Quotation

Full Catastrophe Living

Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness
"I keep coming back to one line from the movie of Nikos Kazantzakis's novel Zorba the Greek. Zorba's young companion turns to him at a certain point and inquires, 'Zorba, have you ever been married?' to which Zorba replies (paraphrasing somewhat) 'Am I not a man? Of course I've been married. Wife, house, kids, everything . . . the full catastrophe!' "It was not meant to be a lament, nor does it mean that being married or having children is a catastrophe. Zorba's response embodies a supreme appreciation for the richness of life and the inevitability of all its dilemmas, sorrows, tragedies and ironies. His way is to 'dance' in the gale of the full catastrophe, to celebrate life, to laugh with it and at himself, even in the face of personal failure and defeat. In doing so, he is never weighed down for long, never ultimately defeated either by the world or by his own considerable folly. "