Undoubtedly, Tarkovsky's thoughts on life from a deep philosophical and poetic conviction; surviving within an alienating, oppressive and totalitarian society, made him see the facts greyer than the common denominator of his fellow countrymen in their coexistence with the absurd system. (Tarkovsky 1986)

-Once upon a time, a long time ago... an old monk lived in an orthodox monastery.  His name was Pamve.   Once he planted a dry tree on a hillside...  Then he told his young disciple, a monk named Loann Kolov, that he should water the tree every day until it came back to life.  So, early every morning Loann filled a bucket with water and went out.   He would go up the mountain and water the dry tree and, in the evening, when darkness had fallen, he would return to the monastery.  He did this for three years. And one day he went up and saw that the whole tree was full of shoots. Whatever they say, a method, a system, has its virtues. You know, sometimes I say to myself, if every day, at the same time, one was to perform the same act, like a ritual, unchanging, systematic, every day at the same time, we would do the same thing, the world would change...