Conclusion: The Cretan Glance

Abstract

Gill concludes the book on Kazantzakis’s philosophical and theological thought where he has illuminated the Cretan’s understandings of nature, human nature and the nature of the divine by weaving through the major novels and writings of this most famous author from the island of Crete by returning our focus to the home of Kazantzakis. Here is Kazantzakis final vision of the human endeavor as found in the eyes of the acrobatic dancers in the frescoes on the walls of the ancient ruins of the Minoan palace on Crete. They perpetually engage in the intrepid leap over the abyss of meaninglessness, seeking “To reach what they cannot.” Gill’s subtitle for the current work is Reach What You Cannot. Bringing us back to Crete and to the Cretan Glance Gill shows that for Kazantzakis the secret to meaningful life is in the reaching, not in the arriving.