The author, Nikos Kazantzakis, (whose best-known work is Zorba the Greek) spent his life in a spiritual search, which he portrayed in much of his work. (His books were condemned by both the Greek and Roman Catholic churches, to which his response was: "You gave me a curse, Holy fathers, I give you a blessing: may your conscience be as clear as mine and may you be as moral and religious as I")

His epitaph is: "I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free."

That sums it up for me.