, Kazantzakis also asserts that God (i.e. the world spirit or vital force) needs to be “saved”, by which the author means that it's incumbent upon every single human to ascend and evolve. Here, suddenly the cosmic evolution depends upon each one of us.

The author also asserts, more than once, that success isn't guaranteed. The “salvation of God” could very well fail, since there are constantly two forces in operation in the cosmos, the second one being that of descent. At one point, Kazantzakis compares them to Eros and Thanatos. He also explicitly says that his “God” is neither all-knowing, all-good nor omnipotent. Whether or not there is anything “behind” the cosmos and the vital force is less clear. My guess is probably not, “God” and Man dancing above a nirvanic (or Nietzschean?) void.

Evolution doesn't have a real “purpose”, except the purposes we chose to give it. Kazantzakis believes that we should attempt to spiritualize matter. Exactly what this means isn't altogether clear. The author supports the modern-Western idea of conquest of nature, asserting that minerals, plants and animals are “spiritualized” when harnessed for the use of man.

The most disturbing parts of the book sound like paeans to death, destruction, war and revolution. Kazantzakis began writing “The Saviors of God” during his nominally “Communist” period, but most readers would find probably find better parallels in fascist literature. It's also interesting that Kazantzakis himself wasn't the brave heroic type, but rather a confused intellectual suffering from all kinds of psychological problems and psycho-somatic diseases. The strong emphasis on Eros (including the purely sexual aspects) stand in stark contrast to the author's sexual inhibitions. While none of this “disproves” Kazantzakis, it nevertheless makes you wonder what kind of troubled soul we are dealing with here!

I don't deny that Nikos Kazantzakis saw something, but what exactly did he encounter during his mystical depressions, described at length by Friar in the introduction to the 1960 edition? Apart from the void and tempest within himself, I suppose the Greek author also got a glimpse of the spiritual essence of the fallen world. He even heard its cries for salvation. Yes, the fallen world wants to be saved, but Kazantzakis can't save it. He simply wants to merge with it and participate more fully in the merry-go-round of temporary “creation” and permanent destruction…

I will nevertheless give “The Saviors of God” five stars, since it so eminently spells out the consequences of a certain kind of “spiritual”, amoral-evolutionary worldview.