15 January 2008

a la' Jacob

A young man spent a summer in a monastery during which he had a series of conversations with an old monk. One day he asked the old monk: “Father, do you still do battle with the devil?”

The old monk replied: “No, I used to, when I was younger, but now I have grown old and tired and the devil has grown old and tired with me. I leave him alone and he leaves me alone.”

“So your life is easy then?” remarked the young man.

“Oh no,” replied the monk, “it’s much worse. Now I wrestle with God!”

-Report to Greco, Nikos Kazantzakis

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