First step: the ego (Christianity)

Who cries out within one'e heart to begin the march ? The self is not good nor innocent nor serene. Happiness and sorrow are both unbearable. This I controls the body, keeping it prepared. It keeps the mind awake, lucid doing battle with the darkness. It keeps the heart aflame, restless and courageous. The cry is not a hope or a home; it is one's general, one's comrade-in-arms. The cry demands that the self loves danger, learns to obey, learns to command, loves responsibility and loves each person for their contribution to the struggle. It demands the the I be always restless, unsatisfied and unconforming for the greatest sin is satisfaction. The cry and the I become one. The I becomes a bridge which crumbles having done its duty and the cry passes to another.

The first step in the march for the spiritual exercises of Nikos Kazantzakis.