,,university ,,of ,,texas ,,bulletin ,,no4 #bcbf3 ,,july #h1 #aibc ,,selections ,,from ,,the ,,writings ,,of ,,kierkegaard ,,translated ,,by ,l4 ,m4 ,,hollander ,,adjunct ,,professor ,,of ,,germanic ,,languages ,,comparative ,,literature ,,series ,,no4 #c ,,published ,,by ,,the ,,university ,,of ,,texas1 ,,austin ,the benefits of education and of useful knowledge1 generally diffused through a community1 are essential to the preservation of a free government4 ,sam ,houston ,cultivated mind is the guardian genius of democracy4444 ,it is the only dictator that freemen acknowledge and the only security that free-men desire4 ,mirabeau ,b4 ,lamar ,to my ,father-in-,law ,the ,reverend ,george ,fisher1 ,a ,christian4 ,illustration #ja ,illustration #jb ,,contents ,,introduction4 ,,diapsalmata4 ,,in ,,vino ,,veritas 7,,the ,,banquet74 ,,fear ,,and ,,trembling4 ,,preparation ,,for ,a ,,christian ,,life4 ,,the ,,present ,,moment4 ,,introduction ,i ,creditable as have been the contributions of ,scandinavia to the cultural life of the race in well-nigh all fields of human endeavor1 it has produced but one thinker of the first magnitude1 the ,dane1 ,sren 4 ,kierkegaard#a4 ,the fact that he is virtually unknown to us is ascribable1 on the one hand to the inaccessibility of his works1 both as to language and form2 on the other1 to the regrettable insularity of ,english thought4 ,it is the purpose of this book to remedy the defect in a measure1 and by a selection from his most representative works to provide a stimulus for a more detailed study of his writings2 for the present times1 ruled by material considerations1 wholly led by socializing1 and misled by national1 ideals are precisely the most opportune to introduce the bitter but wholesome antidote of individual responsibility1 which is his message4 ,in particular1 students of ,northern literature cannot afford to know no more than the name of one who exerted a potent and energizing influence on an important epoch of ,scandinavian thought4 ,to mention only one instance1 the greatest ethical poem of our age1 ,brand--notwithstanding ,ibsen's curt statement that he had read little of ,kierkegaard and understood less--undeniably owes its fundamental thought to him1 whether directly or indirectly4 ,of very few authors can it be said with the same literalness as1 of ,kierkegaard that their life is their works3 as if to furnish living proof of his untiring insistance on inwardness1 his life1 like that of so many other spiritual educators of the race1 is notably poor in incidents2 but his life of inward experiences is all the richer--witness the literature within a literature that came to be within a few years and that gave to ,danish letters a score of immortal works4 ,kierkegaard's physical heredity must be pronounced unfortunate4 ,being the child of old parents--his father was fifty-seven1 his mother forty-five years at his birth 7,may #e1 #ahac71 he had a weak physique and a feeble constitution4 ,still worse1 he inherited from his father a burden of melancholy which he took a sad pride in masking under a show of sprightliness4 ,his father1 ,michael ,pedersen ,kierkegaard1 had begun life as a poor cotter's boy in ,west ,jutland1 where he was set to tend the sheep on the wild moorlands4 ,one day1 we are told1 oppressed by loneliness and cold1 he ascended a hill and in a passionate rage cursed ,god who had given him this miserable existence--the memory of which sin against the ,holy ,ghost he was not able to shake off to the end of his long life#b4 ,when seventeen years old1 the gifted lad was sent to his uncle in ,copenhagen1 who was a well-to-do dealer in woolens and groceries4 ,kierkegaard quickly established himself in the trade and amassed a considerable fortune4 ,this enabled him to withdraw from active life when only forty1 and to devote himself to philosophic studies1 the leisure for which life had till then denied him4 ,more especially he seems to have studied the works of the rationalistic philosopher ,wolff4 ,after the early death of his first wife who left him no issue1 he married a former servant in his household1 also of ,jutish stock1 who bore him seven children4 ,of these only two survived him1 the oldest son--later bishop--,peder ,christian1 and the youngest son1 ,sren bye4 ,nowhere does ,kierkegaard speak of his mother1 a woman of simple mind and cheerful disposition2 but he speaks all the more often of his father1 for whom he ever expressed the greatest love and admiration and who1 no doubt1 devoted himself largely to the education of his sons1 particularly to that of his latest born4 ,him he was to mould in his own image4 ,a pietistic1 gloomy spirit of religiosity pervaded the household in which the severe father was undisputed master1 and absolute obedience the watchword4 ,little ,sren1 as he himself tells us1 heard more of the ,crucified and the martyrs than of the ,christ-child and good angels4 ,like ,john ,stuart ,mill1 whose early education bears a remarkable resemblance to his1 he never had the joy to be a child4 ,although less systematically held down to his studies1 in which religion was the be-all and end-all 7instead of being banished1 as was the case with ,mill71 he was granted but a minimum of out-door play and exercise4 ,and1 instead of strengthening the feeble body1 his father threw the whole weight of his melancholy on the boy4 ,nor was his home training1 formidably abstract1 counterbalanced by a normal1 healthy school-life4 ,naturally introspective and shy1 both on account of a slight deformity of his body and on account of the old-fashioned clothes his father made him wear1 he had no boy friends2 and when cuffed by his more robust contemporaries1 he could defend himself only with his biting sarcasm4 ,notwithstanding his early maturity he does not seem to have impressed either his schoolmates or his teachers by any gifts much above the ordinary4 ,the school he attended was one of those semi-public schools which by strict discipline and consistent methods laid a solid foundation of humanities and mathematics for those who were to enter upon a professional career4 ,the natural sciences played noddle whatever4 ,obedient to the wishes of his father1 ,sren chose the study of theology1 as had his eldest brother2 but1 once relieved from the grind of school at the age of seventeen1 he rejoiced in the full liberty of university life1 indulging himself to his heart's content in all the refined intellectual and sthetic enjoyments the gay capital of ,copenhagen offered4 ,he declares himself in later years to be one who is penitent for having in his youth plunged into all kinds of excesses2 but we feel reasonably sure that he committed no excesses worse than high living4 ,he was frequently seen at the opera and the theatre1 spent money freely in restaurants and confectionary shops1 bought many and expensive books1 dressed well1 and indulged in such extravagances as driving in a carriage and pair1 alone1 for days through the fields and forests of the lovely island of ,zealand4 ,in fact1 he contracted considerable debts1 so that his disappointed father decided to put him on an allowance of #ejj rixdollars yearly--rather a handsome sum1 a hundred years ago4 ,naturally1 little direct progress was made in his studies4 ,but while to all appearances aimlessly dissipating his energies1 he showed a pronounced love for philosophy and kindred disciplines4 ,he lost no opportunity then offered at the ,university of ,copenhagen to train his mind along these lines4 ,he heard the sturdily independent ,sibbern's lectures on sthetics and enjoyed a privatissimum on the main issues of ,schleiermacher's ,dogmatics with his later enemy1 the theologian ,martensen1 author of the celebrated ,christian ,dogmatics4 ,but there was no steadiness in him4 ,periods of indifference to these studies alternated with feverish activity1 and doubts of the truth of ,christianity1 with bursts of devotion4 ,however1 the ,hebraically stern cast of mind of the externally gay student soon wearied of this rudderless existence4 ,he sighs for an ,archimedean point of support for his conduct of life4 ,we find the following entry in his diary1 which prophetically foreshadows some of the fundamental ideas of his later career3 444what ,i really need is to arrive at a clear comprehension of what ,i am to do1 not of what ,i am to grasp with my understanding1 except insofar as this understanding is necessary for every action4 ,the point is1 to comprehend what ,i am called to do1 to see what the ,godhead really means that ,i shall do1 to find a truth which is truth for me1 to find the idea for which ,i am willing to live and to die444 ,this ,archimedean point was soon to be furnished him4 ,there came a succession of blows1 culminating in the death of his father1 whose silent disapprobation had long been weighing heavily on the conscience of the wayward son4 ,even more awful1 perhaps1 was a revelation made by the dying father to his sons1 very likely touching that very sin against the ,holy ,ghost which he had committed in his boyhood and the consequence of which he now was to lay on them as a curse1 instead of his blessing4 ,kierkegaard calls it the great earthquake1 the terrible upheaval1 which suddenly forced on me a new and infallible interpretation of all phenomena4 ,he began to suspect that he had been chosen by ,providence for an extraordinary purpose2 and with his abiding filial piety he interprets his father's death2 as the last of many sacrifices he made for him2 for he died1 not away from me1 but for me1 so that there might yet1 perchance1 become something of me4 ,crushed by this thought1 and through the new interpretation despairing of happiness in this life1 he clings to the thought of his unusual intellectual powers as his only consolation and a means by which his salvation might be accomplished4 ,he quickly absolved his examination for ordination 7ten years after matriculation7 and determined on his magisterial dissertation#c4 ,already some years before he had made a not very successful debut in the world of letters with a pamphlet whose queer title ,from the ,,mss4 of ,one ,still ,living reveals ,kierkegaard's inborn love of mystification and innuendo4 ,like a ,puck of philosophy1 with somewhat awkward bounds and a callow manner1 he had there teased the worthies of his times2 and1 in particular1 taken a good fall out of ,hans ,christian ,andersen1 the poet of the ,fairy ,tales1 who had aroused his indignation by describing in somewhat lachrymose fashion the struggles of genius to come into its own4 ,kierkegaard himself was soon to show the truth of his own dictum that genius does not whine but like a thunderstorm goes straight counter to the wind4 ,while casting about for a subject worthy of a more sustained effort--he marks out for study the legends of ,faust1 of the ,wandering ,jew1 of ,don ,juan1 as representatives of certain basic views of life2 the ,conception of ,satire among the ,ancients1 etc41 etc41--he at last becomes aware of his affinity with ,socrates1 in whom he found that rare harmony between theory and the conduct of life which he hoped to attain himself4 ,though not by ,kierkegaard himself counted among the works bearing on the ,indirect ,communication--presently to be explained--his magisterial dissertation1 entitled ,the ,conception of ,irony1 with ,constant ,reference to ,socrates1 a book of #cjj pages1 is of crucial importance4 ,it shows that1 helped by the sage who would not directly help any one1 he had found the master key3 his own interpretation of life4 ,indeed1 all the following literary output may be regarded as the consistent development of the simple directing thoughts of his firstling work4 ,and we must devote what may seem a disproportionate amount of space to the explanation of these thoughts if we would enter into the world of his mind4 ,not only did ,kierkegaard feel kinship with ,socrates4 ,it did not escape him that there was an ominous similarity between ,socrates' times and his own--between the period of flourishing ,attica1 eminent in the arts and in philosophy1 when a little familiarity with the shallow phrases of the ,sophists enabled one to have an opinion about everything on earth and in heaven1 and his own ,copenhagen in the thirties of the last century1 when ,johan ,ludvig ,heiberg had popularized ,hegelian philosophy with such astonishing success that the very cobblers were using the ,hegelian terminology1 with ,thesis1 ,antithesis1 and ,synthesis1 and one could get instructions from one's barber1 while being shaved1 how to harmonize the ideal with reality1 and our wishes with what we have attained4 ,every difficulty could be mediated1 according to this recipe4 ,and just as the great questioner of ,athens gave pause to his more nave contemporaries by his know thyself1 so ,kierkegaard insisted that he must rouse his contemporaries from their philosophic complacency and unwarranted optimism1 and move1 them to realize that the spiritual life has both mountain and valley1 that it is no flat plain easy to travel4 ,he intended to show difficulties where the road had been supposedly smoothed for them4 ,central1 both in the theory and in the practice of ,socrates 7according to ,kierkegaard71 is his irony4 ,the ancient sage would stop old and young and quizz them skilfully on what they regarded as common and universally established propositions1 until his interlocutor became confused by some consequence or contradiction arising unexpectedly1 and until he who had been sure of his knowledge was made to confess his ignorance1 or even to become distrustful of the possibility of knowledge4 ,destroying supposedly positive values1 this method would seem to lead to a negative result only4 ,kierkegaard makes less 7and rather too little7 of the positive side of ,socrates' method1 his maieutic1 or midwifery1 by which we are led inductively from trivial instances to a new definition of a conception1 a method which will fit all cases4 ,guided by a lofty personality1 this ,socratic irony becomes1 in ,kierkegaard's definition1 merely the negative liberation of subjectivity2 that is1 not the family1 nor society1 nor the state1 nor any rules superimposed from outside1 but one's innermost self 7or subjectivity7 is to be the determining factor in one's life4 ,and understood thus1 irony as a negative element borders on the ethical conception of life4 ,romantic irony1 on the other hand1 laying main stress on subjective liberty1 represents the sthetic conduct of life4 ,it was1 we remember1 the great demand of the ,romantic period that one live poetically4 ,that is1 after having reduced all reality to possibilities1 all existence to fragments1 we are to choose ad libitum one such possible existence1 to consider that one's proper sphere1 and for the rest to look ironically on all other reality as philistine4 ,undeniably1 this license1 through the infinitude of possibilities open to him1 gives the ironist an enthusiastic sense of irresponsible freedom in which he disports himself as does ,leviathan in the deep4 ,again1 the sthetical individual is ill at ease in the world into which he is born4 ,his typical ailment is a ,byronesque ,weltschmerz4 ,he would fain mould the elements of existence to suit himself2 that1 is1 compose not only himself but also his surroundings4 ,but without fixed task and purpose1 life will soon lose all continuity 7except that of boredom7 and fall apart into disconnected moods and impulses4 ,hence1 while supposing himself a superman1 free1 and his own master1 the sthetic individual is1 in reality1 a slave to the merest accidents4 ,he is not self-directed1 self-propelled2 but--drifts4 ,over against this attitude ,kierkegaard now sets the ethical1 ,christian life1 one with a definite purpose and goal beyond itself4 ,it is one thing to compose one's own life1 another1 to let one's life be composed4 ,the ,christian lets his life be composed2 and insofar a simple ,christian lives far more poetically than many a genius4 ,it would hardly be possible to characterize the contents of ,kierkegaard's first great book1 ,enten-,eller ,either-,or1 more inclusively and tersely4 ,very well1 then1 the ,christian life1 with its clear directive1 is superior to the sthetic existence4 ,but how is this3 are we not all ,christians in ,christendom1 children of ,christians1 baptized and confirmed according to the regulations of the ,church8 ,and are we not all to be saved according to the promise of ,our ,lord who died for us8 ,at a very early time ,kierkegaard1 himself desperately struggling to maintain his ,christian faith against doubts1 had his eyes opened to this enormous delusion of modern times and was preparing to battle against it4 ,the great idea and task for which he was to live and to die--here it was3 humanity is in apparent possession of the divine truth1 but utterly perverts it and1 to cap injury with insult1 protects and intrenches the deception behind state sanction and institutions4 ,more appalling evil confronted not even the early protagonists of ,christianity against heathendom4 ,how was he1 single-handed1 magnificently gifted though he was1 to cleanse the temple and restore its pristine simplicity8 ,clearly1 the old mistake must not be repeated1 to try to influence and reform the masses by a vulgar and futile revival1 preaching to them directly and gaining disciples innumerable4 ,it would only lead again1 to the abomination of a lip service4 ,but a ferment must be introduced which--he hoped--would gradually restore ,christianity to its former vigor2 at least in individuals4 ,so far as the form of his own works is concerned he was thus bound to use the indirect method of ,socrates whom he regards as his teacher4 ,in conscious opposition to the ,sophists who sold their boasted wisdom for money1 ,socrates not only made no charges for his instruction but even warned people of his ignorance1 insisting that1 like a midwife1 he only helped people to give birth to their own thoughts4 ,and owing to his irony ,socrates' relation to his disciples was not in any positive sense a personal one4 ,least of all did he wish to found a new school or erect a philosophic system4 ,kierkegaard1 with ,christianity as his goal1 adopted the same tactics4 ,by an attractive sthetic beginning people were to be lured into envisaging the difficulties to be unfolded presently1 to think for themselves1 to form their own conclusions1 whether for or against4 ,the individual was to be appealed to1 first and last--the individual1 no matter how humble1 who would take the trouble to follow him and be his reader1 my only reader1 the single individual4 ,so the religious author must make it his first business to put himself in touch with men4 ,that is to say1 he must begin sthetically4 ,the more brilliant his performance1 the better4 ,and then1 when he has got them to follow him he must produce the religious categories so that these same men with all the impetus of their devotion to sthetic things are suddenly brought up sharp against the religious aspect4 ,the writer's own personality was to be entirely eliminated by a system of pseudonyms2 for the effect of his teaching was not to be jeopardized by a distracting knowledge of his personality4 ,accordingly1 in conscious imitation of ,socrates1 ,kierkegaard at first kept up a semblance of his previous student life1 posing as a frivolous idler on the streets of ,copenhagen1 a witty dog incapable of prolonged serious activity2 thus anxiously guarding the secret of his feverish activity during the lonely hours of the night4 ,his campaign of the indirect communication was thus fully determined upon2 but there was still lacking the impetus of an elemental passion to start it and give it driving force and conquering persistence4 ,this also was to be furnished him4 ,shortly before his father's death he had made the acquaintance of ,regine ,olson1 a beautiful young girl of good family4 ,there followed one of the saddest imaginable engagements4 ,the melancholy1 and essentially lonely1 thinker may not at first have entertained the thought of a lasting attachment2 for had he not1 on the one hand1 given up all hope of worldly happiness1 and on the other1 begun to think of himself as a chosen tool of heaven not to be bound by the ordinary ties of human affection8 ,but the natural desire to be as happy as others and to live man's common lot1 for a moment hushed all anxious scruples4 ,and the love of the brilliant and promising young man with the deep1 sad eyes and the flashing wit was ardently returned by her4 ,difficulties arose very soon4 ,it was not so much the extreme youth and immaturity of the girl--she was barely sixteen--as against his tremendous mental development1 or even her total lack of religious pre-suppositions2 for that might not itself have precluded a happy union4 ,vastly more ominous was his own unconquerable and overwhelming melancholy4 ,she could not break it4 ,and struggle as he might1 he could not banish it4 ,and1 he reasoned1 even if he were successful in concealing it from her1 the very concealment were a deceit4 ,neither would he burden her with his melancholy by revealing it to her4 ,besides1 some mysterious ailment which1 with ,paul1 he terms the thorn in his flesh1 tormented him4 ,the fact that he consulted a physician makes it likely that it was bodily1 and perhaps sexual4 ,on the other hand1 the manner of ,kierkegaard's multitudinous references to woman removes the suspicion of any abnormality4 ,the impression remains that at the bottom of his trouble there lay his melancholy1 aggravated admittedly by an insane education1 and coupled with an exaggerated sense of a misspent youth4 ,that nothing else prevented the union is clear from his own repeated later remarks that1 with more faith1 he would have married her4 ,though to the end of his life he never ceased to love her1 he feels that they must part4 ,but she clings to him with a rather maudlin devotion1 which1 to be sure1 only increased his determination4 ,he finally hit on the desperate device of pretending frivolous indifference to her affections1 and acted this sad comedy with all the dialectic subtleness of his genius1 until she eventually released him4 ,then1 after braving for a while the philistine indignation of public opinion and the disapproval of his friends1 in order to confirm her in her bad opinion of him1 he fled to ,berlin with shattered nerves and a bleeding heart4 ,he had deprived himself of what was dearest to him in life4 ,for all that1 he knew that the foundations of his character remained unshaken4 ,the voluntary renunciation of a worldly happiness which was his for the taking intensifies his idea of being one of the few in each generation selected to be a sacrifice4 ,thereafter1 his thought is all to him1 and all his gifts are devoted to the service of ,god4 ,during the first half of the nineteenth century1 more than at any other time1 ,denmark was an intellectual dependency of ,germany4 ,it was but natural that ,kierkegaard1 in search for the ultimate verities1 should resort to ,berlin where ,schelling was just then beginning his famous course of lectures4 ,in many respects it may be held deplorable that1 at a still formative stage1 ,kierkegaard should have remained in the prosaic capital of ,prussia and have been influenced by bloodless abstractions2 instead of journeying to ,france1 or still better1 to ,england whose empiricism would1 no doubt1 have been an excellent corrective of his excessive tendency to speculation4 ,in fact he was quickly disappointed with ,schelling and after four months returned to his beloved ,copenhagen 7which he was not to leave thereafter except for short periods71 with his mind still busy on the problems which were peculiarly his own4 ,the tremendous impulse given by his unfortunate engagement was sufficient to stimulate his sensitive mind to a productivity without equal in ,danish literature1 to create a literature within a literature4 ,the fearful inner collision of motives had lit an inner conflagration which did not die down for years4 ,my becoming an author is due chiefly to her1 my melancholy1 and my money4 ,about a year afterwards 7#ahdc7 there appeared his first great work1 ,either-,or1 which at once established his fame4 ,as in the case of most of his works it will be impossible to give here more than the barest outline of its plan and contents4 ,in substance1 it is a grand debate between the sthetic and the ethic views of life4 ,in his dissertation ,kierkegaard had already characterized the sthetic point of view4 ,now1 in a brilliant series of articles1 he proceeds' to exemplify it with exuberant detail4 ,the fundamental chord of the first part is struck in the ,diapsalmata aphorisms which1 like so many flashes of a lantern1 illuminate the sthetic life1 its pleasures and its despair4 ,the sthetic individual--this is brought out in the article entitled ,the ,art of ,rotation--wishes to be the exception in human society1 shirking its common1 humble duties and claiming special privileges4 ,he has no fixed principle except that he means not to be bound to anything or anybody4 ,he has but one desire which is1 to enjoy the sweets of life--whether its purely sensual pleasures or the more refined ,epicureanism of the finer things in life and art1 and the ironic enjoyment of one's own superiority over the rest of humanity2 and he has no fear except that he may succumb to boredom4 ,as a comment on this text there follow a number of essays in experimental psychology1 supposed to be the fruit of the sthete's 7,a's7 leisure4 ,in them the sthetic life is exhibited in its various manifestations1 in terms of existence1 especially as to its erotic stages1 from the indefinite longings of the ,page to the fully conscious sensual genius of ,don ,juan--the examples are taken from ,mozart's opera of this name1 which was ,kierkegaard's favorite--until the whole culminates in the famous ,diary of the ,seducer1 containing elements of the author's own engagement1 poetically disguised--a seducer1 by the way1 of an infinitely reflective kind4 ,following this climax of unrestrained stheticism we hear in the second part the stern demands of the ethical life4 ,its spokesman1 ,judge ,william1 rises in defense of the social institutes1 and of marriage in particular1 against the slurs cast on them by his young friend ,a4 ,he makes it clear that the only possible outcome of the sthetic life1 with its aimlessness1 its superciliousness1 its vague possibilities1 is a feeling of vanity and vexation of spirit1 and a hatred of life itself3 despair4 ,one floundering in this inevitable slough of despond1 who earnestly wishes to escape from it and to save himself from the ultimate destruction of his personality1 must choose and determine to rise into the ethical sphere4 ,that is1 he must elect a definite calling1 no matter how humdrum1 marry1 if possible1 and thus subject himself to the general law4 ,in a word1 instead of a world of vague possibilities1 however attractive1 he must choose the definite circumscription of the individual who is a member of society4 ,only thus will he obtain a balance in his life between the demands of his personality on the one hand1 and of the demands of society on him4 ,when thus reconciled to his environment--his lot--all the pleasures of the sthetic sphere which he resigned will be his again in rich measure1 but in a transfigured sense4 ,though nobly eloquent in places1 and instinct with warm feeling1 this panegyric on marriage and the fixed duties of life is somewhat unconvincing1 and its style undeniably tame and unctious--at least when contrasted with the ,satanic verve of most of ,a's papers4 ,the fact is that ,kierkegaard1 when considering the ethical sphere1 in order to carry out his plan of contrasting it with the sthetic sphere1 was already envisaging the higher sphere of religion1 to which the ethical sphere is but a transition1 and which is the only true alternative to the sthetic life4 ,at the very end of the book ,kierkegaard1 flying his true colors1 places a sermon as an ultimatum1 purporting to have been written by a pastor on the ,jutish ,heath4 ,its text is that as against ,god we are always in the wrong1 and the tenor of it1 only that truth which edifies is truth for you4 ,it is not that you must choose either the sthetic or the ethical view of life2 but that neither the one nor the other is the full truth--,god alone is the truth which must be grasped with all inwardness4 ,but since we recognize our imperfections1 or sins1 the more keenly1 as we are developed more highly1 our typical relation to ,god must be that of repentance2 and by repentance as by a step we may rise into the higher sphere of religion--as will be seen1 a purely ,christian thought4 ,a work of such powerful originality1 imposing by its very size1 and published at the anonymous author's own expense1 could not but create a stir among the small ,danish reading public4 ,and notwithstanding ,kierkegaard's consistent efforts to conceal his authorship in the interest of his indirect communication1 it could not long remain a secret4 ,the book was much1 and perplexedly1 discussed1 though no one was able to fathom the author's real aim1 most readers being attracted by piquant subjects such as the ,diary of the ,seducer1 and regarding the latter half as a feeble afterthought4 ,as he said himself3 ,with my left hand ,i held out to the world ',either-,or1' with my right1 ',two ,edifying ,discourses'2 but they all--or practically all--seized with their right hands what ,i held in my left4 ,these ,two ,edifying ,discourses#d--;for thus he preferred to call them1 rather than sermons1 because he claimed no authority to preach--as well as all the many later ones1 were published over his own name1 addressed to ,den ,enkelte ,the ,single ,individual whom with joy and gratitude he calls his reader1 and were dedicated to the memory of his father4 ,they belong among the noblest books of edification1 of which the ,north has not a few4 ,during the following three years 7#ahdc-e7 ,kierkegaard1 once roused to productivity1 though undoubtedly kept at his task by the exertion of marvelous will-power1 wrote in quick succession some of his most notable works--so original in form1 in thought1 in content that it is a well-nigh hopeless task to analyze them to any satisfaction4 ,all we can do here is to note the development in them of the one grand theme which is fundamental to all his literary activity3 how to become a ,christian4 ,if the second part of ,either-,or was devoted to an explanation of the nature of the ethical1 as against the sthetic1 conduct of life1 inevitably the next task was1 first1 to define the nature of the religious life1 as against the merely ethical life2 then1 to show how the religious sphere may be attained4 ,this is done in the brilliant twin books ,frygt og ,baeven ,fear and ,trembling and ,gjentagelsen ,repetition4 ,both were published over pseudonyms4 ,fear and ,trembling bears as its subtitle ,dialectic ,lyrics4 ,indeed1 nowhere perhaps is ,kierkegaard's strange union of dialectic subtlety and intense lyrical power and passion so strikingly in evidence as in this panegyric on ,abraham1 the father of faith4 ,to ,kierkegaard he is the shining exemplar of the religious life2 and his greatest act of faith1 his obedience to ,god's command to slay ,isaac4 ,nothing can surpass the eloquence with which he depicts the agony of the father1 his struggle between the ethical1 or general1 law which1 saith thou shalt no kill6 and ,god's specific command4 ,in the end1 ,abraham by a grand resolve transgresses the law2 and lo6 because he has faith1 against certainty1 that he will keep ,isaac1 and does not merely resign him1 as many a tragic hero would have done1 he receives all again1 in a new and higher sphere4 ,in other words1 ,abraham chooses to be the exception and set aside the general law1 as well as does the sthetic individual2 but1 note well3 in fear and trembling1 and at the express command of ,god6 ,he is a knight of faith4 ,but because this direct relation to the divinity necessarily can be certain only to ,abraham's self1 his action is altogether incomprehensible to others4 ,reason recoils before the absolute paradox of the individual who chooses to rise superior to the general law4 ,the rise into the religious sphere is always likely to be the outcome of some severe inner conflict engendering infinite passion4 ,in the splendidly written ,gjentagelse ,repetition we are shown ad oculos an abortive transition into the religious sphere1 with a corresponding relapse into the sthetic sphere4 ,kierkegaard's own love-story is again drawn upon3 the ,young ,person ardently loves the woman2 but discovers to his consternation that she is in reality but a burden to him since1 instead of having an actual1 living relation to her1 he merely remembers her when she is present4 ,in the ensuing collision of motives his sthetically cool friend ,constantin ,constantius advises him to act as one unworthy of her--as did ,kierkegaard--and to forget her4 ,but instead of following this advice1 and lacking a deeper religious background1 he flees the town and subsequently transmutes his trials into poetry--that is1 relapses into the sthetic sphere3 rather than1 like ,job1 whom he apostrophises passionately1 receiving all again 7having all repeated7 in a higher sphere4 ,this idea of the resumption of a lower stage into a higher one is one of ,kierkegaard's most original and fertile thoughts4 ,it is illustrated here with an amazing wealth of instances4 ,so far1 it had been a question of religious feeling in general--how it may arise1 and what its nature is4 ,in the pivotal work ,philosophiske ,smuler ,philosophic ,trifles--note the irony--,kierkegaard throws the searching rays of his penetrating intellect on the grand problem of revealed religion3 can one's eternal salvation be based on an historical event8 ,this is the great stumbling block to the understanding4 ,hegel's philosophic optimism maintained that the difficulties of ,christianity had been completely reconciled or mediated in the supposedly higher synthesis of philosophy1 by which process religion had been reduced to terms which might be grasped by the intellect4 ,kierkegaard1 fully voicing the claim both of the intellect and of religion1 erects the barrier of the paradox1 impassable except by the act of faith4 ,as will be seen1 this is ,tertullian's ,credo quia absurdum4#e ,in the briefest possible outline his argument is as follows3 ,socrates had taught that in reality every one had the truth in him and needed but to be reminded of it by the teacher who thus is necessary only in helping the disciple to discover it himself4 ,that is the indirect communication of the truth4 ,but now suppose that the truth is not innate in man1 suppose he has merely the ability to grasp it when presented to him4 ,and suppose the teacher to be of absolute1 infinite importance--the ,godhead himself1 directly communicating with man1 revealing the truth in the shape of man2 in fact1 as the lowliest of men1 yet insisting on implicit belief in ,him6 ,this1 according to ,kierkegaard1 constitutes the paradox of faith par excellence4 ,but this paradox1 he shows1 existed for the generation contemporaneous with ,christ in the same manner as it does for those living now4 ,to think that faith was an easier matter for those who saw the ,lord and walked in ,his blessed company is but a sentimental1 and fatal1 delusion4 ,on the other hand1 to found one's faith on the glorious results1 now evident1 of ,christ's appearance in the world is sheer thoughtlessness and blasphemy4 ,with ineluctable cogency it follows that there can be no disciple at second hand4 ,now1 as well as #ahjj years ago1 whether in ,heathendom or in ,christendom1 faith is born of the same conditions3 the resolute acceptance by the individual of the absolute paradox4 ,in previous works ,kierkegaard had already intimated that what furnished man the impetus to rise into the highest sphere and to assail passionately and incessantly the barrier of the paradox1 or else caused him to lapse into demonic despair1 was the consciousness of sin4 ,in the book ,begrebet ,angest ,the ,concept of ,sin1 he now attempts with an infinite and laborious subtlety to explain the nature of sin4 ,its origin is found in the sympathetic antipathy of ,dread--that force which at one and the same time attracts and repels from the suspected danger of a fall and is present even in the state of innocence1 in children4 ,it finally results in a kind of dizziness which is fatal4 ,yet1 so ,kierkegaard contends1 the fall of man is1 in every single instance1 due to a definite act of the will1 a leap--which seems a patent contradiction4 ,to the modern reader1 this is the least palatable of ,kierkegaard's works1 conceived as it is with a sovereign and almost medieval disregard of the predisposing undeniable factors of environment and heredity 7which1 to be sure1 poorly fit his notion of the absolute responsibility of the individual74 ,its somberness is redeemed1 to a certain degree1 by a series of marvelous observations1 drawn from history and literature1 on the various phases and manifestations of ,dread in human life4 ,on the same day as the book just discussed there appeared1 as a counter-irritant1 the hilariously exuberant ,forord ,forewords1 a collection of some eight playful but vicious attacks1 in the form of prefaces1 on various foolish manifestations of ,hegelianism in ,denmark4 ,they are aimed chiefly at the high-priest of the system1 the poet ,johan ,ludvig ,heiberg who1 as the arbiter elegantiarum of the times had presumed to review1 with a plentiful lack of insight1 ,kierkegaard's activity4 ,but some of the most telling shots are fired at a number of the individualist ,kierkegaard's pet aversions4 ,his next great work1 ,stadier paa ,livets ,vei ,stages on ,life's ,road1 forms a sort of resume of the results so far gained4 ,the three spheres are more clearly elaborated4 ,the sthetic sphere is represented existentially by the incomparable ,in ,vino ,veritas1 generally called ,the ,banquet1 from a purely literary point of view the most perfect of ,kierkegaard's works1 which1 if written in one of the great languages of ,europe1 would have procured him world fame4 ,composed in direct emulation of ,plato's immortal ,symposion1 it bears comparison with it as well as any modern composition can4#f ,indeed1 it excels ,plato's work in subtlety1 richness1 and refined humor4 ,to be sure1 ,kierkegaard has charged his creation with such romantic super-abundance of delicate observations and rococo ornament that the whole comes dangerously near being improbable2 whereas the older work stands solidly in reality4 ,it is with definite purpose that the theme of the speeches of the five participants in the banquet is love1 i4e41 the relation of the two sexes in love2 for it is there the main battle between the sthetic and the ethical view of life must be fought out4 ,accordingly1 ,judge ,william1 to whom the last idyllic pages of ,the ,banquet again introduce us1 in the second part breaks another shaft in defense of marriage1 which in the ethical view of life is the typical realization of the general law4 ,love exists also for the ethical individual4 ,in fact1 love and no other consideration whatsoever can justify marriage4 ,but whereas to the sthetic individual love is merely eroticism1 viz41 a passing self-indulgence without any obligation1 the ethical individual attaches to himself the woman of his choice by an act of volition1 for better or for worse1 and by his marriage vow incurs an obligation to society4 ,marriage is thus a synthesis of love and duty4 ,a pity only that ,kierkegaard's astonishingly low evaluation of woman utterly mars what would otherwise be a classic defense of marriage4 ,the religious sphere is shown forth in the third part1 ,skyldig--,ikke-,skyldig ,guilty--,not-,guilty1 with the apt subtitle ,a ,history of ,woe4 ,working over1 for the third time1 and in the most intense fashion1 his own unsuccessful attempt to realize the general law1 i4e41 by marrying1 he here presents in the form of a diary the essential facts of his own engagement1 but in darker colors than in ,repetition4 ,it is broken because of religious incompatibility and the lover's unconquerable melancholy2 and by his voluntary renunciation1 coupled with acute suffering through his sense of guilt for his act1 he is driven up to an approximation of the religious sphere4 ,not unjustly1 ,kierkegaard himself regarded this as the richest of his works4 ,one may say that ,guilty--,not-,guilty corresponds to ,kierkegaard's own development at this stage4 ,christianity is still above him4 ,how may it be attained8 ,this is the grand theme of the huge book whimsically named ,final ,unscientific ,postscript to the ,philosophical ,trifles1 ,afsluttende ,uvidenskabelig ,efterskrift 7#ahdf73 ,how shall ,i become a ,christian1 ,i1 ,johannes ,climacus1 born in this city1 thirty years of age1 and not in any way different from the ordinary run of men8 ,following up the results gained in the ,trifles1 the subjectivity of faith is established once for all3 it is not to be attained by swearing to any set of dogmas1 not even ,scripture2 for who will vouch for its being an absolutely reliable and inspired account of ,christ8 ,besides1 as ,lessing had demonstrated conclusively3 historic facts never can become the proof of eternal verities4 ,nor can the existence of the ,church through the ages furnish any guarantee for faith--straight counter to the opinion1 held by ,kierkegaard's famous contemporary ,grundtvig--any more than can mere contemporaneousness establish a guarantee for those living at the beginning4 ,to sum up3 ,one who has an objective ,christianity and nothing else1 he is eo ipso a heathen4 ,for the same reason1 philosophic speculation is not the proper approach1 since it seeks to understand ,christianity objectively1 as an historic phenomenon--which rules it out from the start4 ,it is only by a decisive leap1 from objective thinking into subjective faith1 with the consciousness of sin as the driving power1 that the individual may realize 7we would say1 attain7 ,christianity4 ,nor is it gained once for all1 but must ever be maintained by passionately assailing the paradox of faith1 which is1 that one's eternal salvation is based on an historic fact4 ,the main thing always is the how1 not the what4 ,kierkegaard goes so far as to say that he who with fervency and inwardness prays to some false god is to be preferred to him who worships the true god1 but without the passion of devotion4 ,in order to prevent any misunderstanding about the manner of presentation in this remarkable book1 it will be well to add ,kierkegaard's own remark after reading a conscientious ,german review of his ,trifles3 ,although the account given is correct1 every one who reads it will obtain an altogether incorrect impression of the book2 because the account the critic gives is in the ex cathedra style 7docerende71 which will produce on the reader the impression that the book is written in a like manner4 ,but this is in my eyes the worst misconception possible4 ,and as to its peculiar conversational1 entertaining manner which in the most leisurely1 legre fashion and in an all but dogmatic style treats of the profoundest problems1 it is well to recall the similarly popular manner of ,pascal in his ,lettres ,provinciales4 ,like him--and his grand prototype ,socrates--,kierkegaard has the singular faculty of attacking the most abstruse matters with a chattiness bordering on frivolity1 yet without ever losing dignity4 ,for four and a half years ,kierkegaard had now1 notwithstanding his feeble health1 toiled feverishly and1 as he himself states1 without even a single day's remission4 ,and the honorarium had been rather ,socratic3 all of his books had been brought out at his own expense1 and their sale had been1 of course1 small4 7,of the ,final ,postscript1 e4g41 which had cost him between #ejj and #fjj rixdollars1 only #fj copies were sold74 ,hardly any one had understood what the purpose of this literature was4 ,he himself had done1 with the utmost exertion and to the best of his ability1 what he set out to do3 to show his times1 which had assumed that being a ,christian is an easy enough matter1 how unspeakably difficult a matter it really is and what terribly severe demands it makes on natural man4 ,he now longed for rest and seriously entertained the plan of bringing his literary career to a close and spending the remainder of his days as a pastor of some quiet country parish1 there to convert his philosophy into terms of practical existence4 ,but this was not to be4 ,an incident which would seem ridiculously small to a more robust nature sufficed to inflict on ,kierkegaard's sensitive mind the keenest tortures and thus to sting him into a renewed and more passionate literary activity4 ,as it happened1 the comic paper ,korsaren ,the ,corsair was then at the heyday of its career4 ,the first really democratic periodical in ,denmark1 it stood above party lines and through its malicious1 brilliant satire and amusing caricatures of prominent personalities was hated1 feared1 and enjoyed by everybody4 ,its editor1 the ,jewish author ,meir ,goldschmidt1 was a warm and outspoken admirer of the philosopher4 ,kierkegaard1 on the other hand1 had long regarded the ,press with suspicion4 ,he loathed it because it gave expression to1 and thus subtly flattered1 the multitude1 the public1 the mob--as against the individual1 and because it worked with the terrible weapon of anonymity2 but held it especially dangerous by reason of its enormous circulation and daily repetition of mischievous falsehoods4 ,so it seemed to him who ever doubted the ability of the people to think for themselves4 ,in a word1 the ,press is to him the evil principle in the modern world4 ,needless to say1 the tactics of ,the ,corsair1 in particular1 infuriated him4 ,in a ,christmas annual 7#ahde7 there had appeared a blundering review1 by one of the collaborators on ,the ,corsair1 of his ,stages on ,life's ,road4 ,seizing the opportunity offered1 ,kierkegaard wrote a caustic rejoinder1 adding the challenge3 ,would that ,i now soon appear in ',the ,corsair4' ,it is really hard on a poor author to be singled out in ,danish literature by remaining the only one who is not abused in it4 ,we know now that ,goldschmidt did his best in a private interview to ward off a feud1 but when rebuffed he turned the batteries of his ridicule on the personality of his erstwhile idol4 ,and for the better part of a year the ,copenhagen public was kept laughing and grinning about the unequal trouser legs1 the spindle shanks1 the inseparable umbrella1 the dialectic propensities1 of ,either-,or1 as ,kierkegaard came to be called by the populace2 for1 owing to his peripatetic habits--acquired in connection with the ,indirect ,communication--he had long been a familiar figure on the streets of the capital4 ,while trying to maintain an air of indifference1 he suffered the tortures of the damned4 ,in his ,journal 7several hundred of whose pages are given over to reflections on this experience7 we find exclamations such as this one3 ,what is it to be roasted alive at a slow fire1 or to be broken on the wheel or1 as they do in warm climates1 to be smeared with honey and put at the mercy of the insects--what is that in comparison with this torture3 to be grinned to death6 ,there could be no thought now of retiring to a peaceful charge in the country4 ,that would have been fleeing from persecution4 ,besides1 unbeknown perhaps to himself1 his pugnacity was aroused4 ,while under the influence of the ,corsair ,feud 7as it is known in ,danish literature7 he completes the booklet ,a ,literary ,review4 ,this was originally intended as a purely sthetic evaluation and appreciation of the 7then anonymous7 author#g of the ,hverdagshistorier ,commonplace ,stories that are praised by him for their thoughtful bodying forth of a consistent view of life which--however different from his own--yet commanded his respect4 ,he now appended a series of bitter reflections on the ,present ,times1 paying his respects to the ,press1 which he calls incomparably the worst offender in furnishing people with cheap irony1 in forcibly levelling out and reducing to mediocrity all those who strive to rise above it intellectually--words applicable1 alas6 no less to our own times4 ,to him1 however1 who in a religious sense has become the captain of his soul1 the becoming a butt of the ,press is but a true test4 ,looking up1 ,kierkegaard sees in his own fate the usual reward accorded by mankind to the courageous souls who dare to fight for the truth1 for the ideal--for ,christianity1 against the masses4 ,in a modern way1 through ridicule1 he was undergoing the martyrdom which the blood witnesses of old had undergone for the sake of their faith4 ,their task it had been to preach the ,gospel among the heathen4 ,his1 he reasoned1 was in nowise easier3 to make clear to uncomprehending millions of so-called ,christians that they were not ,christians at all1 that they did not even know what ,christianity is3 suffering and persecution1 as he now recognizes1 being inseparable from the truly ,christian life4 ,first1 then1 the road had to be cleared1 emphatically1 for the truth that ,christianity and the public are opposite terms4 ,the collection of ,edifying ,discourses in ,diverse ,spirits is thus a religious parallel to the polemic in his ,review4 ,the first part of these meditations has for its text3 ,the purity of the heart consists in willing one thing--and this one thing is necessarily the good1 the ideal2 but only he who lives his life as the individual can possibly will the good--else it is lived in duplicity1 for the world will share his aspirations1 he will bid for the rewards which the bowing before the crowd can give him4 ,in the second part1 entitled ,what we may learn from the ,lilies of the ,field and the ,birds of the ,air--one of ,kierkegaard's favorite texts--the greatest danger to the ethic-religious life is shown to be the uneasiness about our material welfare which insidiously haunts our thought-life1 and1 notwithstanding our best endeavors1 renders us essentially slaves to the crowd2 whereas it is given to man1 created in the image of ,god1 to be as self-contained1 unafraid1 hopeful as are 7symbolically7 the lily and the bird4 ,the startlingly new development attained through his recent experiences is most evident in the third part1 ,the ,gospel of ,sufferings1 in which absolute stress is laid on the imitation of ,christ in the strictest sense4 ,only the individual can compass this3 the narrow way to salvation must be traveled alone2 and will lead to salvation only if the world is1 literally1 overcome in persecution and tribulation4 ,and1 on the other hand1 to be happy in this world is equivalent to forfeiting salvation4 ,thus briefly outlined1 the contents of this book would seem to be sheer monkish asceticism2 but no synopsis1 however full1 can hope to give an idea of its lyrical pathos1 its wealth of tender reflections1 the great love tempering the stern severity of its teaching4 ,with wonderful beauty ,the ,deeds of ,love 7,kjerlighedens ,gjerninger7 7#ahdg7 are exalted as the ,christian's help and salvation against the tribulations of the world--love1 not indeed of the human kind1 but of man through ,god4 ,you are not concerned at all with what others do to you1 but only with what you do to others2 and also1 with how you react to what others do to you--you are concerned1 essentially1 only with yourself1 before ,god4 ,in rapid succession there follow ,christian ,discourses2 ,the ,lily of the ,field and the ,bird of the ,air2 ,sickness ,unto ,death 7with the sub-title ,a ,christian ,psychological ,exposition72 ,two ,religious ,treatises2 ,the ,high ,priest1 the ,publican1 the ,sinner2 ,three ,discourses on the ,occasion of ,communion on ,friday4 ,in the course of these reflections it had become increasingly clear to ,kierkegaard that the self-constituted representative of ,christ--the ,church or1 to mention only the organization he was intimately acquainted with1 the ,danish ,state ,church--had succeeded in becoming a purely worldly organization whose representatives1 far from striving to follow ,christ1 had made life quite comfortable for themselves2 retort to which was presently made that by thus stressing contemporaneousness with its aspects of suffering and persecution1 ,kierkegaard had both exceeded the accepted teaching of the ,church and staked the attainment of ,christianity so high as to drive all existing forms of it ad absurdum4 ,in his lndvelse i ,christendom ,preparation for a ,christian ,life and the somber ,til ,selvprvelse ,for a ,self-,examination ,kierkegaard returns to the attack with a powerful re-examination of the whole question as to how far modern ,christianity corresponds to that of the ,founder4 ,simply1 but with grandiose power1 he works out in concrete instances the conception of contemporaneousness gained in the ,final ,postscript2 at the same time demonstrating to all who have eyes to see1 the axiomatic connection between the doctrine of ,propitiation and ,christ's life in debasement2 that ,christianity consists in absolutely dying to the world2 and that the ,christianity which does not live up to this is but a travesty on ,christianity4 ,we may think what we please about this counsel of perfection1 and judge what we may about the rather arbitrary choice of ,scripture passages on which ,kierkegaard builds3 no serious reader1 no sincere ,christian can escape the searching of heart sure to follow this tremendous arraignment of humanity false to its divine leader4 ,there is nothing more impressive in all modern literature than the gallery of opinions voiced by those arrayed against ,christ when on earth--and now--as to what constitutes the offense4 ,kierkegaard had hesitated a long time before publishing the ,preparation for a ,christian ,life4 ,authority-loving as he was1 he shrank from antagonizing the ,church1 as it was bound to do2 and more especially1 from giving offense to its primate1 the venerable ,bishop ,mynster who had been his father's friend and spiritual adviser1 to whom he had himself always looked up with admiring reverence1 and whose sermons he had been in the habit of reading at all times4 ,also1 to be sure1 he was restrained by the thought1 that by publishing his book he would render ,christianity well-night unattainable to the weak and the simple and the afflicted who certainly were in need of the consolations of ,christianity without any additional sufferings interposed--and surely no reader of his devotional works can be in doubt that he was the most tender-hearted of men4 ,in earlier1 stronger times1 he imagines1 he would have been made a martyr for his opinions2 but was he entitled to become a blood-witness--he who realized more keenly than any one that he himself was not a ,christian in the strictest sense8 ,in his ,two ,religious ,treatises he debates the question3 ,is it permissible for a man to let himself be killed for the truth82 which is answered in the negative in ,about the ,difference between a ,genius and an ,apostle--which consists in the ,apostle's speaking with authority4 ,however1 should not the truth be the most important consideration8 ,his journal during that time offers abundant proof of the absolute earnestness with which he struggled over the question4 ,when ,kierkegaard finally published ,the ,preparation for a ,christian ,life1 the bishop was1 indeed1 incensed2 but he did nothing4 ,nor did any one else venture forth4 ,still worse affront6 ,kierkegaard had said his last word1 had stated his ultimatum--and it was received with indifference1 it seemed4 ,nevertheless he decided to wait and see what effect his books would have for he hesitated to draw the last conclusions and mortally wound the old man tottering on the brink of his grave by thus attacking the ,church4 ,there followed a three years' period of silence on the part of ,kierkegaard--again certainly a proof of his utter sincerity4 ,it must be remembered1 in this connection1 that the very last thing ,kierkegaard desired was an external reorganization1 a reform1 of the ,church--indeed1 he firmly refused to be identified with any movement of secession1 differing in this respect vitally from his contemporaries ,vinet and ,grundtvig who otherwise had so much in common with him4 ,his only wish was to infuse life and inwardness into the existing forms4 ,and far from being inferior to them in this he was here at one with the ,founder and the ,early ,church in that he states the aim of the ,christian ,life to be1 not to transform the existing social order1 but to transcend it4 ,for the very same reason1 coupled to be sure with a pronounced aristocratic individualism1 he is utterly and unreasonably indifferent1 and even antagonistic1 to the great social movements of his time1 to the political upheavals of #ahdh1 to the revolutionary advances of science4 ,as ,kierkegaard now considered his career virtually concluded1 he wrote 7#ahea7 a brief account ,about my ,activity as an ,author in which he furnishes his readers a key to its unfolding--from an sthetic view to the religious view--which he considers his own education by ,providence2 and indicates it to be his special task to call attention1 without authority1 to the religious1 the ,christian life4 ,his ,viewpoint for my ,activity as an ,author1 published by his brother only long after his death1 likewise defines the purpose of the whole authorship1 besides containing important biographical material4 ,at length 7,january1 #ahed7 ,mynster died4 ,even then ,kierkegaard1 though still on his guard1 might not have felt called upon to have recourse to stronger measures if it had not been for an unfortunate sentence in the funeral sermon preached by the now famous ,martensen--generally pointed out as the successor to the primacy--with whom ,kierkegaard had already broken a lance or two4 ,martensen had declared ,mynster to have been one of the holy chain of witnesses for the truth 7sandhedsvidner7 which extends through the centuries down from the time of the ,apostles4 ,this is the provocation for which ,kierkegaard had waited4 ,bishop ,mynster a witness for the truth6 he bursts out1 ,you who read this1 you know well what in a ,christian sense is a witness for the truth4 ,still1 let me remind you that to be one1 it is absolutely essential to suffer for the teaching of ,christianity2 whereas the truth is that ,mynster was wordily-wise to a degree--was weak1 pleasure-loving1 and great only as a declaimer4 ,but once more--striking proof of his circumspection and single-mindedness--he kept this harsh letter in his desk for nine months1 lest its publication should interfere in the least with ,martensen's appointment1 or seem the outcome of personal resentment4 ,martensen's reply1 which forcefully enough brings out all that could be said for a milder interpretation of the ,christian categories and for his predecessor1 was not as respectful to the sensitive author as it ought to have been4 ,in a number of newspaper letters of increasing violence and acerbity ,kierkegaard now tried to force his obstinately silent opponent to his knees2 but in vain4 ,filled with holy wrath at what he conceived to be a conspiracy by silence1 and evasions to bring to naught the whole infinitely important matter for which he had striven1 ,kierkegaard finally turned agitator4 ,he addressed himself directly to the people with the celebrated pamphlet series ieblikket ,the ,present ,moment in which he opens an absolutely withering fire of invective on anything and everything connected with the existing order in ,christendom--an agitation the like of which for revolutionary vehemence has rarely1 if ever1 been seen4 ,all rites of the ,church--marriage1 baptism1 confirmation1 communion1 burial--and most of all the clergy1 high and low1 draw the fiery bolts of his wrath and a perfect hail of fierce1 cruel invective4 ,the dominant note1 though varied infinitely1 is ever the same3 ,whoever you may be1 and whatever the life you live1 my friend3 by omitting to attend the public divine service--if indeed it be your habit to attend it--by omitting1 to attend public divine service as now constituted 7claiming as it does to represent the ,christianity of the ,new ,testament7 you will escape at least one1 and a great1 sin in not attempting to fool ,god by calling that the ,christianity of the ,new ,testament which is not the ,christianity of the ,new ,testament4 ,and he does not hesitate to use strong1 even coarse1 language2 he even courts the reproach of blasphemy in order to render ridiculous in ,official ,christianity what to most may seem inherently1 though mistakenly1 a matter of highest reverence4 ,the swiftness and mercilessness of his attack seem to have left his contemporaries without a weapon3 all they could do was to shrug their shoulders about the fanatic1 or to duck and wait dumbly until the storm had passed4 ,nor did it last long4 ,on the second of ,october1 #ahee1 ,kierkegaard fell unconscious in the street4 ,he was brought to the hospital where he died on the eleventh of ,november1 aged #db4 ,the immense exertions of the last months had shattered his frail body4 ,and strange3 the last of his money had been used up4 ,he had said what he thought ,providence had to communicate through him4 ,his strength was gone4 ,his death at this moment would put the crown on his work4 ,as he said on his death-bed3 ,the bomb explodes1 and the conflagration will follow4 ,in appraising ,kierkegaard's life and works it will be found true1 as ,hotfding says1 that he can mean much even to those who do not subscribe to the beliefs so unquestioningly entertained by him4 ,and however much they may regret that he poured his noble wine into the old bottles1 they cannot fail to recognize the yeoman's service he did1 both for sincere ,christians in compelling them to rehearse inwardly what ever tends to become a matter of form3 what it means to be a ,christian2 and for others1 in deepening their sense of individual responsibility4 ,in fact1 every one who has once come under his influence and has wrestled with this mighty spirit will bear away some blessing4 ,in a time when1 as in our own1 the crowd1 society1 the millions1 the nation1 had depressed the individual to an insignificant atom--and what is worse1 in the individual's own estimation2 when shallow altruistic1 socializing effort thought naively that the millenium was at hand1 he drove the truth home that1 on the contrary1 the individual is the measure of all things2 that we do not live en masse2 that both the terrible responsibility and the great satisfactions of life inhere in the individual4 ,again1 more forcibly than any one else in modern times1 certainly more cogently than ,pascal1 he demonstrated that the possibility of proof in religion is an illusion2 that doubt cannot be combatted by reason1 that it ever will be credo quia impossibile4 ,in religion1 he showed the utter incompatibility of the sthetic and the religious life2 and in ,christianity1 he re-stated and re-pointed the principle of ideal perfection by his unremitting insistence on contemporaneousness with ,christ4 ,it is another matter whether by so doing ,kierkegaard was about to pull the pillars from underneath the great edifice of ,christianity which housed both him and his enemies3 seeing that he himself finally doubted whether it had ever existed apart from the ,founder and1 possibly1 the ,apostles4 ,kierkegaard is not easy reading4 ,one's first impression of crabbedness1 whimsicality1 abstruseness will1 however1 soon give way to admiration of the marvelous instrument of precision language has become in his hands4 ,to be sure1 he did not write for people who are in a hurry1 nor for dullards4 ,his closely reasoned paragraphs and1 at times huge1 though rhetorically faultless1 periods require concentrated attention1 his involutions and repetitions1 handled with such incomparable virtuosity1 demand an everlasting readiness of comprehension on the part of the reader4 ,on the other hand his philosophic work is delightfully ,socratic1 unconventional1 and altogether un-textbook-like4 ,kierkegaard himself wished that his devotional works should be read aloud4 ,and1 from a purely sthetic point of view1 it ought to be a delight for any orator to practice on the wonderful periods of e4 g41 ,the ,preparation1 or of1 say1 the parable of the coach-horses in ,acts of the ,apostles4 ,they alone would be sufficient to place ,kierkegaard in the front rank of prose writers of the nineteenth century where1 both by the power of his utterance and the originality of his thought1 he rightfully belongs4 ,in laying before an ,english speaking public selections from ,kierkegaard's works1 the translator has endeavored to give an adequate idea of the various aspects of his highly disparate works4 ,for this purpose he has chosen a few large pieces1 rather than given tidbits4 ,he hopes to be pardoned for not having a slavish regard for ,kierkegaard's very inconsequential paragraphing#h and for breaking1 with no detriment1 he believes1 to the thought1 some excessively long paragraphs into smaller units2 which will prove more restful to the eye and more encouraging to the reader4 ,as to occasional omissions--always indicated by dots--the possessor of the complete works will readily identify them4 ,in consonance with ,kierkegaard's views on contemporaneousness1 no capitals are used in ,the ,preparation when referring to ,christ by pronouns4 ,when ,kierkegaard died1 his influence1 like that of ,socrates1 was just beginning to make itself felt4 ,the complete translation into ,german of all his works#i and of many into other languages2 the magnificent new edition of his works#aj and of his extraordinarily voluminous diaries1#aa now nearing completion2 and the steadily increasing number of books1 pamphlets1 and articles from the most diverse quarters testify to his reaching a growing number of individuals4 ,below is given a list of the more important books and articles on ,kierkegaard4 ,it does not aim at completeness4 ,brthold1 ,a4 ,s4 ,k41 ,eine ,verfassetexistenz eigner ,art4 ,halberstadt1 #ahgc4 ,same3 ,noten zu ,s4 ,k4's ,lebensgeschichte4 ,halle1 #ahgf4 ,same3 ,die ,bedeutung der aesthetischen ,schriften ,s4 ,k4's4 ,halle1 #ahgi4 ,barfod1 ,h4 ,p4 7,introduction to the first edition of the ,diary47 ,copenhagen1 #ahfi4 ,bohlin1 ,th4 ,s4 ,k4's ,etiska skadning4 ,uppsala1 #aiah4 ,brandes1 ,g4 ,s4 ,k41 ,en kritisk ,fremstilling i ,grundrids4 ,copenhagen1 #ahgg4 ,same3 ,german ed4 ,leipzig1 #ahgi4 ,deleuran1 ,v4 ,esquisse d'une tude sur ,s4 ,k4 ,thse1 ,university of ,paris1 #ahig4 ,hffding1 ,h4 ,s4 ,k4 ,copenhagen1 #ahib4 ,same3 ,german edition 7#bnd74 ,stuttgart1 #aijb4 ,hoffmann1 ,r4 ,k4 und die religise ,gewissheit4 ,gttingen1 #aiaj4 ,jensen1 ,ch4 ,s4 ,k4's religise ,udvikling4 ,aarhus1 #ahih4 ,monrad1 ,o4 ,p4 ,s4 ,k4 ,sein ,leben und seine ,werke4 ,jena1 #aiji4 ,mnch1 ,ph4 ,haupt und ,grundgedanken der ,philosophie ,s4 ,k4's4 ,leipzig1 #aijb4 ,rosenberg1 ,p4 ,a4 ,s4 ,k41 hans ,liv1 hans ,personlighed og hans ,forfatterskab4 ,copenhagen1 #ahih4 ,rudin1 ,w4 ,s4 ,k4's ,person och ,frfatterskap4 ,frste ,afdelningen4 ,stockholm1 #ahhj4 ,schrempf1 ,ch4 ,s4 ,k4's ,stellung zu ,bibel und ,dogma4 ,zeitschrift fr ,theologie und ,kirche1 #ahia1 p4 #agi4 ,same3 ,s4 ,k4 ,ein unfreier ,pionier der ,freiheit4 7,with a foreword by ,hffding7 ,frankfurt1 #aiji4 ,swenson1 ,d4 ,the ,anti-,intellectualism of ,k4 ,philosophic ,review1 #aiaf1 p4 #efg4 ,to my friends and colleagues1 ,percy ,m4 ,dawson and ,howard ,m4 ,jones1 ,i wish also in this place to express my thanks for help and criticism in divers spirits4 ,footnote #a3 ,pronounced ,kerkegor4 ,footnote #b3 ,an interesting parallel is the story of ,peter ,williams1 as told by ,george ,borrow1 ,lavengro1 chap4 #ge ff4 ,footnote #c3 ,corresponding1 approximately1 to our doctoral thesis4 ,footnote #d3 ,not ,discourses for ,edification1 cf4 the ,foreword to ,atten ,opbyggelige ,taler1 ,s4 ,v4 vol4 ,,iv4 ,footnote #e3 ,de ,carne ,christi1 chap4 ,v1 as my friend1 ,professor ,a4 ,e4 ,haydon1 kindly points out4 ,footnote #f3 ,cf4 ,brandes1 ,s4 ,k4 p4 #aeg4 ,footnote #g3 ,mrs4 ,thomasine ,gyllembourg-,ehrensvrd4 ,footnote #h3 ,with signal exception of ,the ,present ,moment4 ,footnote #i3 ,in process of publication4 ,jena4 ,footnote #aj3 ,samlede ,vrker4 ,copenhagen1 #aija-aijf 7#ad vols74 ,in the notes abbreviated ,s4 ,v4 ,still another edition is preparing4 ,footnote #aa3 ,copenhagen1 #aiji ff4 ,,diapsalmata#a ,what is a poet8 ,an unhappy man who conceals profound anguish in his heart1 but whose lips are so fashioned that when sighs and groans pass over them they sound like beautiful music4 ,his fate resembles that of the unhappy men who were slowly roasted by a gentle fire in the tyrant ,phalaris' bull--their shrieks could not reach his ear to terrify him1 to him they sounded like sweet music4 ,and people flock about the poet and say to him3 do sing again2 which means1 would that new sufferings tormented your soul1 and3 would that your lips stayed fashioned as before1 for your cries would only terrify us1 but your music is delightful4 ,and the critics join them1 saying3 well done1 thus must it be according to the laws of sthetics4 ,why1 to be sure1 a critic resembles a poet as one pea another1 the only difference being that he has no anguish in his heart and no music on his lips4 ,behold1 therefore would ,i rather be a swineherd on ,amager1#b and be understood by the swine than a poet1 and misunderstood by men4 ,in addition to my numerous other acquaintances ,i have still one more intimate friend--my melancholy4 ,in the midst of pleasure1 in the midst of work1 he beckons to me1 calls me aside1 even though ,i remain present bodily4 ,my melancholy is the most faithful sweetheart ,i have had--no wonder that ,i return the love6 ,of all ridiculous things the most ridiculous seems to me1 to be busy--to be a man who is brisk about his food and his work4 ,therefore1 whenever ,i see a fly settling1 in the decisive moment1 on the nose of such a person of affairs2 or if he is spattered with mud from a carriage which drives past him in still greater haste2 or the drawbridge opens up before him2 or a tile falls down and knocks him dead1 then ,i laugh heartily4 ,and who1 indeed1 could help laughing8 ,what1 ,i wonder1 do these busy folks get done8 ,are they not to be classed with the woman who in her confusion about the house being on fire carried out the fire-tongs8 ,what things of greater account1 do you suppose1 will they rescue from life's great conflagration8 ,let others complain that the times are wicked4 ,i complain that they are paltry2 for they are without passion4 ,the thoughts of men are thin and frail like lace1 and they themselves are feeble like girl lace-makers4 ,the thoughts of their hearts are too puny to be sinful4 ,for a worm it might conceivably be regarded a sin to harbor thoughts such as theirs1 not for a man who is formed in the image of ,god4 ,their lusts are staid and sluggish1 their passions sleepy2 they do their duty1 these sordid minds1 but permit themselves1 as did the ,jews1 to trim the coins just the least little bit1 thinking that if our ,lord keep tab of them ever so carefully one might yet safely venture to fool him a bit4 ,fye upon them6 ,it is therefore my soul ever returns to the ,old ,testament and to ,shakespeare4 ,there at least one feels that one is dealing with men and women2 there one hates and loves1 there one murders one's enemy and curses his issue through all generations--there one sins4 ,just as1 according to the legend1#c ,parmeniscus in the ,trophonian cave lost his ability to laugh1 but recovered it again on the island of ,delos at the sight of a shapeless block which was exhibited as the image of the goddess ,leto3 likewise did it happen to me4 ,when ,i was very young ,i forgot in the ,trophonian cave how to laugh2 but when ,i grew older and opened my eyes and contemplated the real world1 ,i had to laugh1 and have not ceased laughing1 ever since4 ,i beheld that the meaning of life was to make a living2 its goal1 to become ,chief ,justice2 that the delights of love consisted in marrying a woman with ample means2 that it was the blessedness of friendship to help one another in financial difficulties2 that wisdom was what most people supposed it to be2 that it showed enthusiasm to make a speech1 and courage1 to risk being fined #aj dollars2 that it was cordiality to say may it agree with you after a repast2 that it showed piety to partake of the communion once a year4 ,i saw that and laughed4 ,a strange thing happened to me in my dream4 ,i was rapt into the ,seventh ,heaven4 ,there sat all the gods assembled4 ,as a special dispensation ,i was granted the favor to have one wish4 ,do you wish for youth1 said ,mercury1 or for beauty1 or power1 or a long life2 or do you wish for the most beautiful woman1 or any other of the many fine things we have in our treasure trove8 ,choose1 but only one thing6 ,for a moment ,i was at a loss4 ,then ,i addressed the gods in this wise3 ,most honorable contemporaries1 ,i choose one thing--that ,i may always have the laughs on my side4 ,not one god made answer1 but all began to laugh4 ,from this ,i concluded that my wish had been granted and thought that the gods knew how to express themselves with good taste2 for it would surely have been inappropriate to answer gravely3 your wish has been granted4 ,footnote #a3 ,interlude 7of aphorisms74 ,selection4 ,footnote #b3 ,a flat island south of the capital1 called the ,kitchen ,garden of ,copenhagen4 ,footnote #c3 ,told by ,athenaios4 ,,in ,,vino ,,veritas 7,,the ,,banquet7 ,it was on one of the last days in ,july1 at ten o'clock in the evening1 when the participants in that banquet assembled together4 ,date and year ,i have forgotten2 indeed1 this would be interesting only to one's memory of details1 and not to one's recollection of the contents of what experience4 ,the spirit of the occasion and whatever impressions are recorded in one's mind under that heading1 concerns only one's recollections2 and just as generous wine gains in flavor by passing the ,equator1 because of the evaporation of its watery particles1 likewise does recollection gain by getting rid of the watery particles of memory2 and yet recollection becomes as little a mere figment of the imagination by this process as does the generous wine4 ,the participants were five in number3 ,john1 with the epithet of the ,seducer1 ,victor ,eremita1 ,constantin ,constantius1 and yet two others whose names ,i have not exactly forgotten--which would be a matter of small importance--but whose names ,i did not learn4 ,it was as if these two had no proper names1 for they were constantly addressed by some epithet4 ,the one was called the ,young ,person4 ,nor was he more than twenty and some years1 of slender and delicate build1 and of a very dark complexion4 ,his face was thoughtful2 but more pleasing even was its lovable and engaging expression which betokened a purity of soul harmonizing perfectly with the soft charm1 almost feminine1 and the transparency of his whole presence4 ,this external beauty of appearance was lost sight of1 however1 in one's next impression of him2 or1 one kept it only in mind whilst regarding a youth nurtured or--to use a still tenderer expression--petted into being1 by thought1 and nourished by the contents of his own soul--a youth who as yet had had nothing to do with the world1 had been neither aroused and fired1 nor disquieted and disturbed4 ,like a sleep-walker he bore the law of his actions within himself1 and the amiable1 kindly expression of his countenance concerned no one1 but only mirrored the disposition of his soul4 ,the other person they called the ,dressmaker1 and that was his occupation4 ,of him it was impossible to get a consistent impression4 ,he was dressed according to the very latest fashion1 with his hair curled and perfumed1 fragrant with eau-de-cologne4 ,one moment his carriage did not lack self-possession1 whereas in the next it assumed a certain dancing1 festive air1 a certain hovering motion1 which1 however1 was kept in rather definite bounds by the robustness of his figure4 ,even when he was most malicious in his speech his voice ever had a touch of the smoothtonguedness of the shop1 the suaveness of the dealer in fancy-goods1 which evidently was utterly disgusting to himself and only satisfied his spirit of defiance4 ,as ,i think of him now ,i understand him better1 to be sure1 than when ,i first saw him step out of his carriage and ,i involuntarily laughed4 ,at the same time there is some contradiction left still4 ,he had transformed or bewitched himself1 had by the magic of his own will assumed the appearance of one almost half-witted1 but had not thereby entirely satisfied himself2 and this is why his reflectiveness now and then peered forth from beneath his disguise4 ,as ,i think of it now it seems rather absurd that five such persons should get a banquet arranged4 ,nor would anything have come of it1 ,i suppose1 if ,constantin had not been one of us4 ,in a retired room of a confectioner's shop where they met at times1 the matter had been broached once before1 but had been dropped immediately when the question arose as to who was to head the undertaking4 ,the ,young ,person was declared unfit for that task1 the ,dressmaker affirmed himself to be too busy4 ,victor ,eremita did not beg to be excused because he had married a wife or bought a yoke of oxen which he needed to prove2#a but1 he said1 even if he should make an exception1 for once1 and come to the banquet1 yet he would decline the courtesy offered him to preside at it1 and he therewith entered protest at the proper time4#b ,this1 ,john considered a work spoken in due season2 because1 as he saw it1 there was but one person able to prepare a banquet1 and that was the possessor of the wishing-table which set itself with delectable things whenever he said to it ,cover thyself6 ,he averred that to enjoy the charms of a young girl in haste was not always the wisest course2 but as to a banquet1 he would not wait for it1 and generally was tired of it a long while before it came off4 ,however1 if the plan was to be carried into effect he would make one condition1 which was1 that the banquet should be so arranged as to be served in one course4 ,and that all were agreed on4 ,also1 that the settings for it were to be made altogether new1 and that afterwards they were to be destroyed entirely2 ay1 before rising from table one was to hear the preparation for their destruction4 ,nothing was to remain2 not even so much1 said the ,dressmaker1 as there is left of a dress after it has been made over into a hat4 ,nothing1 said ,john1 because nothing is more unpleasant than a sentimental scene1 and nothing more disgusting than the knowledge that somewhere or other there is an external setting which in a direct and impertinent fashion pretends to be a reality4 ,when the conversation had thus became animated1 ,victor ,eremita suddenly arose1 struck an attitude on the floor1 beckoned with his hand in the fashion of one commanding and1 holding his arm extended as one lifting a goblet1 he said1 with the gesture of one waving a welcome3 ,with this cup whose fragrance already intoxicates my senses1 whose cool fire already inflames my blood1 ,i greet you1 beloved fellow-banqueters1 and bid you welcome2 being entirely assured that each one of you is sufficiently satisfied by our merely speaking about the banquet2 for our ,lord satisfied the stomach before satisfying the eye1 but the imagination acts in the reverse fashion4 ,thereupon he inserted his hand in his pocket1 took from it a cigar-case1 struck a match1 and began to smoke4 ,when ,constantin ,constantius protested against this sovereign free way of transforming the banquet planned into an illusory fragment of life1 ,victor declared that he did not believe for one moment that such a banquet could be got up and that1 in any case1 it had been a mistake to let it become the subject of discussion in advance4 ,whatever is to be good must come at once2 for 'at once' is the divinest of all categories and deserves to be honored as in the language of the ,romans3 ex templo1#c because it is the starting point for all that is divine in life1 and so much so that what is not done at once is of evil4 ,however1 he remarked1 he did not care to argue this point4 ,in case the others wished to speak and act differently he would not say a word1 but if they wished him to explain the sense of his remarks more fully he must have leave to make a speech1 because he did not consider it all desirable to provoke a discussion on the subject4 ,permission was given him2 and as the others called on him to do so at once1 he spoke as follows3 ,a banquet is in itself a difficult matter1 because even if it be arranged with ever so much taste and talent there is something else essential to its success1 to wit1 good luck4 ,and by this ,i mean not such matters as most likely would give concern to an anxious hostess1 but something different1 a something which no one can make absolutely sure of3 a fortunate harmonizing of the spirit and the minuti of the banquet1 that fine ethereal vibration of chords1 that soul-stirring music which cannot be ordered in advance from the town-musicians4 ,look you1 therefore is it a hazardous thing to undertake1 because if things do go wrong1 perhaps from the very start1 one may suffer such a depression and loss of spirits that recovery from it might involve a very long time4 ,sheer habit and thoughtlessness are father and godfather to most banquets1 and it is only due to the lack of critical sense among people that one fails to notice the utter absence of any idea in them4 ,in the first place1 women ought never to be present at a banquet4 ,women may be used to advantage only in the ,greek style1 as a chorus of dancers4 ,as it is the main thing at a banquet that there be eating and drinking1 woman ought not to be present2 for she cannot do justice to what is offered2 or1 if she can1 it is most unbeautiful4 ,whenever a woman is present the matter of eating and drinking ought to be reduced to the very slightest proportions4 ,at most1 it ought to be no more than some trifling feminine occupation1 to have something to busy one's hands with4 ,especially in the country a little repast of this kind--which1 by the way1 should be put at other times than the principal meals--may be extremely delightful2 and if so1 always owing to the presence of the other sex4 ,to do like the ,english1 who let the fair sex retire as soon as the real drinking is to start1 is to fall between two stools1 for every plan ought to be a whole1 and the very manner with which ,i take a seat at the table and seize hold of knife and fork bears a definite relation to this whole4 ,in the same sense a political banquet presents an unbeautiful ambiguity inasmuch as one does not#d want to cut down to a very minimum the essentials of a banquet1 and yet does not wish to have the speeches thought of as having been made over the cups4 ,so far1 we are agreed1 ,i suppose2 and our number--in case anything should come of the banquet--is correctly chosen1 according to that beautiful rule3 neither more than the ,muses nor fewer than the ,graces4 ,now ,i demand the greatest superabundance of everything thinkable4 ,that is1 even though everything be not actually there1 yet the possibility of having it must be at one's immediate beck and call1 aye1 hover temptingly over the table1 more seductive even than the actual sight of it4 ,i beg to be excused1 however1 from banqueting on sulphur-matches or on a piece of sugar which all are to suck in turn4 ,my demands for such a banquet will1 on the contrary1 be difficult to satisfy2 for the feast itself must be calculated to arouse and incite that unmentionable longing which each worthy participant is to bring with him4 ,i require that the earth's fertility be at our service1 as though everything sprouted forth at the very moment the desire for it was born4 ,i desire a more luxurious abundance of wine than when ,mephistopheles needed but to drill holes into the table to obtain it4 ,i demand an illumination more splendid than have the gnomes when they lift up the mountain on pillars and dance in a sea of blazing light4 ,i demand what most excites the senses1 ,i demand their gratification by deliciously sweet perfumes1 more superb than any in the ,arabian ,nights4 ,i demand a coolness which voluptuously provokes desire and breathes relaxation on desire satisfied4 ,i demand a fountain's unceasing enlivenment4 ,if ,mcenas could not sleep without hearing the splashing of a fountain1 ,i cannot eat without it4 ,do not misunderstand me1 ,i can eat stockfish without it1 but ,i cannot eat at a banquet without it2 ,i can drink water without it1 but ,i cannot drink wine at a banquet without it4 ,i demand a host of servants1 chosen and comely1 as if ,i sate at table with the gods2 ,i demand that there shall be music at the feast1 both strong and subdued2 and ,i demand that it shall be an accompaniment to my thoughts2 and what concerns you1 my friends1 my demands regarding you are altogether incredible4 ,do you see1 by reason of all these demands--which are as many reasons against it--,i hold a banquet to be a pium desideratum1#e and am so far from desiring a repetition of it that ,i presume it is not feasible even a first time4 ,the only one who had not actually participated in this conversation1 nor in the frustration of the banquet1 was ,constantin4 ,without him1 nothing would have been done save the talking4 ,he had come to a different conclusion and was of the opinion that the idea might well be realized1 if one but carried the matter with a high hand4 ,then some time passed1 and both the banquet and the discussion about it were forgotten1 when suddenly1 one day1 the participants received a card of invitation from ,constantius for a banquet the very same evening4 ,the motto of the party had been given by him as3 ,in ,vino ,veritas1 because there was to be speaking1 to be sure1 and not only conversation2 but the speeches were not to be made except in vino1 and no truth was to be uttered there excepting that which is in vino--when the wine is a defense of the truth and the truth a defense of the wine4 ,the place had been chosen in the woods1 some ten miles distant from ,copenhagen4 ,the hall in which they were to feast had been newly decorated and in every way made unrecognizable2 a smaller room1 separated from the hall by a corridor1 was arranged for an orchestra4 ,shutters and curtains were let down before all windows1 which were left open4 ,the arrangement that the participants were to drive to the banquet in the evening hour was to intimate to them--and that was ,constantin's idea--what was to follow4 ,even if one knows that one is driving to a banquet1 and the imagination therefore indulges for a moment in thoughts of luxury1 yet the impression of the natural surroundings is too powerful to be resisted4 ,that this might possibly not be the case was the only contingency he apprehended2 for just as there is no power like the imagination to render beautiful all it touches1 neither is there any power which can to such a degree disturb all--misfortune conspiring--if confronted with reality4 ,but driving on a summer evening does not lure the imagination to luxurious thoughts1 but rather to the opposite4 ,even if one does not see it or hear it1 the imagination will unconsciously create a picture of the longing for home which one is apt to feel in the evening hours--one sees the reapers1 man and maid1 returning from their work in the fields1 one hears the hurried rattling of the hay wagon1 one interprets even the far-away lowing from the meadows as a longing4 ,thus does a summer evening suggest idyllic thoughts1 soothing even a restless mind with its assuagement1 inducing even the soaring imagination to abide on earth with an indwelling yearning for home as the place from whence it came1 and thus teaching the insatiable mind to be satisfied with little1 by rendering one content2 for in the evening hour time stands still and eternity lingers4 ,thus they arrived in the evening hour3 those invited2 for ,constantin had come out somewhat earlier4 ,victor ,eremita who resided in the country not far away came on horseback1 the others in a carriage4 ,and just as they had discharged it1 a light open vehicle rolled in through the gate carrying a merry company of four journeymen who were entertained to be ready at the decisive moment to function as a corps of destruction3 just as firemen are stationed in a theatre1 for the opposite reason at once to extinguish a fire4 ,so long as one is a child one possesses sufficient imagination to maintain one's soul at the very top-notch of expectation--for a whole hour in the dark room1 if need be2 but when one has grown older one's imagination may easily cause one to tire of the ,christmas tree before seeing it4 ,the folding doors were opened4 ,the effect of the radiant illumination1 the coolness wafting toward them1 the beguiling fragrance of sweet perfumes1 the excellent taste of the arrangements1 for a moment overwhelmed the feelings of those entering2 and when1 at the same time1 strains from the ballet of ,don ,juan sounded from the orchestra1 their persons seemed transfigured and1 as if out of reverence for an unseen spirit about them1 they stopped short for a moment like men who have been roused by admiration and who have risen to admire4 ,whoever knows that happy moment1 whoever has appreciated its delight1 and has not also felt the apprehension lest suddenly something might happen1 some trifle perhaps1 which yet might be sufficient to disturb all6 ,whoever has held the lamp of ,aladdin in his hand and has not also felt the swooning of pleasure1 because one needs but to wish8 ,whoever has held what is inviting in his hand and has not also learned to keep his wrist limber to let go at once1 if need be8 ,thus they stood side by side4 ,only ,victor stood alone1 absorbed in thought2 a shudder seemed to pass through his soul1 he almost trembled2 he collected himself and saluted the omen with these words3 ,ye mysterious1 festive1 and seductive strains which drew me out of the cloistered seclusion of a quiet youth and beguiled me with a longing as mighty as a recollection1 and terrible1 as though ,elvira had not even been seduced but had only desired to be6 ,immortal ,mozart1 thou to whom ,i owe all2 but no6 as yet ,i do not owe thee all4 ,but when ,i shall have become an old man--if ever ,i do become an old man2 or when ,i shall have become ten years older--if ever ,i do2 or when ,i am become old--if ever ,i shall become old2 or when ,i shall die--for that1 indeed1 ,i know ,i shall3 then shall ,i say3 immortal ,mozart1 thou to whom ,i owe all--and then ,i shall let my admiration1 which is my soul's first and only admiration1 burst forth in all its might and let it make away with me1 as it often has been on the point of doing4 ,then have ,i set my house in order1#f then have ,i remembered my beloved one1 then have ,i confessed my love1 then have ,i fully established that ,i owe thee all1 then am ,i occupied no longer with thee1 with the world1 but only with the grave thought of death4 ,now there came from the orchestra that invitation in which joy triumphs most exultantly1 and heaven-storming soars aloft above ,elvira's sorrowful thanks2 and gracefully apostrophizing1 ,john repeated3 ,viva la liberta--et veritas1 said the ,young ,person2 but above all1 in vino1 ,constantin interrupted them1 seating himself at the table and inviting the others to do likewise4 ,how easy to prepare a banquet2 yet ,constantin declared that he never would risk preparing another4 ,how easy to admire2 yet ,victor declared that he never again would lend words to his admiration2 for to suffer a discomfiture is more dreadful than to become an invalid in war6 ,how easy to express a desire1 if one has the magic lamp2 yet that is at times more terrible than to perish of want6 ,they were seated4 ,in the same moment the little company were launched into the very middle of the infinite sea of enjoyment--as if with one single bound4 ,each one had addressed all his thoughts and all his desires to the banquet1 had prepared his soul for the enjoyment which was offered to overflowing and in which their souls overflowed4 ,the experienced driver is known by his ability to start the snorting team with a single bound and to hold them well abreast2 the well-trained steed is known by his lifting himself in one absolutely decisive leap3 even if one or the other of the guests perhaps fell short in some particular1 certainly ,constantin was a good host4 ,thus they banqueted4 ,soon1 conversation had woven its beautiful wreaths about the banqueters1 so that they sat garlanded4 ,now1 it was enamored of the food1 now of the wine1 and now again of itself2 now1 it seemed to develop into significance1 and then again it was altogether slight4 ,soon1 fancy unfolded itself--the splendid one which blows but once1 the tender one which straightway closes its petals2 now1 there came an exclamation from one of the banqueters3 ,these truffles are superb1 and now1 an order of the host3 ,this ,chateau ,margaux6 ,now1 the music was drowned in the noise1 now it was heard again4 ,sometimes the servants stood still as if in pausa1 in that decisive moment when a new dish was being brought out1 or a new wine was ordered and mentioned by name1 sometimes they were all a bustle4 ,sometimes there was a silence for a moment1 and then the re-animating spirit of the music went forth over the guests4 ,now1 one with some bold thought would take the lead in the conversation and the others followed after1 almost forgetting to eat1 and the music would sound after them as it sounds after the jubilant shouts of a host storming on2 now1 only the clinking of glasses and the clattering of plates was heard and the feasting proceeded in silence1 accompanied only by the music that joyously advanced and again stimulated conversation4 ,thus they banqueted4 ,how poor is language in comparison with that symphony of sounds unmeaning1 yet how significant1 whether of a battle or of a banquet1 which even scenic representation cannot imitate and for which language has but a few words6 ,how rich is language in the expression of the world of ideas1 and how poor1 when it is to describe reality6 ,only once did ,constantin abandon his omnipresence in which one actually lost sight of his presence4 ,at the very beginning he got them to sing one of the old drinking songs1 by way of calling to mind that jolly time when men and women feasted together1 as he said--a proposal which had the positively burlesque effect he had perhaps calculated it should have4 ,it almost gained the upper hand when the ,dressmaker wanted them to sing the ditty3 ,when ,i shall mount the bridal bed1 hoiho6 ,after a couple of courses had been served ,constantin proposed that the banquet should conclude with each one's making a speech1 but that precautions should be taken against the speakers' divagating too much4 ,he was for making two conditions1 viz41 there were to be no speeches until after the meal2 and no one was to speak before having drunk sufficiently to feel the power of the wine--else he was to be in that condition in which one says much which under other circumstances one would leave unsaid--without necessarily having the connection of speech and thought constantly interrupted by hiccoughs4#g ,before speaking1 then1 each one was to declare solemnly that he was in that condition4 ,no definite quantity of wine was to be required1 capacities differed so widely4 ,against this proposal1 ,john entered protest4 ,he could never become intoxicated1 he averred1 and when he had come to a certain point he grew the soberer the more he drank4 ,victor ,eremita was of the opinion that any such preparatory premeditations to insure one's becoming drunk would precisely militate against one's becoming so4 ,if one desired to become intoxicated the deliberate wish was only a hindrance4 ,then there ensued some discussion about the divers influences of wine on consciousness1 and especially about the fact that1 in the case of a reflective temperament1 an excess of wine may manifest itself1 not in any particular impetus but1 on the contrary1 in a noticeably cool self-possession4 ,as to the contents of the speeches1 ,constantin proposed that they should deal with love1 that is1 the relation between man and woman4 ,no love stories were to be told though they might furnish the text of one's remarks4 ,the conditions were accepted4 ,all reasonable and just demands a host may make on his guests were fulfilled3 they ate and drank1 and drank and were filled with drink1 as the ,bible has it2#h that is1 they drank stoutly4 ,the desert was served4 ,even if ,victor had not1 as yet1 had his desire gratified to hear the splashing of a fountain--which1 for that matter1 he had luckily forgotten since that former conversation--now champagne flowed profusely4 ,the clock struck twelve4 ,thereupon ,constantin commanded silence1 saluted the ,young ,person with a goblet and the words quod felix sit faustumque#i and bade him to speak first4 7,the ,young ,person's ,speech7 ,the ,young ,person arose and declared that he felt the power of the wine1 which was indeed apparent to some degree2 for the blood pulsed strongly in his temples1 and his appearance was not as beautiful as before the meal4 ,he spoke as follows3 ,if there be truth in the words of the poets1 dear fellow-banqueters1 then unrequited love is1 indeed1 the greatest of sorrows4 ,should you require any proof of this you need but listen to the speech of lovers4 ,they say that it is death1 certain death2 and the first time they believe it--for the space of two weeks4 ,the next time they say that it is death2 and finally they will die sometime--as the result of unrequited love4 ,for that love has killed them1 about that there can obtain no doubt4 ,and as to love's having to take hold three times to make away with them1 that is not different from the dentist's having to pull three times before he is able to budge that firmly rooted molar4 ,but1 if unrequited love thus means certain death1 how happy am ,i who have never loved and1 ,i hope1 will only achieve dying some time1 and not from unrequited love6 ,but just this may be the greatest misfortune1 for all ,i know1 and how unfortunate must ,i then be6 ,the essence of love probably 7for ,i speak as does a blind man about colors71 probably lies in its bliss2 which is1 in other words1 that the cessation of love brings death to the lover4 ,this ,i comprehend very well as in the nature of a hypothesis correlating life and death4 ,but1 if love is to be merely by way of hypothesis1 why1 then lovers lay themselves open to ridicule through their actually falling in love4 ,if1 however1 love is something real1 why1 then reality must bear out what lovers say about it4 ,but did one in real life ever hear of1 or observe1 such things having taken place1 even if there is hearsay to that effect8 ,here ,i perceive already one of the contradictions in which love involves a person2 for whether this is different for those initiated1 that ,i have no means of knowing2 but love certainly does seem to involve people in the most curious contradictions4 ,there is no other relation between human beings which makes such demands on one's ideality as does love1 and yet love is never seen to have it4 ,for this reason alone ,i would be afraid of love2 for ,i fear that it might have the power to make me too talk vaguely about a bliss which ,i did not feel and a sorrow ,i did not have4 ,i say this here since ,i am bidden to speak on love1 though unacquainted with it--,i say this in surroundings which appeal to me like a ,greek symposion2 for ,i should otherwise not care to speak on this subject as ,i do not wish to disturb any one's happiness but1 rather1 am content with my own thoughts4 ,who knows but these thoughts are sheer imbecilities and vain imaginings--perhaps my ignorance is explicable from the fact that ,i never have learned1 nor have wished to learn1 from any one1 how one comes to love2 or from the fact that ,i have never yet challenged a woman with a glance--which is supposed to be smart--but have always lowered my eyes1 unwilling to yield to an impression before having fully made sure about the nature of the power into whose sphere ,i am venturing4 ,at this point he was interrupted by ,constantin who expostulated with him because1 by his very confession of never having been in love1 he had debarred himself from speaking4 ,the ,young ,person declared that at any other time he would gladly obey an injunction to that effect as he had often enough experienced how tiresome it was to have to make a speech2 but that in this case he would insist upon his right4 ,precisely the fact that one had had no love affair1 he said1 also constituted an affair of love2 and he who could assert this of himself was entitled to speak about ,eros just because his thoughts were bound to take issue with the whole sex and not with individuals4 ,he was granted permission to speak and continued4 ,inasmuch as my right to speak has been challenged1 this may serve to exempt me from your laughter2 for ,i know well that1 just as among rustics he is not considered a man who does not call a tobacco pipe his own1 likewise among men-folks he is not considered a real man who is not experienced in love4 ,if any one feels like laughing1 let him laugh--my thought is1 and remains1 the essential consideration for me4 ,or is love1 perchance1 privileged to be the only event which is to be considered after1 rather than before1 it happens8 ,if that be the case1 what then if ,i1 having fallen in love1 should later on think that it was too late to think about it8 ,look you1 this is the reason why ,i choose to think about love before it happens4 ,to be sure1 lovers also maintain that they gave the matter thought1 but such is not the case4 ,they assume it to be essential in man to fall in love2 but this surely does not mean thinking about love but1 rather1 assuming it1 in order to make sure of getting one's self a sweetheart4 ,in fact1 whenever my reflection endeavors to pin down love1 naught but contradiction seems to remain4 ,at times1 it is true1 ,i feel as if something had escaped me1 but ,i cannot tell what it is1 whereas my reflection is able at once to point out the contradictions in what does occur4 ,very well1 then1 in my opinion love is the greatest self-contradiction imaginable1 and comical at the same time4 ,indeed1 the one corresponds to the other4 ,the comical is always seen to occur in the category of contradictions--which truth ,i cannot take the time to demonstrate now2 but what ,i shall demonstrate now is that love is comical4 ,by love ,i mean the relation between man and woman4 ,i am not thinking of ,eros in the ,greek sense which has been extolled so beautifully by ,plato who1 by the way1 is so far from considering the love of woman that he mentions it only in passing1 holding it to be inferior to the love of youths4#aj ,i say1 love is comical to a third person--more ,i say not4 ,whether it is for this reason that lovers always hate a third person ,i do not know2 but ,i do know that reflection is always in such a relation the third person1 and for this reason ,i cannot love without at the same time having a third person present in the shape of my reflection4 ,this surely cannot seem strange to any one1 every one having doubted everything1 whereas ,i am uttering my doubts only with reference to love4 ,and yet ,i do think it strange that people have doubted everything and have again reached certainty1 without as much as dropping a word concerning the difficulties which have held my thought captive--so much so that ,i have1 now and then1 longed to be freed of them--freed by the aid of one1 note well1 who was aware of these difficulties1 and not of one who in his sleep had a notion to doubt1 and to have doubted1 everything1 and again in his sleep had the notion that he is explaining1 and has explained1 all4#aa ,let me then have your attention1 dear fellow banqueters1 and if you yourselves be lovers do not therefore interrupt me1 nor try to silence me because you do not wish to hear the explanation4 ,rather turn away and listen with averted faces to what ,i have to say1 and what ,i insist upon saying1 having once begun4 ,in the first place ,i consider it comical that every one loves1 and every one wishes to love1 without any one ever being able to tell one what is the nature of the lovable or that which is the real object of love4 ,as to the word to love ,i shall not discuss it since it means nothing definite2 but as soon as the matter is broached at all we are met by the question as to what it is one loves4 ,no other answer is ever vouchsafed us on that point other than that one loves what is lovable4 ,for if one should make answer1 with ,plato1#ab that one is to love what is good1 one has in taking this single step exceeded the bounds of the erotic4 ,the answer may be offered1 perhaps1 that one is to love what is beautiful4 ,but if ,i then should ask whether to love means to love a beautiful landscape or a beautiful painting it would be immediately perceived that the erotic is not1 as it were1 comprised in the more general term of the love of things beautiful1 but is something entirely of its own kind4 ,were a lover--just to give an example--to speak as follows1 in order to express adequately how much love there dwelled in him3 ,i love beautiful landscapes1 and my ,lalage1 and the beautiful dancer1 and a beautiful horse--in short1 ,i love all that is beautiful1 his ,lalage would not be satisfied with his encomium1 however well satisfied she might be with him in all other respects1 and even if she be beautiful2 and now suppose ,lalage is not beautiful and he yet loved her6 ,again1 if ,i should refer the erotic element to the bisection of which ,aristophanes tells us#ac when he says that the gods severed man into two parts as one cuts flounders1 and that these parts thus separated sought one another1 then ,i again encounter a difficulty ,i cannot get over1 which is1 in how far ,i may base my reasoning on ,aristophanes who in his speech--just because there is no reason for the thought to stop at this point--goes further in his thought and thinks that the gods might take it into their heads to divide man into three parts1 for the sake of still better fun4 ,for the sake of still better fun2 for is it not true1 as ,i said1 that love renders a person ridiculous1 if not in the eyes of others then certainly in the eyes of the gods8 ,now1 let me assume that the erotic element resides essentially in the relation between man and woman--what is to be inferred from that8 ,if the lover should say to his ,lalage3 ,i love you because you are a woman2 ,i might as well love any other woman1 as for instance1 ugly ,zo3 then beautiful ,lalage would feel insulted4 ,in what1 then1 consists the lovable8 ,this is my question2 but unfortunately1 no one has been able to tell me4 ,the individual lover always believes that1 as far as he is concerned1 he knows4 ,still he cannot make himself understood by any other lover2 and he who listens to the speech of a number of lovers will learn that no two of them ever agree1 even though they all talk about the same thing4 ,disregarding those altogether silly explanations which leave one as wise as before1 that is1 end by asserting that it is really the pretty feet of the beloved damsel1 or the admired mustachios of the swain1 which are the objects of love--disregarding these1 one will find mentioned1 even in the declamations of lovers in the higher style1 first a number of details and1 finally1 the declaration3 all her lovable ways2 and when they have reached the climax3 that inexplicable something ,i do not know how to explain4 ,and this speech is meant to please especially beautiful ,lalage4 ,me it does not please1 for ,i don't understand a word of it and find1 rather1 that it contains a double contradiction--first1 that it ends with the inexplicable1 second1 that it ends with the inexplicable2 for he who intends to end with the inexplicable had best begin with the inexplicable and then say no more1 lest he lay himself open to suspicion4 ,if he begin with the inexplicable1 saying no more1 then this does not prove his helplessness1 for it is1 anyway1 an explanation in a negative sense2 but if he does begin with something else and lands in the inexplicable1 then this does certainly prove his helplessness4 ,so then we see3 to love corresponds to the lovable2 and the lovable is the inexplicable4 ,well1 that is at least something2 but comprehensible it is not1 as little as the inexplicable way in which love seizes on its prey4 ,who1 indeed1 would not be alarmed if people about one1 time and again1 dropped down dead1 all of a sudden1 or had convulsions1 without any one being able to account for it8 ,but precisely in this fashion does love invade life1 only with the difference that one is not alarmed thereby1 since the lovers themselves regard it as their greatest happiness1 but that one1 on the contrary1 is tempted to laugh2 for the comical and the tragical elements ever correspond to one another4 ,today1 one may converse with a person and can fairly well make him out--tomorrow1 he speaks in tongues and with strange gestures3 he is in love4 ,now1 if to love meant to fall in love with the first person that came along1 it would be easy to understand that one could give no special reasons for it2 but since to love means to fall in love with one1 one single person in all the world1 it would seem as if such an extraordinary process of singling out ought to be due to such an extensive chain of reasoning that one might have to beg to be excused from hearing it--not so much because it did not explain anything as because it might be too lengthy to listen to4 ,but no1 the lovers are not able to explain anything at all4 ,he has seen hundreds upon hundreds of women2 he is1 perhaps1 advanced in years and has all along felt nothing--and all at once he sees her1 her the ,only one1 ,catherine4 ,is this not comical8 ,is it not comical that the relation which is to explain and beautify all life1 love1 is not like the mustard seed from which there grows a great tree1#ad but being still smaller is1 at bottom1 nothing at all2 for not a single antecedent criterion can be mentioned1 as e4g41 that the phenomenon occurred at a certain age1 nor a single reason as to why he should select her1 her alone in all the world--and that by no means in the same sense as when ,adam chose ,eve1 because there was none other4#ae ,or is not the explanation which the lovers vouchsafe just as comical2 or1 does it not1 rather1 emphasize the comical aspect of love8 ,they say that love renders one blind1 and by this fact they undertake to explain the phenomenon4 ,now1 if a person who was going into a dark room to fetch something should answer1 on my advising him to take a light along1 that it was only a trifling matter he wanted and so he would not bother to take a light along--ah6 then ,i would understand him excellently well4 ,if1 on the other hand1 this same person should take me aside and1 with an air of mystery1 confide to me that the thing he was about to fetch was of the very greatest importance and that it was for this reason that he was able to do it in the dark--ah6 then ,i wonder if my weak mortal brain could follow the soaring flight of his speech4 ,even if ,i should refrain from laughing1 in order not to offend him1 ,i should hardly be able to restrain my mirth as soon as he had turned his back4 ,but at love nobody laughs2 for ,i am quite prepared to be embarrassed like the ,jew who1 after ending his story1 asks3 ,is there no one who will laugh8#af ,and yet ,i did not miss the point1 as did the ,jew1 and as to my laughter ,i am far from wanting to insult any one4 ,quite on the contrary1 ,i scorn those fools who imagine that their love has such good reasons that they can afford to laugh at other lovers2 for since love is altogether inexplicable1 one lover is as ridiculous as the other4 ,quite as foolish and haughty ,i consider it also when a man proudly looks about him in the circle of girls to find who may be worthy of him1 or when a girl proudly tosses her head to select or reject2 because such persons are simply basing their thoughts on an unexplained assumption4 ,no4 ,what busies my thought is love as such1 and it is love which seems ridiculous to me2 and therefore ,i fear it1 lest ,i become ridiculous in my own eyes1 or ridiculous in the eyes of the gods who have fashioned man thus4 ,in other words1 if love is ridiculous it is equally ridiculous1 whether now my sweetheart be a princess or a servant girl2 for the lovable1 as we have seen1 is the inexplicable4 ,look you1 therefore do ,i fear love1 and find precisely in this a new proof of love's being comical2 for my fear is so curiously tragic that it throws light on the comical nature of love4 ,when people wreck a building a sign is hung up to warn people1 and ,i shall take care to stand from under2 when a bar has been freshly painted a stone is laid in the road to apprise people of the fact2 when a driver is in danger of running a man over he will shout look out2 when there have been cases of cholera in a house a soldier is set as guard2 and so forth4 ,what ,i mean is that if there is some danger1 one may be warned and will successfully escape it by heeding the warning4 ,now1 fearing to be rendered ridiculous by love1 ,i certainly regard it as dangerous2 so what shall ,i do to escape it8 ,in other words1 what shall ,i do to escape the danger of some woman falling in love with me8 ,i am far from entertaining the thought of being an ,adonis every girl is bound to fall in love with 7relata refero1#ag for what this means ,i do not understand7--goodness no6 ,but since ,i do not know what the lovable is ,i cannot1 by any manners of means1 know how to escape this danger4 ,since1 for that matter1 the very opposite of beauty may constitute the lovable2 and1 finally1 since the inexplicable also is the lovable1 ,i am forsooth in the same situation as the man ,jean ,paul speaks of somewhere who1 standing on one foot1 reads a sign saying1 fox-traps here1 and now does not dare1 either to lift his foot or to set it down4 ,no1 love any one ,i will not1 before ,i have fathomed what love is2 but this ,i cannot1 but have1 rather1 come to the conclusion that it is comical4 ,hence ,i will not love--but alas6 ,i have not thereby avoided the danger1 for1 since ,i do not know what the lovable is and how it seizes me1 or how it seizes a woman with reference to me1 ,i cannot make sure whether ,i have avoided the danger4 ,this is tragical and1 in a certain sense1 even profoundly tragical1 even if no one is concerned about it1 or if no one is concerned about the bitter contradiction for one who thinks--that a something exists which everywhere exercises its power and yet is not to be definitely conceived by thought and which1 perhaps1 may attack from the rear him who in vain seeks to conceive it4 ,but as to the tragic side of the matter it has its deep reason in the comic aspects just pointed out4 ,possibly1 every other person will turn all this upside down and not find that to be comical which ,i do1 but rather that which ,i conceive to be tragical2 but this too proves that ,i am right to a certain extent4 ,and that for which1 if so happens1 ,i become either a tragic or comic victim is plain enough1 viz41 my desire to reflect about all ,i do1 and not imagine ,i am reflecting about life by dismissing its every important circumstance with an ,i don't care1 either way4 ,man has both a soul and a body4 ,about this the wisest and best of the race are agreed4 ,now1 in case one assumes the essence of love to lie in the relation between man and woman1 the comic aspect will show again in the face-about which is seen when the highest spiritual values express themselves in the most sensual terms4 ,i am now referring to all those extraordinary and mystic signals of love--in short1 to all the free-masonry which forms a continuation of the above-mentioned inexplicable something4 ,the contradiction in which love here involves a person lies in the fact that the symbolic signs mean nothing at all or--which amounts to the same--that no one is able to explain what they do signify4 ,two loving souls vow that they will love each the other in all eternity2 thereupon they embrace1 and with a kiss they seal this eternal pact4 ,now ,i ask any thinking person whether he would have hit upon that6 ,and thus there is constant shifting from the one to the other extreme in love4 ,the most spiritual is expressed by its very opposite1 and the sensual is to signify the most spiritual4--,let me assume ,i am in love4 ,in that case ,i would conceive it to be of the utmost importance to me that the one ,i love belonged to me for all time4 ,this ,i comprehend2 for ,i am now1 really1 speaking only of ,greek eroticism which has to do with loving beautiful souls4 ,now when the person ,i love had vowed to return my love ,i would believe her or1 in as far as there remained any doubt in me1 try to combat my doubt4 ,but what happens actually8 ,for if ,i were in love ,i would1 probably1 behave like all the others1 that is1 seek to obtain still some other assurance than merely to believe her ,i love2 which1 though1 is plainly the only assurance to be had4 ,when ,cockatoo#ah all at once begins to plume himself like a duck which is gorged with food1 and then emits the word ,marian1 everybody will laugh1 and so will ,i4 ,i suppose the spectator finds it comical that ,cockatoo1 who doesn't love ,marian at all1 should be on such intimate terms with her4 ,but suppose1 now1 that ,cockatoo does love ,marian4 ,would that be comical still8 ,to me it would2 and the comical would seem to me to lie in love's having become capable of being expressed in such fashion4 ,whether now this has been the custom since the beginning of the world makes no difference whatsoever1 for the comical has the prescriptive right from all eternity to be present in contradictions--and here is a contradiction4 ,there is really nothing comical in the antics of a manikin since we see some one pulling the strings4 ,but to be a manikin at the beck of something inexplicable is indeed comical1 for the contradiction lies in our not seeing any sensible reason why one should have to twitch now this leg and now that4 ,hence1 if ,i cannot explain what ,i am doing1 ,i do not care to do it2 and if ,i cannot understand the power into whose sphere ,i am venturing1 ,i do not care to surrender myself to that power4 ,and if love is so mysterious a law which binds together the extremest contradictions1 then who will guarantee that ,i might not1 one day1 become altogether confused8 ,still1 that does not concern me so much4 ,again1 ,i have heard that some lovers consider the behavior of other lovers ridiculous4 ,i cannot conceive how this ridicule is justified1 for if this law of love be a natural law1 then all lovers are subject to it2 but if it be the law of their own choice1 then those laughing lovers ought to be able to explain all about love2 which1 however1 they are unable to do4 ,but in this respect ,i understand this matter better as it seems a convention for one lover to laugh at the other because he always finds the other lover ridiculous1 but not himself4 ,if it be ridiculous to kiss an ugly girl1 it is also ridiculous to kiss a pretty one2 and the notion that doing this in some particular way should entitle one to cast ridicule on another who does it differently1 is but presumptuousness and a conspiracy which does not1 for all that1 exempt such a snob from laying himself open to the ridicule which invariably results from the fact that no one is able to explain what this act of kissing signifies1 whereas it is to signify all--to signify1 indeed1 that the lovers desire to belong to each other in all eternity2 aye1 what is still more amusing1 to render them certain that they will4 ,now1 if a man should suddenly lay his head on one side1 or shake it1 or kick out with his leg and1 upon my asking him why he did this1 should answer ,to be sure ,i don't know1 myself1 ,i just happened to do so1 next time ,i may do something different1 for ,i did it unconsciously--ah1 then ,i would understand him quite well4 ,but if he said1 as the lovers say about their antics1 that all bliss lay therein1 how could ,i help finding it ridiculous--just as ,i thought that other man's motions ridiculous1 to be sure in a different sense1 until he restrained my laughter by declaring that they did not signify anything4 ,for by doing so he removed the contradiction which is the basic cause of the comical4 ,it is not at all comical that the insignificant is declared to signify nothing1 but it is very much so if it be asserted to signify all4 ,as regards involuntary actions1 the contradiction arises at the very outset because involuntary actions are not looked for in a free rational being4 ,thus if one supposed that the ,pope had a coughing spell the very moment he was to place the crown on ,napoleon's head2 or that bride and groom in the most solemn moment of the wedding ceremony should fall to sneezing--these would be examples of the comical4 ,that is1 the more a given action accentuates the free rational being1 the more comical are involuntary actions4 ,this holds true also in respect of the erotic gesticulations1 where the comical element appears a second time1 owing to the circumstance that the lovers attempt to explain away the contradiction by attributing to their gesticulations an absolute value4 ,as is well known1 children have a keen sense of the ridiculous--witness children's testimony which can always be relied on in this regard4 ,now as a rule children will laugh at lovers1 and if one makes them tell what they have seen1 surely no one can help laughing4 ,this is1 perhaps1 due to the fact that children omit the point4 ,very strange6 ,when the ,jew omitted the point no one cared to laugh4 ,here1 on the contrary1 every one laughs because the point is omitted2 since1 however1 no one can explain what the point is--why1 then there is no point at all4 ,so the lovers explain nothing2 and those who praise love explain nothing but are merely intent on--as one is bidden in the ,royal ,laws of ,denmark--on saying anent it all which may be pleasant and of good report4 ,but a man who thinks1 desires to have his logical categories in good order2 and he who thinks about love wishes to be sure about his categories also in this matter4 ,the fact is1 though1 that people do not think about love1 and a pastoral science is still lacking2 for even if a poet in a pastoral poem makes an attempt to show how love is born1 everything is smuggled in again by help of another person who teaches the lovers how to love6 ,as we saw1 the comical element in love arose from the face-about whereby the highest quality of one sphere does not find expression in that sphere but in the exactly opposite quality of another sphere4 ,it is comical that the soaring flight of love--the desire to belong to each other for all time--lands ever1 like ,saft1#ai in the pantry2 but still more comical is it that this conclusion is said to constitute love's highest expression4 ,wherever there is a contradiction1 there the comical element is present also4 ,i am ever following that track4 ,if it be disconcerting to you1 dear fellow banqueters1 to follow me in what ,i shall have to say now1 then follow me with averted countenances4 ,i myself am speaking as if with veiled eyes2 for as ,i see only the mystery in these matters1 why1 ,i cannot see1 or ,i see nothing4 ,what is a consequence8 ,if it cannot1 in some way or other1 be brought under the same head as its antecedent--why1 then it would be ridiculous if it posed as a consequence4 ,to illustrate3 if a man who wanted to take a bath jumped into the tank and1 coming to the surface again somewhat confused1 groped for the rope to hold on to1 but caught the douche-line by mistake1 and a shower now descended on him with sufficient motivation and for excellent good reason--why1 then the consequence would be entirely in order4 ,the ridiculous here consisted in his seizing the wrong rope2 but there is nothing ridiculous in the shower descending when one pulls the proper rope4 ,rather1 it would be ridiculous if it did not come2 as for example1 just to show the correctness of my contention about contradictions1 if a man nerved himself with bold resolution in order to withstand the shock and1 in the enthusiasm of his decision1 with a stout heart pulled the line--and the shower did not come4 ,let us see now how it is with regard to love4 ,the lovers wish to belong to each other for all time1 and this they express1 curiously1 by embracing each other with all the intensity of the moment2 and all the bliss of love is said to reside therein4 ,but all desire is egotistic4 ,now1 to be sure1 the lover's desire is not egotistic in respect of the one he loves1 but the desire of both in conjunction is absolutely egotistic in so far as they in their union and love represent a new ego4 ,and yet they are deceived2 for in the same moment the race triumphs over the individual1 the race is victorious1 and the individuals are debased to do its bidding4 ,now this ,i find more ridiculous than what ,aristophanes thought so ridiculous4 ,the ridiculous aspect of his theory of bi-section lies in the inherent contradiction 7which the ancient author does not sufficiently emphasize1 however74 ,in considering a person one naturally supposes him to be an entity1 and so one does believe till it becomes apparent that1 under the obsession of love1 he is but a half which runs about looking for its complement4 ,there is nothing ridiculous in half an apple4 ,the comical would appear if a whole apple turned out to be only half an apple4 ,in the first case there exists no contradiction1 but certainly in the latter4 ,if one actually based one's reasoning on the figure of speech that woman is but half a person she would not be ridiculous at all in her love4 ,man1 however1 who has been enjoying civic rights as a whole person1 will certainly appear ridiculous when he takes to running about 7and looking for his other half72#bj for he betrays thereby that he is but half a person4 ,in fact1 the more one thinks about the matter the more ridiculous it seems2 because if man really be a whole1 why1 then he will not become a whole in love1 but he and woman would make up one and a half4 ,no wonder1 then1 that the gods laugh1 and particularly at man4 ,but let me return to my consequence4 ,when the lovers have found each other1 one should certainly believe that they formed a whole1 and in this should lie the proof of their assertion that they wished to live for each other for all time4 ,but lo6 instead of living for each other they begin to live for the race1 and this they do not even suspect4 ,what is a consequence8 ,if1 as ,i observed1 one cannot detect in it the cause out of which it proceeded1 the consequence is merely ridiculous1 and he becomes a laughing stock to whom this happens4 ,now1 the fact that the separated halves have found each other ought to be a complete satisfaction and rest for them2 and yet the consequence is a new existence4 ,that having found each other should mean a new existence for the lovers1 is comprehensible enough2 but not1 that a new existence for a third being should take its inception from this fact4 ,and yet the resulting consequence is greater than that of which it is the consequence1 whereas such an end as the lovers' finding each other ought to be infallible evidence of no other1 subsequent1 consequence being thinkable4 ,does the satisfaction of any other desire show an analogy to this consequence8 ,quite on the contrary1 the satisfaction of desire is in every other case evinced by a period of rest2 and even if a tristitia#ba does supervene--indicating1 by the way1 that every satisfaction of an appetite is comical--this tristitia is a straightforward consequence1 though no tristitia so eloquently attests a preceding comical element as does that following love4 ,it is quite another matter with an enormous consequence such as we are dealing with1 a consequence of which no one knows whence it comes1 nor whether it will come2 whereas1 if it does come1 it comes as a consequence4 ,who is able to grasp this8 ,and yet that which for the initiates of love constitutes the greatest pleasure is also the most important thing for them--so important that they even adopt new names1 derived from the consequence thereof which thus1 curiously enough1 assumes retroactive force4 ,the lover is now called father1 his sweetheart1 mother2 and these names seem to them the most beautiful4 ,and yet there is a being to whom these names are even more beautiful2 for what is as beautiful as filial piety8 ,to me it seems the most beautiful of all sentiments2 and fortunately ,i can appreciate the thought underlying it4 ,we are taught that it is seeming in a son to love his father4 ,this ,i comprehend1 ,i cannot even suspect that there is any contradiction possible here1 and ,i acknowledge infinite satisfaction in being held by the loving bonds of filial piety4 ,i believe it is the greatest debt of all to owe another being one's life4 ,i believe that this debt cannot ever be wiped out1 or even fathomed by any calculation1 and for this reason ,i agree with ,cicero when he asserts that the son is always in the wrong as against his father2 and it is precisely filial piety which teaches me to believe this1 teaches me not even to penetrate the hidden1 but rather to remain hidden in the father4 ,quite true1 ,i am glad to be another person's greatest debtor2 but as to the opposite1 viz41 before deciding to make another person my greatest debtor1 ,i want to arrive at greater clarity4 ,for to my conception there is a world of difference between being some person's debtor1 and making some person one's debtor to such an extent that he will never be able to clear himself4 ,what filial piety forbids the son to consider1 love bids the father to consider4 ,and here contradiction sets in again4 ,if the son has an immortal soul like his father1 what does it mean1 then1 to be a father8 ,for must ,i not smile at myself when thinking of myself as a father--whereas the son is most deeply moved when he reflects on the relation he bears to his father8 ,very well do ,i understand ,plato when he says that an animal will give birth to an animal of the same species1 a plant1 to a plant of the same species1 and thus also man to man4#bb ,but this explains nothing1 does not satisfy one's thought1 and arouses but a dim feeling2 for an immortal soul cannot be born4 ,whenever1 then1 a father considers his son in the light of his son's immortality--which is1 indeed1 the essential consideration#bc--;he will probably smile at himself1 for he cannot1 by any means1 grasp in their entirety all the beautiful and noble thoughts which his son with filial piety entertains about him4 ,if1 on the other hand1 he considers his son from the point of view of his animal nature he must smile again1 because the conception of fatherhood is too exalted an expression for it4 ,finally1 if it were thinkable that a father influenced his son in such fashion that his own nature was a condition from which the son's nature could not free itself1 then the contradiction would arise in another direction2 for in this case nothing more terrible is thinkable than being a father4 ,there is no comparison between killing a person and giving him life--the former decides his fate only in time1 the other for all eternity4 ,so there is a contradiction again1 and one both to laugh and to weep about4 ,is paternity then an illusion--even if not in the same sense as is implied in ,magdelone's speech to ,jeronymus#bd--or is it the most terrible thought imaginable8 ,is it the greatest benefit conferred on one1 or is it the sweetest gratification of one's desire--is it something which just happens1 or is it the greatest task of life8 ,look you1 for this reason have ,i forsworn all love1 for my thought is to me the most essential consideration4 ,so even if love be the most exquisite joy1 ,i renounce it1 without wishing either to offend or to envy any one2 and even if love be the condition for conferring the greatest benefit imaginable ,i deny myself the opportunity therefor--but my thought ,i have not prostituted4 ,by no means do ,i lack an eye for what is beautiful1 by no means does my heart remain unmoved when ,i read the songs of the poets1 by no means is my soul without sadness when it yields to the beautiful conception of love2 but ,i do not wish to become unfaithful to my thought4 ,and of what avail were it to be1 for there is no happiness possible for me except my thought have free sway4 ,if it had not1 ,i would in desperation yearn for my thought1 which ,i may not desert to cleave to a wife1 for it is my immortal part and1 hence1 of more importance than a wife4 ,well do ,i comprehend that if any thing is sacred it is love2 that if faithlessness in any relation is base1 it is doubly so in love2 that if any deceit is detestable1 it is tenfold more detestable in love4 ,but my soul is innocent of blame4 ,i have never looked at any woman to desire her1 neither have ,i fluttered about aimlessly before blindly plunging1 or lapsing1 into the most decisive of all relations4 ,if ,i knew what the lovable were ,i would know with certainty whether ,i had offended by tempting any one2 but since ,i do not know1 ,i am certain only of never having had the conscious desire to do so4 ,supposing ,i should yield to love and be made to laugh2 or supposing ,i should be cast down by terror1 since ,i cannot find the narrow path which lovers travel as easily as if it were the broad highway1 undisturbed by any doubts1 which they surely have bestowed thought on 7seeing our times have1 indeed1 reflected about all#be and consequently will comprehend me when ,i assert that to act unreflectingly is nonsense1 as one ought to have gone through all possible reflections before acting7--supposing1 ,i say1 ,i should yield to love6 ,would ,i not insult past redress my beloved one if ,i laughed2 or irrevocably plunge her into despair if ,i were overwhelmed by terror8 ,for ,i understand well enough that a woman cannot be expected to have thought as profoundly about these matters2 and a woman who found love comical 7as but gods and men can1 for which reason woman is a temptation luring them to become ridiculous7 would both betray a suspicious amount of previous experience and understand me least4 ,but a woman who comprehended the terror of love would have lost her loveliness and still fail to understand me--she would be annihilated2 which is in nowise my case1 so long as my thought saves me4 ,is there no one ready to laugh8 ,when ,i began by wanting to speak about the comical element in love you perhaps expected to be made to laugh1 for it is easy to make you laugh1 and ,i myself am a friend of laughter2 and still you did not laugh1 ,i believe4 ,the effect of my speech was a different one1 and yet precisely this proves that ,i have spoken about the comical4 ,if there be no one who laughs at my speech--well1 then laugh a little at me1 dear fellow-banqueters1 and ,i shall not wonder2 for ,i do not understand what ,i have occasionally heard you say about love4 ,very probably1 though1 you are among the initiated as ,i am not4 ,thereupon the ,young ,person seated himself4 ,he had become more beautiful1 almost1 than before the meal4 ,now he sat quietly1 looking down before him1 unconcerned about the others4 ,john the ,seducer desired at once to urge some objections against the ,young ,person's speech but was interrupted by ,constantin who warned against discussions and ruled that on this occasion only speeches were in order4 ,john said if that was the case1 he would stipulate that he should be allowed to be the last speaker4 ,this again gave rise to a discussion as to the order in which they were to speak1 which ,constantin closed by offering to speak forthwith1 against their recognizing his authority to appoint the speakers in their turn4 7,constantin's ,speech7 ,constantin spoke as follows3 ,there is a time to keep silence1 and a time to speak1#bf and now it seems to be the time to speak briefly1 for our young friend has spoken much and very strangely4 ,his vis comica#bg has made us struggle ancipiti proelio#bh because his speech was full of doubts1 as he himself is1 sitting there now--a perplexed man who knows not whether to laugh1 or weep1 or fall in love4 ,in fact1 had ,i had foreknowledge of his speech1 such as he demands one should have of love1 ,i should have forbidden him to speak2 but now it is too late4 ,i shall bid you then1 dear bellow-banqueters1 gladsome and merry to be1 and even if ,i cannot enforce this ,i shall ask you to forget each speech so soon as it is made and to wash it down with a single draught4 ,and now as to woman1 about whom ,i shall speak4 ,i too have pondered about her1 and ,i have finally discovered the category to which she belongs4 ,i too have sought1 but ,i have found1 too1 and ,i have made a matchless discovery which ,i shall now communicate to you4 ,woman is understood correctly only when placed in the category of the joke4 ,it is man's function to be absolute1 to act in an absolute fashion1 or to give expression to the absolute4 ,woman's sphere lies in her relativity4#bi ,between beings so radically different1 no true reciprocal relation can exist4 ,precisely in this incommensurability lies the joke4 ,and with woman the joke was born into the world4 ,it is to be understood1 however1 that man must know how to stick to his role of being absolute2 for else nothing is seen--that is to say1 something exceedingly common is seen1 viz41 that man and woman fit each other1 he as a half man and she as a half man4 ,the joke is not an sthetic1 but an abortive ethical1 category4 ,its effect on thought is about the same as the impression we receive if a man were solemnly to begin making a speech1 recite a comma or two with his pronouncement1 then say hm6--dash--and then stop4 ,thus with woman4 ,one tries to cover her with the ethical category1 one thinks of human nature1 one opens one's eyes1 one fastens one's glances on the most excellent maiden in question1 an effort is made to redeem the claims of the ethical demand2 and then one grows ill at ease and says to one's self3 ah1 this is undoubtedly a joke6 ,the joke lies1 indeed1 in applying that category to her and measuring her by it1 because it would be idle to expect serious results from her2 but just that is the joke4 ,because if one could demand it of her it would not be a joke at all4 ,a mighty poor joke indeed it would be1 to place her under the air-pump and draw the air out of her--indeed it were a shame2 but to blow her up to supernatural size and let her imagine herself to have attained all the ideality which a little maiden of sixteen imagines she has1 that is the beginning of the game and1 indeed1 the beginning of a highly entertaining performance4 ,no youth has half so much imaginary ideality as a young girl1 but3 ,we shall soon be even as says the tailor in the proverb2 for her ideality is but an illusion4 ,if one fails to consider woman from this point of view she may cause irreparable harm2 but through my conception of her she becomes harmless and amusing4 ,for a man there is nothing more shocking than to catch himself twaddling4 ,it destroys all true ideality2 for one may repent of having been a rascal1 and one may feel sorry for not having meant a word of what one said2 but to have talked nonsense1 sheer nonsense1 to have meant all one said and behold6 it was all nonsense--that is too disgusting for repentance incarnate to put up with4 ,but this is not the case with woman4 ,she has a prescriptive right to transfigure herself--in less than #bd hours--in the most innocent and pardonable nonsense2 for far is it from her ingenuous soul to wish to deceive one6 ,indeed1 she meant all she said1 and now she says the precise opposite1 but with the same amiable frankness1 for now she is willing to stake everything on what she said last4 ,now in case a man in all seriousness surrenders to love he may be called fortunate indeed if he succeeds in obtaining an insurance--if1 indeed1 he is able to obtain it anywhere2 for so inflammable a material as woman is most likely to arouse the suspicions of an insurance agent4 ,just consider for a moment what he has done in thus identifying himself with her6 ,if1 some fine ,new ,year's night she goes off like some fireworks he will promptly follow suit2 and even if this should not happen he will have many a close call4 ,and what may he not lose6 ,he may lose his all2 for there is but one absolute antithesis to the absolute1 and that is nonsense4 ,therefore1 let him not seek refuge in some society for morally tainted individuals1 for he is not morally tainted--far from it2 only1 he has been reduced in absurdum and beatified in nonsense2 that is1 has been made a fool of4 ,this will never happen among men4 ,if a man should sputter off in this fashion ,i would scorn him4 ,if he should fool me by his cleverness ,i need but apply the ethical category to him1 and the danger is trifling4 ,if things go too far ,i shall put a bullet through his brain2 but to challenge a woman--what is that1 if you please8 ,who does not see that it is a joke1 just as when ,xerxes had the sea whipped8 ,when ,othello murders ,desdemona1 granting she really had been guilty1 he has gained nothing1 for he has been duped1 and a dupe he remains2 for even by his murdering her he only makes a concession with regard to a consequence which originally made him ridiculous2 whereas ,elvira#cj may be an altogether pathetic figure when arming herself with a dagger to obtain revenge4 ,the fact that ,shakespeare has conceived ,othello as a tragic figure 7even disregarding the calamity that ,desdemona is innocent7 is to be explained and1 indeed1 to perfect satisfaction1 by the hero being a colored person4 ,for a colored person1 dear fellow-banqueters1 who cannot be assumed to represent spiritual qualities--a colored person1 ,i say1 who therefore becomes green in his face when his ire is aroused 7which is a physiological fact71 a colored man may1 indeed1 become tragic if he is deceived by a woman2 just as a woman has all the pathos of tragedy on her side when she is betrayed by a man4 ,a man who flies into a rage may perhaps become tragic2 but a man of whom one may expect a developed mentality1 he will either not become jealous1 or he will become ridiculous if he does2 and most of all when he comes running with a dagger in his hand4 ,a pity that ,shakespeare has not presented us with a comedy of this description in which the claim raised by a woman's infidelity is turned down by irony2 for not every one who is able to see the comical element in this situation is able also to develop the thought and give it dramatic embodiment4 ,let one but imagine ,socrates surprising ,xanthippe in the act--for it would be un-,socratic even to think of ,socrates being particularly concerned about his wife's fidelity1 or still worse1 spying on her--imagine it1 and ,i believe that the fine smile which transformed the ugliest man in ,athens into the handsomest1 would for the first time have turned into a roar of laughter4 ,it is incomprehensible why ,aristophanes1 who so frequently made ,socrates the butt of his ridicule1 neglected to have him run on the stage shouting3 ,where is she1 where is she1 so that ,i may kill her1 i4e41 my unfaithful ,xanthippe4 ,for really it does not matter greatly whether or no ,socrates was made a cuckold1 and all that ,xanthippe may do in this regard is wasted labor1 like snapping one's fingers in one's pocket2 for ,socrates remains the same intellectual hero1 even with a horn on his forehead4 ,but if he had in fact become jealous and had wanted to kill ,xanthippe--alas6 then would ,xanthippe have exerted a power over him such as the entire ,greek nation and his sentence of death could not--to make him ridiculous4 ,a cuckold is comical1 then1 with respect to his wife2 but he may be regarded as becoming tragical with respect to other men4 ,in this fact we may find an explanation of the ,spanish conception of honor4 ,but the tragic element resides chiefly in his not being able to obtain redress1 and the anguish of his suffering consists really in its being devoid of meaning--which is terrible enough4 ,to shoot the woman1 to challenge her1 to despise her1 all this would only serve to render the poor man still more ridiculous2 for woman is the weaker sex4 ,this consideration enters in everywhere and confuses all4 ,if she performs a great deed she is admired more than man1 because it is more than was expected of her4 ,if she is betrayed1 all the pathos is on her side2 but if a man is deceived one has scant sympathy and little patience while he is present--and laughs at him when his back is turned4 ,look you1 therefore is it advisable betimes to consider woman as a joke4 ,the entertainment she affords is simply incomparable4 ,let one consider her a fixed quantity1 and one's self a relative one2 let one by no means contradict her1 for that would simply be helping her2 let one never doubt what she says but1 rather1 believe her every word2 let one gallivant about her1 with eyes rendered unsteady by unspeakable admiration and blissful intoxication1 and with the mincing steps of a worshipper2 let one languishingly fall on one's knees1 then lift up one's eyes up to her languishingly and heave a breath again2 let one do all she bids one1 like an obedient slave4 ,and now comes the cream of the joke4 ,we need no proof that woman can speak1 i4e41 use words4 ,unfortunately1 however1 she does not possess sufficient reflection for making sure against her in the long run--which is1 at most1 eight days--contradicting herself2 unless indeed man1 by contradicting her1 exerts a regulative influence4 ,so the consequence is that within a short time confusion will reign supreme4 ,if one had not done what she told one to1 the confusion would pass unnoticed2 for she forgets again as quickly as she talks4 ,but since her admirer has done all1 and has been at her beck and call in every instance1 the confusion is only too glaring4 ,the more gifted the woman1 the more amusing the situation4 ,for the more gifted she is1 the more imagination she will possess4 ,now1 the more imagination she possesses1 the greater airs she will give herself and the greater the confusion which is bound to become evident in the next instant4 ,in life1 such entertainment is rarely had1 because this blind obedience to a woman's whims occurs but seldom4 ,and if it does1 in some languishing swain1 most likely he is not qualified to see the fun4 ,the fact is1 the ideality a little maiden assumes in moments when her imagination is at work is encountered nowhere else1 whether in gods or man2 but it is all the more entertaining to believe her and to add fuel to the fire4 ,as ,i remarked1 the fun is simply incomparable--indeed1 ,i know it for a fact1 because ,i have at times not been able to sleep at night with the mere thought of what new confusions ,i should live to see1 through the agency of my sweetheart and my humble zeal to please her4 ,indeed1 no one who gambles in a lottery will meet with more remarkable combinations than he who has a passion for this game4 ,for this is sure1 that every woman without exception possesses the same qualifications for being resolved and transfigured in nonsense with a gracefulness1 a nonchalance1 an assurance such as befits the weaker sex4 ,being a right-minded lover one naturally discovers every possible charm in one's beloved4 ,now1 when discovering genius in the above sense1 one ought not to let it remain a mere possibility but ought1 rather1 to develop it into virtuosity4 ,i do not need to be more specific1 and more cannot be said in a general way1 yet every one will understand me4 ,just as one may find entertainment in balancing a cane on one's nose1 in swinging a tumbler in a circle without spilling a drop1 in dancing between eggs1 and in other games as amusing and profitable1 likewise1 and not otherwise1 in living with his beloved the lover will have a source of incomparable entertainment and food for most interesting study4 ,in matters pertaining to love let one have absolute belief1 not only in her protestations of fidelity--one soon tires of that game--but in all those explosions of inviolable ,romanticism by which she would probably perish if one did not contrive a safety-valve through which the sighs and the smoke1 and the aria of ,romanticism#ca may escape and make her worshipper happy4 ,let one compare her admiringly to ,juliet1 the difference being only that no person ever as much as thought of touching a hair on her ,romeo's head4 ,with regard to intellectual matters1 let one hold her capable of all and1 if one has been lucky enough to find the right woman1 in a trice one will have a cantankerous authoress1 whilst wonderingly shading one's eyes with one's hand and duly admiring what the little black hen may yield besides4#cb ,it is altogether incomprehensible why ,socrates did not choose this course of action instead of bickering with ,xanthippe--oh1 well6 to be sure he wished to acquire practice1 like the riding master who1 even though he has the best trained horse1 yet knows how to tease him in such fashion that there is good reason for breaking him in again4#cc ,let me be a little more concrete1 in order to illustrate a particular and highly interesting phenomenon4 ,a great deal has been said about feminine fidelity1 but rarely with any discretion4#cd ,from a purely sthetic point of view this fidelity is to be regarded as a piece of poetic fiction which steps on the stage to find her lover--a fiction which sits by the spinning wheel and waits for her lover to come2 but when she has found him1 or he has come1 why1 then sthetics is at a loss4 ,her infidelity1 on the other hand1 as contrasted with her previous fidelity1 is to be judged chiefly with regard to its ethical import1 when jealousy will appear as a tragic passion4 ,there are three possibilities1 so the case is favorable for woman2 for there are two cases of fidelity1 as against one of infidelity4 ,inconceivably great is her fidelity when she is not altogether sure of her cavalier2 and ever so inconceivably great is it when he repels her fidelity4 ,the third case would be her infidelity4 ,now granted one has sufficient intellect and objectivity to make reflections1 one will find sufficient justification1 in what has been said1 for my category of the joke4 ,our young friend whose beginning in a manner deceived me seemed to be on the point of entering into this matter1 but backed out again1 dismayed at the difficulty4 ,and yet the explanation is not difficult1 providing one really sets about it seriously1 to make unrequited love and death correspond to one another1 and providing one is serious enough to stick to his thought--and so much seriousness one ought to have--for the sake of the joke4 ,of course this phrase of unrequited love being death originated either with a woman or a womanish male4 ,its origin is easily made out1 seeing that it is one of those categorical outbursts which1 spoken with great bravado1 on the spur of the moment1 may count on a great and immediate applause2 for although this business is said to be a matter of life and death1 yet the phrase is meant for immediate consumption--like cream-puffs4 ,although referring to daily experience it is by no means binding on him who is to die1 but only obliges the listener to rush post-haste to the assistance of the dying lover4 ,if a man should take to using such phrases it would not be amusing at all1 for he would be too despicable to laugh at4 ,woman1 however1 possesses genius1 is lovable in the measure she possesses it1 and is amusing at all times4 ,well1 then1 the languishing lady dies of love--why certainly1 for did she not say so herself8 ,in this matter she is pathetic1 for woman has enough courage to say what no man would have the courage to do--so then she dies6 ,in saying so ,i have measured her by ethical standards4 ,do ye likewise1 dear fellow-banqueters1 and understand your ,aristotle aright1 now6 ,he observes very correctly that woman cannot be used in tragedy4#ce ,and very certainly1 her proper sphere is the pathetic and serious divertissement1 the half-hour face1 not the five-act drama4 ,so then she dies4 ,but should she for that reason not be able to love again8 ,why not8--that is1 if it be possible to restore her to life4 ,now1 having been restored to life1 she is of course a new being--another person1 that is1 and begins afresh and falls in love for the first time3 nothing remarkable in that6 ,ah1 death1 great is thy power2 not the most violent emetic and not the most powerful laxative could ever have the same purging effect6 ,the resulting confusion is capital1 if one but is attentive and does not forget4 ,a dead man is one of the most amusing characters to be met with in life4 ,strange that more use is not made of him on the stage1 for in life he is seen1 now and then4 ,when you come to think of it1 even one who has only been seemingly dead is a comical figure2 but one who was really dead certainly contributes to our entertainment all one can reasonably expect of a man4 ,all depends on whether one is attentive4 ,i myself had my attention called to it1 one day1 as ,i was walking with one of my acquaintances4 ,a couple passed us4 ,i judged from the expression on his face that he knew them and asked whether that was the case4 ,why1 yes1 he answered1 ,i know them very well1 and especially the lady1 for she is my departed one4--,what departed one8 ,i asked4--,why1 my departed first love1 he answered4 ,indeed1 this is a strange affair4 ,she said3 ,i shall die4 ,and that very same moment she departed1 naturally enough1 by death--else one might have insured her beforehand in the widow's insurance4 ,too late6 ,dead she was and dead she remained2 and now ,i wander about1 as says the poet1 vainly seeking the grave of my lady-love that ,i may shed my tears thereon4 ,thus this broken-hearted man who remained alone in the world1 though it consoled him to find her pretty far along with some other man4 ,it is a good thing for the girls1 thought ,i1 that they don't have to be buried1 every time they die2 for if parents have hitherto considered a boy-child to be the more expensive1 the girls might become even more so6 ,a simple case of infidelity is not as amusing1 by far4 ,i mean1 if a girl should fall in love with some one else and should say to her lover3 ,i cannot help it1 save me from myself6 ,but to die from sorrow because she cannot endure being separated from her lover by his journey to the ,west ,indies1 to have put up with his departure1 however1--and then1 at his return1 be not only not dead1 but attached to some one else for all time--that certainly is a strange fate for a lover to undergo4 ,no wonder1 then1 that the heart-broken man at times consoled himself with the burthen of an old song which runs3 ,hurrah for you and me1 ,i say1 we never shall forget that day6 ,now forgive me1 dear fellow-banqueters1 if ,i have spoken at too great length2 and empty a glass to love and to woman4 ,beautiful she is and lovely1 if she be considered sthetically4 ,that is undeniable4 ,but1 as has often been said1 and as ,i shall say also3 one ought not to remain standing here1 but should go on4#cf ,consider her1 then1 ethically and you will hardly have begun to do so before the humor of it will become apparent4 ,even ,plato and ,aristotle assume that woman is an imperfect form1 an irrational quantity1 that is1 one which might some time1 in a better world1 be transformed into a man4 ,in this life one must take her as she is4 ,and what this is becomes apparent very soon2 for she will not be content with the sthetic sphere1 but goes on1 she wants to become emancipated1 and she has the courage to say so4 ,let her wish be fulfilled and the amusement will be simply incomparable4 ,when ,constantin had finished speaking he forthwith ruled ,victor ,eremita to begin4 ,he spoke as follows3 7,victor ,eremita's ,speech7 ,as will be remembered1 ,plato offers thanks to the gods for four things4 ,in the fourth place he is grateful for having been permitted to be a contemporary of ,socrates4 ,for the three other boons mentioned by him1#cg an earlier ,greek philosopher#ch had already thanked the gods1 and so ,i conclude that they are worthy our gratitude4 ,but alas6--even if ,i wanted to express my gratitude like these ,greeks ,i would not be able to do so for what was denied me4 ,let me then collect my soul in gratitude for the one good which was conferred on me also--that ,i was made a man and not a woman4 ,to be a woman is something so curious1 so heterogeneous and composite that no predicate will fully express these qualities2 and if ,i should use many predicates they would contradict one another in such fashion that only a woman would be able to tolerate the result and1 what is worse1 feel happy about it4 ,the fact that she really signifies less than man--that is not her misfortune1 and still less so if she got to know it1 for it might be borne with fortitude4 ,no1 her misfortune consists in her life's having become devoid of fixed meaning through a romantic conception of things1 by virtue of which1 now she signifies all1 and now1 nothing at all2 without ever finding out what she really does signify--and even that is not her misfortune but1 rather1 the fact that1 being a woman1 she never will be able to find out4 ,as for myself1 if ,i were a woman1 ,i should prefer to be one in the ,orient and as a slave2 for to be a slave1 neither more nor less1 is at any rate something1 in comparison with being1 now heyday1 now nothing4 ,even if a woman's life did not contain such contrasts1 the distinction she enjoys1 and which is rightly assumed to be hers as a woman--a distinction she does not share with man--would by itself point to the meaninglessness of her life4 ,the distinction ,i refer to is that of gallantry4 ,to be gallant to woman is becoming in men4 ,now gallantry consists very simply in conceiving in fantastic categories that person to whom one is gallant4 ,to be gallant to a man is1 therefore1 an insult1 for he begs to be excused from the application of fantastic categories to him4 ,for the fair sex1 however1 gallantry signifies a tribute1 a distinction1 which is essentially its privilege4 ,ah me1 if only a single cavalier were gallant to them the case would not be so serious4 ,but far from it6 ,at bottom every man is gallant1 he is unconsciously so4 ,this signifies1 therefore1 that it is life itself which has bestowed this perquisite on the fair sex4 ,woman on her part unconsciously accepts it4 ,here we have the same trouble again2 for if only a single woman did so1 another explanation would be necessary4 ,this is life's characteristic irony4 ,now if gallantry contained the truth it ought to be reciprocal1 i4e41 gallantry would be the accepted quotation for the stated difference between beauty on the one hand1 and power1 astuteness1 and strength1 on the other4 ,but this is not the case1 gallantry is essentially woman's due2 and the fact that she unconsciously accepts it may be explained through the solicitude of nature for the weak and those treated in a step-motherly fashion by her1 who feel more than recompensed by an illusion4 ,but precisely this illusion is her misfortune4 ,it is not seldom the case that nature comes to the assistance of an afflicted creature by consoling him with the notion that he is the most beautiful4 ,if that is so1 why1 then we may say that nature made good the deficiency since now the creature is endowed with even more than could be reasonably demanded4 ,but to be beautiful only in one's imagination1 and not to be overcome1 indeed1 by sadness1 but to be fooled into an illusion--why1 that is still worse mockery4 ,now1 as to being afflicted1 woman certainly is far from having been treated in a step-motherly fashion by nature2 still she is so in another sense inasmuch as she never can free herself from the illusion with which life has consoled her4 ,gathering together one's impressions of a woman's existence1 in order to point out its essential features1 one is struck by the fact that every woman's life gives one an entirely fantastic impression4 ,in a far more decisive sense than man she may be said to have turning points in her career2 for her turning points turn everything upside down4 ,in one of ,tieck's#ci ,romantic dramas there occurs a person who1 having once been king of ,mesopotamia1 now is a green-grocer in ,copenhagen4 ,exactly as fantastic is every feminine existence4 ,if the girl's name is ,juliana1 her life is as follows3 erstwhile empress in the wide domains of love1 and titular queen of all the exaggerations of tomfoolery2 now1 ,mrs4 ,peterson1 corner ,bath ,street4 ,when a child1 a girl is less highly esteemed than a boy4 ,when a little older1 one does not know exactly what to make of her4 ,at last she enters that decisive period in which she holds absolute sway4 ,worshipfully man approaches her as a suitor4 ,worshipfully1 for so does every suitor1 it is not the scheme of a crafty deceiver4 ,even the executioner1 when laying down his fasces to go a-wooing1 even he bends his knee1 although he is willing to offer himself up1 within a short time1 to domestic executions which he finds so natural that he is far from seeking any excuse for them in the fact that public executions have grown so few4 ,the cultured person behaves in the very same manner4 ,he kneels1 he worships1 he conceives his lady-love in the most fantastic categories2 and then he very quickly forgets his kneeling position--in fact1 he knew1 full well the while he knelt that it was fantastic to do so4 ,if ,i were a woman ,i would prefer to be sold by my father to the highest bidder1 as is the custom in the ,orient2 for there is at least some sense in such a deal4 ,what misfortune to have been born a woman6 ,yet her misfortune really consists in her not being able to comprehend it1 being a woman4 ,if she does complain1 she complains rather about her ,oriental1 than her ,occidental1 status4 ,but if ,i were a woman ,i would first of all refuse to be wooed1 and resign myself to belong to the weaker sex1 if such is the case1 and be careful--which is most important if one is proud--of not going beyond the truth4 ,however1 that is of but little concern to her4 ,juliana is in the seventh heaven1 and ,mrs4 ,peterson submits to her fate4 ,let me1 then1 thank the gods that ,i was born a man and not a woman4 ,and still1 how much do ,i forego6 ,for is not all poetry1 from the drinking song to the tragedy1 a deification of woman8 ,all the worse for her and for him who admires her2 for if he does not look out he will1 all of a sudden1 have to pull a long face4 ,the beautiful1 the excellent1 all of man's achievement1 owes its origin to woman1 for she inspires him4 ,woman is1 indeed1 the inspiring element in life4 ,how many a love-lorn shepherd has played on this theme1 and how many a shepherdess has listened to it6 ,verily1 my soul is without envy and feels only gratitude to the gods2 for ,i would rather be a man1 though in humble station1 but really so1 than be a woman and an indeterminate quantity1 rendered happy by a delusion--,i would rather be a concrete thing1 with a small but definite meaning1 than an abstraction which is to mean all4 ,as ,i have said1 it is through woman that ideality is born into the world and--what were man without her6 ,there is many a man who has become a genius through a woman1 many a one a hero1 many a one a poet1 many a one even a saint2 but he did not become a genius through the woman he married1 for through her he only became a privy councillor2 he did not become a hero through the woman he married1 for through her he only became a general2 he did not become a poet through the woman he married1 for through her he only became a father2 he did not become a saint through the woman he married1 for he did not marry1 and would have married but one--the one whom he did not marry2 just as the others became a genius1 became a hero1 became a poet through the help of the woman they did not marry4 ,if woman's ideality were in itself inspiring1 why1 then the inspiring woman would be the one to whom a man is united for life4 ,but life tells a different story4 ,it is only by a negative relation to her that man is rendered productive in his ideal endeavors4 ,in this sense she is inspiring2 but to say that she is inspiring1 without qualifying one's statement1 is to be guilty of a paralogism#dj which one must be a woman to overlook4 ,or has any one ever heard of any man having become a poet through his wife8 ,so long as man does not possess her she inspires him4 ,it is this truth which gives rise to the illusions entertained in poetry and by women4 ,the fact that he does not possess her signifies1 either1 that he is still fighting for her--thus has woman inspired many a one and rendered him a knight2 but has any one ever heard of any man having been rendered a knight valiant through his wife8 ,or1 the fact that he does not possess her signifies that he cannot obtain her by any manner of means--thus has woman inspired many a one and roused his ideality2 that is1 if there is anything in him worth while4 ,but a wife1 who has things ever so much worth while for her husband1 will hardly arouse any ideal strivings in him4 ,or1 again1 the fact that he does not possess her signifies that he is pursuing an ideal4 ,perchance he loves many1 but loving many is also a kind of unrequited love2 and yet the ideality of his soul is to be seen in this striving and yearning1 and not in the small bits of lovableness which make up the sum total of the contributions of all those he loves4 ,the highest ideality a woman can arouse in a man consists1 in fact1 in the awakening within him of the consciousness of immortality4 ,the point of this proof lies in what one might call the necessity of a reply4 ,just as one may remark about some play that it cannot end without this or that person getting in his say1 likewise 7says ideality7 our existence cannot be all over with death3 ,i demand a reply6 ,this proof is frequently furnished1 in a positive fashion1 in the public advertiser4 ,i hold that to be entirely proper1 for if proof is to be made in the public advertiser it must be made in a positive fashion4 ,thus3 ,mrs4 ,petersen1 we learn1 has lived a number of years1 until in the night of the #bdth it pleased ,providence1 etc4 4 ,this produces in ,mr4 ,petersen an attack of reminiscences from his courting days or1 to express it quite plainly1 nothing but seeing her again will ever console him4 ,for this blissful meeting he prepares himself1 in the meanwhile1 by taking unto himself another wife2 for1 to be sure1 this marriage is by no means as poetic as the first--still it is a good imitation4 ,this is the proof positive4 ,mr4 ,petersen is not satisfied with demanding a reply1 no1 he wants a meeting again in the hereafter4 ,as is well known1 a base metal will often show the gleam of precious metal4 ,this is the brief silver-gleam4 ,with respect to the base metal this is a tragic moment1 for it must once for all resign itself to being a base metal4 ,not so with ,mr4 ,petersen4 ,the possession of ideality is by rights inherent in every person--and now1 if ,i laugh at ,mr4 ,petersen it is not because he1 being in reality of base metal1 had but a single silver-gleam2 but1 rather1 because just this silver-gleam betrays his having become a base metal4 ,thus does the philistine look most ridiculous when1 arrayed in ideality1 he affords fitting occasion to say1 with ,holberg3 ,what6 does that cow wear a fine dress1 too8#da ,the case is this3 whenever a woman arouses ideality in man1 and thereby the consciousness of immortality1 she always does so negatively4 ,he who really became a genius1 a hero1 a poet1 a saint through woman1 he has by that very fact seized on the essence of immortality4 ,now if the inspiring element were positively present in woman1 why1 then a man's wife1 and only his wife1 ought to awaken in him the consciousness of immortality4 ,but the reverse holds true4 ,that is1 if she is really to awaken ideality in her husband she must die4 ,mr4 ,petersen1 to be sure1 is not affected1 for all that4 ,but if woman1 by her death1 does awaken man's ideality1 then is she indeed the cause of all the great things poetry attributes to her2 but note well3 that which she did in a positive fashion for him in no wise roused his ideality4 ,in fact1 her significance in this regard becomes the more doubtful the longer she lives1 because she will at length really begin to wish to signify something positive4 ,however1 the more positive the proof the less it proves2 for then ,mr4 ,petersen's longing will be for some past common experiences whose content was1 to all intents and purposes1 exhausted when they were had4 ,most positive of all the proof becomes if the object of his longing concerns their marital spooning--that time when they visited the ,deer ,park together6 ,in the same way one might suddenly feel a longing for the old pair of slippers one used to be so comfortable in2 but that proof is not exactly a proof for the immortality of the soul4 ,on the other hand1 the more negative the proof1 the better it is2 for the negative is higher than the positive1 inasmuch as it concerns our immortality1 and is thus the only positive value4 ,woman's main significance lies in her negative contribution1 whereas her positive contributions are as nothing in comparison but1 on the contrary1 pernicious4 ,it is this truth which life keeps from her1 consoling her with an illusion which surpasses all that might arise in any man's brain1 and with parental care ordering life in such fashion that both language and everything else confirm her in her illusion4 ,for even if she be conceived as the very opposite of inspiring1 and rather as the well-spring of all corruption2 whether now we imagine that with her1 sin came into the world1 or that it is her infidelity which ruined all--our conception of her is always gallant4 ,that is1 when hearing such opinions one might readily assume that woman were really able to become infinitely more culpable than man1 which would1 indeed1 amount to an immense acknowledgment of her powers4 ,alas1 alas6 the case is entirely different4 ,there is a secret reading of this text which woman cannot comprehend2 for1 the very next moment1 all life owns to the same conception as the state1 which makes man responsible for his wife4 ,one condemns her as man never is condemned 7for only a real sentence is passed on him1 and there the matter ends71 not with her receiving a milder sentence2 for in that case not all of her life would be an illusion1 but with the case against her being dismissed and the public1 i4e41 life1 having to defray the costs4 ,one moment1 woman is supposed to be possessed of all possible wiles1 the next moment1 one laughs at him whom she deceived1 which surely is a contradiction4 ,even such a case as that of ,potiphar's wife does not preclude the possibility of her having really been seduced4 ,thus has woman an enormous possibility1 such as no man has--an enormous possibility2 but her reality is in proportion4 ,and most terrible of all is the magic of illusion in which she feels herself happy4 ,let ,plato then thank the gods for having been born a contemporary of ,socrates3 ,i envy him2 let him offer thanks for being a ,greek3 ,i envy him2 but when he is grateful for having been born a man and not a woman ,i join him with all my heart4 ,if ,i had been born a woman and could under stand what now ,i can understand--it were terrible6 ,but if ,i had been born a woman and therefore could not understand it--that were still more terrible6 ,but if the case is as ,i stated it1 then it follows that one had better refrain from any positive relation with woman4 ,wherever she is concerned one has to reckon with that inevitable hiatus which renders her happy as she does not detect the illusion1 but which would be a man's undoing if he detected it4 ,i thank the gods1 then1 that ,i was born a man and not a woman2 and ,i thank them1 furthermore1 that no woman by some life-long attachment holds me in duty bound to be constantly reflecting that it ought not to have been4 ,indeed1 what a passing strange device is marriage6 ,and what makes it all the stranger is the suggestion that it is to be a step taken without thought4 ,and yet no step is more decisive1 for nothing in life is as inexorable and masterful as the marriage tie4 ,and now so important a step as marriage ought1 so we are told1 to be taken without reflection6 ,yet marriage is not something simple but something immensely complex and indeterminate4 ,just as the meat of the turtle smacks of all kinds of meat1 so likewise does marriage have a taste of all manner of things2 and just as the turtle is a sluggish animal1 likewise is marriage a sluggish thing4 ,falling in love is1 at least1 a simple thing1 but marriage--6 ,is it something heathen or something ,christian1 something spiritual or something profane1 or something civil1 or something of all things8 ,is it an expression of an inexplicable love1 the elective affinity of souls in delicate accord with one another2 or is it a duty1 or a partnership1 or a mere convenience1 or the custom of certain countries--or is it a duty1 or a partnership1 or a mere convenience1 or the custom of certain countries--or is it a little of all these8 ,is one to order the music for it from the town musician or the organist1 or is one to have a little from both8 ,is it the minister or the police sergeant who is to make the speech and enroll the names in the book of life--or in the town register8 ,does marriage blow a tune on a comb1 or does it listen to the whisperings like to those of the fairies from the grottoes of a summer night8#db ,and now every ,darby imagines he performed such a potpourri1 such incomparably complex music1 in getting married--and imagines that he is still performing it while living a married life6 ,my dear fellow-banqueters1 ought we not1 in default of a wedding present and congratulations1 give each of the conjugal partners a demerit for repeated inattentiveness8 ,it is taxing enough to express a single idea in one's life2 but to think something so complicated as marriage and1 consequently1 bring it under one head2 to think something so complicated and yet to do justice to each and every element in it1 and have everything present at the same time--verily1 he is a great man who can accomplish all this6 ,and still every ,benedict accomplishes it--so he does1 no doubt2 for does he not say that he does it unconsciously8 ,but if this is to be done unconsciously it must be through some higher form of unconsciousness permeating all one's reflective powers4 ,but not a word is said about this6 ,and to ask any married man about it means just wasting one's time4 ,he who has once committed a piece of folly will constantly be pursued by its consequences4 ,in the case of marriage the folly consists in one's having gotten into a mess1 and the punishment1 in recognizing1 when it is too late1 what one has done4 ,so you will find that the married man1 now1 becomes chesty1 with a bit of pathos1 thinking he has done something remarkable in having entered wedlock2 now1 puts his tail between his legs in dejection2 then again1 praises marriage in sheer self-defense4 ,but as to a thought-unit which might serve to hold together the disjecta membra#dc of the most heterogeneous conceptions of life contained in marriage--for that we shall wait in vain4 ,therefore1 to be a mere ,benedict is humbug1 and to be a seducer is humbug1 and to wish to experiment with woman for the sake of the joke is also humbug4 ,in fact1 the two last mentioned methods will be seen to involve concessions to woman on the part of man quite as large as those found in marriage4 ,the seducer wishes to rise in his own estimation by deceiving her2 but this very fact that he deceives and wishes to deceive--that he cares to deceive1 is also a demonstration of his dependence on woman4 ,and the same holds true of him who wishes to experiment with her4 ,if ,i were to imagine any possible relation with woman it would be one so saturated with reflection that it would1 for that very reason1 no longer be any relation with her at all4 ,to be an excellent husband and yet on the sly seduce every girl2 to seem a seducer and yet harbor within one all the ardor of romanticism--there would be something to that1 for the concession in the first instance were then annihilated in the second4 ,certain it is that man finds his true ideality only in such a reduplication4 ,all merely unconscious existence must be obliterated1 and its obliteration ever cunningly guarded by some sham expression4 ,such a reduplication is incomprehensible to woman1 for it removes from her the possibility of expressing man's true nature in one term4 ,if it were1 possible for woman to exist in such a reduplication1 no erotic relation with her were thinkable4 ,but1 her nature being such as we all know it to be1 any disturbance of the erotic relation is brought about by man's true nature which ever consists precisely in the annihilation of that in which she has her being4 ,am ,i then preaching the monastic life and rightly called ,eremita8 ,by no means4 ,you may as well eliminate the cloister1 for after all it is only a direct expression of spirituality and as such but a vain endeavor to express it in direct terms4 ,it makes small difference whether you use gold1 or silver1 or paper money2 but he who does not spend a farthing but is counterfeit1 he will comprehend me4 ,he to whom every direct expression is but a fraud1 he and he only1 is safeguarded better than if he lived in a cloister-cell--he will be a hermit even if he travelled in an omnibus day and night4 ,scarcely had ,victor finished when the ,dressmaker jumped to his feet and threw over a bottle of wine standing before him2 then he spoke as follows3 7,the ,dressmaker's ,speech7 ,well spoken1 dear fellow-banqueters1 well spoken6 ,the longer ,i hear you speak the more ,i grow convinced that you are fellow-conspirators--,i greet you as such1 ,i understand you as such2 for fellow-conspirators one can make out from afar4 ,and yet1 what know you8 ,what does your bit of theory to which you wish to give the appearance of experience1 your bit of experience which you make over into a theory--what does it amount to8 ,for every now and then you believe her a moment and--are caught in a moment6 ,no1 ,i know woman--from her weak side1 that is to say1 ,i know her4 ,i shrink from no means to make sure about what ,i have learned2 for ,i am a madman1 and a madman one must be to understand her1 and if one has not been one before1 one will become a madman1 once one understands her4 ,the robber has his hiding place by the noisy high-road1 and the ant-lion his funnel in the loose sand1 and the pirate his haunts by the roaring sea3 likewise have ,i may fashion-shop in the very midst of the teeming streets1 seductive1 irresistible to woman as is the ,venusberg to men4 ,there1 in a fashion-shop1 one learns to know woman1 in a practical way and without any theoretical ado4 ,now1 if fashion meant nothing than that woman in the heat of her desire threw off all her clothing--why1 then it would stand for something4 ,but this is not the case1 fashion is not plain sensuality1 not tolerated debauchery1 but an illicit trade in indecency authorized as proper4 ,and1 just as in heathen ,prussia the marriageable girl wore a bell whose ringing served as a signal to the men1 likewise is a woman's existence in fashion a continual bell-ringing1 not for debauchees but for lickerish voluptuaries4 ,people hold ,fortune to be a woman--ah1 yes it is1 to be sure1 fickle2 still1 it is fickle in something1 as it may also give much2 and insofar it is not a woman4 ,no2 but fashion is a woman1 for fashion is fickleness in nonsense1 and is consistent only in its becoming ever more crazy4 ,one hour in my shop is worth more than days and years without1 if it really be one's desire to learn to know woman2 in my shop1 for it is the only one in the capital1 there is no thought of competition4 ,who1 forsooth1 would dare to enter into competition with one who has entirely devoted himself1 and is still devoting himself1 as high-priest in this idol worship8 ,no1 there is not a distinguished assemblage which does not mention my name first and last2 and there is not a middle-class gathering where my name1 whenever mentioned1 does not inspire sacred awe1 like that of the king2 and there is no dress so idiotic but is accompanied by whispers of admiration when its owner proceeds down the hall--provided it bears my name2 and there is not the lady of gentle birth who dares pass my shop by1 nor the girl of humble origin but passes it sighing and thinking3 if only ,i could afford it6 ,well1 neither was she deceived4 ,i deceive no one2 ,i furnish the finest goods and the most costly1 and at the lowest price1 indeed1 ,i sell below cost4 ,the fact is1 ,i do not wish to make a profit4 ,on the contrary1 every year ,i sacrifice large sums4 ,and yet do ,i mean to win1 ,i mean to1 ,i shall spend my last farthing in order to corrupt1 in order to bribe1 the tools of fashion so that ,i may win the game4 ,to me it is a delight beyond compare to unroll the most precious stuffs1 to cut them out1 to clip pieces from genuine ,brussels-lace1 in order to make a fool's costume--,i sell to the lowest prices1 genuine goods and in style4 ,you believe1 perhaps1 that woman wants to be dressed fashionably only at certain times8 ,no such thing1 she wants to be so all the time and that is her only thought4 ,for a woman does have a mind1 only it is employed about as well as is the ,prodigal ,son's substance2 and woman does possess the power of reflection in an incredibly high degree1 for there is nothing so holy but she will in no time discover it to be reconcilable with her finery--and the chiefest expression of finery is fashion4 ,what wonder if she does discover it to be reconcilable2 for is not fashion holy to her8 ,and there is nothing so insignificant but she certainly will know how to make it count in her finery--and the most fatuous expression of finery is fashion4 ,and there is nothing1 nothing in all her attire1 not the least ribbon1 of whose relation to fashion she has not a definite conception and concerning which she is not immediately aware whether the lady who just passed by noticed it2 because1 for whose benefit does she dress1 if not for other ladies6 ,even in my shop where she comes to be fitted out la mode1 even there she is in fashion4 ,just as there is a special bathing costume and a special riding habit1 likewise there is a particular kind of dress which it is the fashion to wear to the dressmaker's shop4 ,that costume is not insouciant in the same sense as is the neglige a lady is pleased to be surprised in1 earlier in the forenoon1 where the point is her belonging to the fair sex and the coquetry lies in her letting herself be surprised4 ,the dressmaker costume1 on the other hand1 is calculated to be nonchalant and a bit careless without her being embarrassed thereby2 because a dressmaker stands in a different relation to her from a cavalier4 ,the coquetry here consists in thus showing herself to a man who1 by reason of his station1 does not presume to ask for the lady's womanly recognition1 but must be content with the perquisites which fall abundantly to his share1 without her ever thinking of it2 or without it even so much as entering her mind to play the lady before a dressmaker4 ,the point is1 therefore1 that her being of the opposite sex is1 in a certain sense1 left out of consideration1 and her coquetry invalidated1 by the superciliousness of the noble lady who would smile if any one alluded to any relation existing between her and her dressmaker4 ,when visited in her neglige she conceals herself1 thus displaying her charms by this very concealment4 ,in my shop she exposes her charms with the utmost nonchalance1 for he is only a dressmaker--and she is a woman4 ,now1 her shawl slips down and bares some part of her body1 and if ,i did not know what that means1 and what she expects1 my reputation would be gone to the winds4 ,now1 she draws herself up1 a priori fashion1 now she gesticulates a posteriori2 now1 she sways to and fro in her hips2 now1 she looks at herself in the mirror and sees my admiring phiz behind her in the glass2 now1 she minces her words2 now1 she trips along with short steps2 now1 she hovers2 now1 she draws her foot after her in a slovenly fashion2 now1 she lets herself sink softly into an arm-chair1 whilst ,i with humble demeanor offer her a flask of smelling salts and with my adoration assuage her agitation2 now1 she strikes after me playfully2 now1 she drops her handkerchief and1 without as much as a single motion1 lets her relaxed arm remain in its pendent position1 whilst ,i bend down low to pick it up and return it to her1 receiving a little patronizing nod as a reward4 ,these are the ways of a lady of fashion when in my shop4 ,whether ,diogenes#dd made any impression on the woman who was praying in a somewhat unbecoming posture1 when he asked her whether she did not believe the gods could see her from behind--that ,i do not know2 but this ,i do know1 that if ,i should say to her ladyship kneeling down in church3 ,the folds of your gown do not fall according to fashion1 she would be more alarmed than if she had given offense to the gods4 ,woe to the outcast1 the male ,cinderella1 who has not comprehended this6 ,pro dii immortales1#de what1 pray1 is a woman who is not in fashion2 per deos obsecro1#df and what when she is in fashion6 ,whether all this is true8 ,well1 make trial of it3 let the swain1 when his beloved one sinks rapturously on his breast1 whispering unintelligibly3 thine forever1 and hides her head on his bosom--let him but say to1 her3 ,my sweet ,kitty1 your coiffure is not at all in fashion4--,possibly1 men don't give thought to this2 but he who knows it1 and has the reputation of knowing it1 he is the most dangerous man in the kingdom4 ,what blissful hours the lover passes with his sweetheart before marriage ,i do not know2 but of the blissful hours she spends in my shop he hasn't the slightest inkling1 either4 ,without my special license and sanction a marriage is null and void1 anyway--or else an entirely plebeian affair4 ,let it be the very moment when they are to meet before the altar1 let her step forward with the very best conscience in the world that everything was bought in my shop and tried on there--and now1 if ,i were to rush up and exclaim3 ,but mercy6 gracious lady1 your myrtle wreath is all awry--why1 the whole ceremony might be postponed1 for aught ,i know4 ,but men do not suspect these things1 one must be a dressmaker to know4 ,so immense is the power of reflection needed to fathom a woman's thought that only a man who dedicates himself wholly to the task will succeed1 and even then only if gifted to start with4 ,happy therefore the man who does not associate with any woman1 for she is not his1 anyway1 even if she be no other man's2 for she is possessed by that phantom born of the unnatural intercourse of woman's reflection with itself1 fashion4 ,do you see1 for this reason should woman always swear by fashion--then were there some force in her oath2 for after all1 fashion is the thing she is always thinking of1 the only thing she can think together with1 and into1 everything4 ,for instance1 the glad message has gone forth from my shop to all fashionable ladies that fashion decrees the use of a particular kind of head-dress to be worn in church1 and that this head-dress1 again1 must be somewhat different for ,high ,mass and for the afternoon service4 ,now when the bells are ringing the carriage stops in front of my door4 ,her ladyship descends 7for also this has been decreed1 that no one can adjust that head-dress save ,i1 the fashion-dealer71 ,i rush out1 making low bows1 and lead her into my cabinet4 ,and whilst she languishingly reposes ,i put everything in order4 ,now she is ready and has looked at herself in the mirror2 quick as any messenger of the gods ,i hasten in advance1 open the door of my cabinet with a bow1 then hasten to the door of my shop and lay my arm on my breast1 like some oriental slave2 but1 encouraged by a gracious courtesy1 ,i even dare to throw her an adoring and admiring kiss--now she is seated in her carriage--oh dear6 she left her hymn book behind4 ,i hasten out again and hand it to her through the carriage window1 ,i permit myself once more to remind her to hold her head a trifle more to the right1 and herself to arrange things1 should her head-dress become a bit disordered when descending4 ,she drives away and is edified4 ,you believe1 perhaps1 that it is only great ladies who worship fashion1 but far from it6 ,look at my sempstresses for whose dress ,i spare no expense1 so that the dogmas of fashion may be proclaimed most emphatically from my shop4 ,they form a chorus of half-witted creatures1 and ,i myself lead them on as high-priest1 as a shining example1 squandering all1 solely in order to make all womankind ridiculous4 ,for when a seducer makes the boast that every woman's virtue has its price1 ,i do not believe him2 but ,i do believe that every woman at an early time will be crazed by the maddening and defiling introspection taught her by fashion1 which will corrupt her more thoroughly than being seduced4 ,i have made trial more than once4 ,if not able to corrupt her myself ,i set on her a few of fashion's slaves of her own station2 for just as one may train rats to bite rats1 likewise is the crazed woman's sting like that of the tarantula4 ,and most especially dangerous is it when some man lends his help4 ,whether ,i serve the ,devil or ,god ,i do not know2 but ,i am right1 ,i shall be right1 ,i will be1 so long as ,i possess a single farthing1 ,i will be until the blood spurts out of my fingers4 ,the physiologist pictures the shape of woman to show the dreadful effects of wearing a corset1 and beside it he draws a picture of her normal figure4 ,that is all entirely correct1 but only one of the drawings has the validity of truth3 they all wear corsets4 ,describe1 therefore1 the miserable1 stunted perversity of the fashion-mad woman1 describe the insidious introspection devouring her1 and then describe the womanly modesty which least of all knows about itself--do so and you have judged woman1 have in very truth passed terrible sentence on her4 ,if ever ,i discover such a girl who is contented and demure and not yet corrupted by indecent intercourse with women--she shall fall nevertheless4 ,i shall catch her in my toils1 already she stands at the sacrificial altar1 that is to say1 in my shop4 ,with the most scornful glance a haughty nonchalance can assume ,i measure her appearance1 she perishes with fright2 a peal of laughter from the adjoining room where sit my trained accomplices annihilates her4 ,and afterwards1 when ,i have gotten her rigged up la mode and she looks crazier than a lunatic1 as crazy as one who would not be accepted even in a lunatic asylum1 then she leaves me in a state of bliss--no man1 not even a god1 were able to inspire fear in her2 for is she not dressed in fashion8 ,do you comprehend me now1 do you comprehend why ,i call you fellow-conspirators1 even though in a distant way8 ,do you now comprehend my conception of woman8 ,everything in life is a matter of fashion1 the fear of ,god is a matter of fashion1 and so are love1 and crinolines1 and a ring through the nose4 ,to the utmost of my ability will ,i therefore come to the support of the exalted genius who wishes to laugh at the most ridiculous of all animals4 ,if woman has reduced everything to a matter of fashion1 then will ,i1 with the help of fashion1 prostitute her1 as she deserves to be2 ,i have no peace1 ,i the dressmaker1 my soul rages when ,i think of my task--she will yet be made to wear a ring through her nose4 ,seek therefore no sweetheart1 abandon love as you would the most dangerous neighborhood2 for the one whom you love would also be made to go with a ring through her nose4 ,thereupon ,john1 called the ,seducer1 spoke as follows3 7,the ,speech of ,john the ,seducer7 ,my dear boon companions1 is ,satan plaguing you8 ,for1 indeed1 you speak like so many hired mourners1 your eyes are red with tears and not with wine4 ,you almost move me to tears also1 for an unhappy lover does have a miserable time of it in life4 ,hinc illae lacrimae4#dg ,i1 however1 am a happy lover1 and my only wish is to remain so4 ,very possibly1 that is one of the concessions to woman which ,victor is so afraid of4 ,why not8 ,let it be a concession6 ,loosening the lead foil of this bottle of champagne also is a concession2 letting its foaming contents flow into my glass also is a concession2 and so is raising it to my lips--now ,i drain it--concedo4#dh ,now1 however1 it is empty1 hence ,i need no more concessions4 ,just the same with girls4 ,if some unhappy lover has bought his kiss too dearly1 this proves to me only that he does not know1 either how to take what is coming to him or how to do it4 ,i never pay too much for this sort of thing--that is a matter for the girls to decide4 ,what this signifies8 ,to me it signifies the most beautiful1 the most delicious1 and well-nigh the most persuasive1 argumentum ad hominem2 but since every woman1 at least once in her life1 possesses this argumentative freshness ,i do not see any reason why ,i should not let myself be persuaded4 ,our young friend wishes to make this experience in his thought4 ,why not buy a cream puff and be content with looking at it8 ,i mean to enjoy4 ,no mere talk for me6 ,just as an old song has it about a kiss3 es ist kaum zu sehn1 es ist nur fr ,lippen1 die genau sich verstehn#di--understand each other so exactly that any reflection about the matter is but an impertinence and a folly4 ,he who is twenty and does not grasp the existence of the categorical imperative enjoy thyself--he is a fool2 and he who does not seize the opportunity is and remains a ,christianfelder4#ej ,however1 you all are unhappy lovers1 and that is why you are not satisfied with woman as she is4 ,the gods forbid6 ,as she is she pleases me1 just as she is4 ,even ,constantin's category of the joke seems to contain a secret desire4 ,i1 on the other hand1 ,i am gallant4 ,and why not8 ,gallantry costs nothing and gives one all and is the condition for all erotic pleasure4 ,gallantly is the ,masonic language of the senses and of voluptuousness1 between man and woman4 ,it is a natural language1 as love's language in general is4 ,it consists not of sounds but of desires disguised and of ever changing wishes4 ,that an unhappy lover may be ungallant enough to wish to convert his deficit into a draught payable in immortality--that ,i understand well enough4 ,that is to say1 ,i for my part do not understand it2 for to me a woman has sufficient intrinsic value4 ,i assure every woman of this1 it is the truth2 and at the same time it is certain that ,i am the only one who is not deceived by this truth4 ,as to whether a despoiled woman is worth less than man--about that ,i find no information in my price list4 ,i do not pick flowers already broken1 ,i leave them to the married men to use for ,shrove-tide decoration4 ,whether e4 g4 ,edward wishes to consider the matter again1 and again fall in love with ,cordelia1#ea or simply repeat the affair in his reflection--that is his own business4 ,why should ,i concern myself with other peoples' affairs6 ,i explained to her at an earlier time what ,i thought of her2 and1 in truth1 she convinced me1 convinced me to my absolute satisfaction1 that my gallantry was well applied4 ,concedo4 ,concessi4#eb ,if ,i should meet with another ,cordelia1 why then ,i shall enact a comedy ,ring number #b4ec ,but you are unhappy lovers and have conspired together1 and are worse deceived than the girls1 notwithstanding that you are richly endowed by nature4 ,but decision--the decision of desire1 is the most essential thing in life4 ,our young friend will always remain an onlooker4 ,victor is an unpractical enthusiast4 ,constantin has acquired his good sense at too great a cost2 and the fashion dealer is a madman4 ,stuff and nonsense6 ,with all four of you busy about one girl1 nothing would come of it4 ,let one have enthusiasm enough to idealize1 taste enough to join in the clinking of glasses at the festive board of enjoyment1 sense enough to break off--to break off absolutely1 as does ,death1 madness enough to wish to enjoy all over again--if you have all that you will be the favorite of gods and girls4 ,but of what avail to speak here8 ,i do not intend to make proselytes4 ,neither is this the place for that4 ,to be sure ,i love wine1 to be sure ,i love the abundance of a banquet--all that is good2 but let a girl be my company1 and then ,i shall be eloquent4 ,let then ,constantin have my thanks for the banquet1 and the wine1 and the excellent appointments--the speeches1 however1 were but indifferent4 ,but in order that things shall have a better ending ,i shall now pronounce a eulogy on woman4 ,just as he who is to speak in praise of the divinity must be inspired by the divinity to speak worthily1 and must therefore be taught by the divinity as to what he shall say1 likewise he who would speak of women4 ,for woman1 even less than the divinity1 is a mere figment of man's brain1 a day-dream1 or a notion that occurs to one and which one may argue about pro et contra4 ,nay1 one learns from woman alone what to say of her4 ,and the more teachers one has had1 the better4 ,the first time one is a disciple1 the next time one is already over the chief difficulties1 just as one learns in formal and learned disputations how to use the last opponent's compliments against a new opponent4 ,nevertheless nothing is lost4 ,for as little as a kiss is a mere sample of good things1 and as little as an embrace is an exertion1 just as little is this experience exhaustive4 ,in fact it is essentially different from the mathematical proof of a theorem1 which remains ever the same1 even though other letters be substituted4 ,this method is one befitting mathematics and ghosts1 but not love and women1 because each is a new proof1 corroborating the truth of the theorem in a different manner4 ,it is my joy that1 far from being less perfect than man1 the female sex is1 on the contrary1 the more perfect4 ,i shall1 however1 clothe my speech in a myth2 and ,i shall exult1 on woman's account whom you have so unjustly maligned1 if my speech pronounce judgment on your souls1 if the enjoyment of her beckon you only to flee you1 as did the fruits from ,tantalus2 because you have fled1 and thereby insulted1 woman4 ,only thus1 forsooth1 may she be insulted1 even though she scorn it1 and though punishment instantly falls on him who had the audacity4 ,i1 however1 insult no one4 ,that is but the notion of married men1 and a slander2 whereas1 in reality1 ,i respect her more highly than does the man she is married to4 ,originally there was but one sex1 so the ,greeks relate1 and that was man's4 ,splendidly endowed he was1 so he did honor to the gods--so splendidly endowed that the same happened to them as sometimes happens to a poet who has expended all his energy on a poetic invention3 they grew jealous of man4 ,ay1 what is worse1 they feared that he would not willingly bow under their yoke2 they feared1 though with small reason1 that he might cause their very heaven to totter4 ,thus they had raised up a power they scarcely held themselves able to curb4 ,then there was anxiety and alarm in the council of the gods4 ,much had they lavished in their generosity on the creation of man2 but all must be risked now1 for reason of bitter necessity2 for all was at stake--so the gods believed--and recalled he could not be1 as a poet may recall his invention4 ,and by force he could not be subdued1 or else the gods themselves could have done so2 but precisely of that they despaired4 ,he would have to be caught and subdued1 then1 by a power weaker than his own and yet stronger--one strong enough to compel him4 ,what a marvelous power this would have to be6 ,however1 necessity teaches even the gods to surpass themselves in inventiveness4 ,they sought and they found4 ,that power was woman1 the marvel of creation1 even in the eyes of the gods a greater marvel than man--a discovery which the gods in their navet could not help but applaud themselves for4 ,what more can be said in her praise than that she was able to accomplish what even the gods did not believe themselves able to do2 and what more can be said in her praise than that she did accomplish it6 ,but how marvelous a creation must be hers to have accomplished it4 ,it was a ruse of the gods4 ,cunningly the enchantress was fashioned1 for no sooner had she bewitched man than she changed and caught him in all the circumstantialities of existence4 ,it was that the gods had desired4 ,but what1 pray1 can be more delicious1 or more entrancing and bewitching1 than what the gods themselves contrived1 when battling for their supremacy1 as the only means of luring man8 ,and most assuredly it is so1 for woman is the only1 and the most seductive1 power in heaven and on earth4 ,when compared with her in this sense man will indeed be found to be exceedingly imperfect4 ,and the stratagem of the gods was crowned with success2 but not always4 ,there have existed at all times some men--a few--who have detected the deception4 ,they perceive well enough woman's loveliness--more keenly1 indeed than the others--but they also suspect the real state of affairs4 ,i call them erotic natures and count myself among them4 ,men call them seducers1 woman has no name for them--such persons are to her unnameable4 ,these erotic natures are the truly fortunate ones4 ,they live more luxuriously than do the very gods1 for they regale themselves with food more delectable than ambrosia1 and they drink what is more delicious than nectar2 they eat the most seductive invention of the gods' most ingenious thought1 they are ever eating dainties set for a bait--ah1 incomparable delight1 ah1 blissful fare--they are ever eating but the dainties set for a bait2 and they are never caught4 ,all other men greedily seize and devour it1 like bumpkins eating their cabbage1 and are caught4 ,only the erotic nature fully appreciates the dainties set out for bait--he prizes them infinitely4 ,woman divines this1 and for that reason there is a secret understanding between him and her4 ,but he knows also that she is a bait1 and that secret he keeps to himself4 ,that nothing more marvelous1 nothing more delicious1 nothing more seductive1 than woman can be devised1 for that vouch the gods and their pressing need which heightened their powers of invention2 for that vouches also the fact that they risked all1 and in shaping her moved heaven and earth4 ,i now forsake the myth4 ,the conception man corresponds to his idea4 ,i can therefore1 if necessary1 think of an individual man as existing4 ,the idea of woman1 on the other hand1 is so general that no one single woman is able to express it completely4 ,she is not contemporaneous with man 7and hence of less noble origin71 but a later creation1 though more perfect than he4 ,whether now the gods took some part from him whilst he slept1 from fear of waking him by taking too much2 or whether they bisected him and made woman out of the one half--at any rate it was man who was partitioned4 ,hence she is the equal of man only after this partition4 ,she is a delusion and a snarer1 but is so only afterwards1 and for him who is deluded4 ,she is finiteness incarnate2 but in her first stage she is finiteness raised to the highest degree in the deceptive infinitude of all divine and human illusions4 ,now1 the deception does not exist--one instant longer1 and one is deceived4 ,she is finiteness1 and as such she is a collective3 one woman represents all women4 ,only the erotic nature comprehends this and therefore knows how to love many without ever being deceived1 sipping the while all the delights the cunning gods were able to prepare4 ,for this reason1 as ,i said1 woman cannot be fully expressed by one formula1 but is1 rather1 an infinitude of finalities4 ,he who wishes to think her idea will have the same experience as he who gazes on a sea of nebulous shapes which ever form anew1 or as he who is dazed by looking over the waves whose foamy crests ever mock one's vision2 for her idea is but the workshop of possibilities4 ,and to the erotic nature these possibilities are the everlasting reason for his worship4 ,so the gods created her delicate and ethereal as if out of the mists of the summer night1 yet goodly like ripe fruit2 light like a bird1 though the repository of what attracts all the world--light because the play of the forces is harmoniously balanced in the invisible center of a negative relation2#ed slender in growth1 with definite lines1 yet her body sinuous with beautiful curves2 perfect1 yet ever appearing as if completed but now2 cool1 delicious1 and refreshing like new-fallen snow1 yet blushing in coy transparency2 happy like some pleasantry which makes one forget all one's sorrow2 soothing as being the end of desire1 and satisfying in herself being the stimulus of desire4 ,and the gods had calculated that man1 when first beholding her1 would be amazed1 as one who sees himself1 though familiar with that sight--would stand in amaze as one who sees himself in the splendor of perfection--would stand in amaze as one who beholds what he did never dream he would1 yet beholds what1 it would seem1 ought to have occurred to him before--sees what is essential to life and yet gazes on it as being the very mystery of existence4 ,it is precisely tins contradiction in his admiration which nurses desire to life1 while this same admiration urges him ever nearer1 so that he cannot desist from gazing1 cannot desist from believing himself familiar with the sight1 without really daring to approach1 even though he cannot desist from desiring4 ,when the gods had thus planned her form they were seized with fear lest they might not have the wherewithal to give it existence2 but what they feared even more was herself4 ,for they dared not let her know how beautiful she was1 apprehensive of having some one in the secret who might spoil their ruse4 ,then was the crowning touch given to their wondrous creation3 they made her faultless2 but they concealed all this from her in the nescience of her innocence1 and concealed it doubly from her in the impenetrable mystery of her modesty4 ,now she was perfect1 and victory certain4 ,inviting she had been before1 but now doubly so through her shyness1 and beseeching through her shrinking1 and irresistible through herself offering resistance4 ,the gods were jubilant4 ,and no allurement has ever been devised in the world so great as is woman1 and no allurement is as compelling as is innocence1 and no temptation is as ensnaring as is modesty1 and no deception is as matchless as is woman4 ,she knows of nothing1 still her modesty is instinctive divination4 ,she is distinct from man1 and the separating wall of modesty parting them is more decisive than ,aladdin's sword separating him from ,gulnare2#ee and yet1 when like ,pyramis he puts his head to this dividing wall of modesty1 the erotic nature will perceive all pleasures of desire divined within as from afar4 ,thus does woman tempt4 ,men are wont to set forth the most precious things they possess as a delectation for the gods1 nothing less will do4 ,thus is woman a show-bread1 the gods knew of naught comparable to her4 ,she exists1 she is present1 she is with us1 close by2 and yet she is removed from us to an infinite distance when concealed in her modesty--until she herself betrays her hiding place1 she knows not how3 it is not she herself1 it is life which informs on her4 ,roguish she is like a child who in playing peeps forth from his hiding place1 yet her roguishness is inexplicable1 for she does not know of it herself1 she is ever mysterious--mysterious when she casts down her eyes1 mysterious when she sends forth the messengers of her glance which no thought1 let alone any word1 is able to follow4 ,and yet is the eye the interpreter of the soul6 ,what1 then1 is the explanation of this mystery if the interpreter too is unintelligible8 ,calm she is like the hushed stillness of eventide1 when not a leaf stirs2 calm like a consciousness as yet unaware of aught4 ,her heart-beats are as regular as if life were not present2 and yet the erotic nature1 listening with his stethoscopically practiced ear1 detects the dithyrambic pulsing of desire sounding along unbeknown4 ,careless she is like the blowing of the wind1 content like the profound ocean1 and yet full of longing like a thing biding its explanation4 ,my friends6 ,my mind is softened1 indescribably softened4 ,i comprehend that also my life expresses an idea1 even if you do not comprehend me4 ,i too have discovered the secret of existence2 ,i too serve a divine idea--and1 assuredly1 ,i do not serve it for nothing4 ,if woman is a ruse of the gods1 this means that she is to be seduced2 and if woman is not an idea1 the true inference is that the erotic nature wishes to love as many of them as possible4 ,what luxury it is to relish the ruse without being duped1 only the erotic nature comprehends4 ,and how blissful it is to be seduced1 woman alone knows4 ,i know that from woman1 even though ,i never yet allowed any one of them time to explain it to me1 but re-asserted my independence1 serving the idea by a break as sudden as that caused by death2 for a bride and a break are to one another like female and male4#ef ,only woman is aware of this1 and she is aware of it together with her seducer4 ,no married man will ever grasp this4 ,nor does she ever speak with him about it4 ,she resigns herself to her fate1 she knows that it must be so and that she can be seduced only once4 ,for this reason she never really bears malice against the man who seduced her4 ,that is to say1 if he really did seduce her and thus expressed the idea4 ,broken marriage vows and that kind of thing is1 of course1 nonsense and no seduction4 ,indeed1 it is by no means so great a misfortune for a woman to be seduced4 ,in fact1 it is a piece of good fortune for her4 ,an excellently seduced girl may make an excellent wife4 ,if ,i myself were not fit to be a seducer--however deeply ,i feel my inferior qualifications in this respect--if ,i chose to be a married man1 ,i should always choose a girl already seduced1 so that ,i would not have to begin my marriage by seducing my wife4 ,marriage1 to be sure1 also expresses an idea2 but in relation to the idea of marriage that quality is altogether immaterial which is the absolutely essential condition for my idea4 ,therefore1 a marriage ought never to be planned to begin as though it were the beginning of a story of seduction4 ,so much is sure3 there is a seducer for every woman4 ,happy is she whose good fortune it is to meet just him4 ,through marriage1 on the other hand1 the gods win their victory4 ,in it the once seduced maiden walks through life by the side of her husband1 looking back at times1 full of longing1 resigned to her fate1 until she reaches the goal of life4 ,she dies2 but not in the same sense as man dies4 ,she is volatilized and resolved into that mysterious primal element of which the gods formed her--she disappears like a dream1 like an impermanent shape whose hour is past4 ,for what is woman but a dream1 and the highest reality withal6 ,thus does the erotic nature comprehend her1 leading her1 and being led by her in the moment of seduction1 beyond time--where she has her true existence1 being an illusion4 ,through her husband1 on the other hand1 she becomes a creature of this world1 and he through her4 ,marvelous nature6 ,if ,i did not admire thee1 a woman would teach me2 for truly she is the venerabile of life4 ,splendidly didst thou fashion her1 but more splendidly still in that thou never didst fashion one woman like another4 ,in man1 the essential is the essential1 and insofar always alike2 but in woman the adventitious is the essential1 and is thus an inexhaustible source of differences4 ,brief is her splendor2 but quickly the pain is forgotten1 too1 when the same splendor is proffered me anew4 ,it is true1 ,i too am aware of the unbeautiful which may appear in her thereafter2 but she is not thus with her seducer4 ,they rose from the table4 ,it needed but a hint from ,constantin1 for the participants understood each other with military precision whenever there was a question of face or turn about4 ,with his invisible baton of command1 elastic like a divining rod in his hand1 ,constantin once more touched them in order to call forth in them a fleeting reminiscence of the banquet and the spirit of enjoyment which had prevailed before but was now1 in some measure1 submerged through the intellectual effort of the speeches--in order that the note of glad festivity which had disappeared might1 by way of resonance1 return once more among the guests in a brief moment of recollection4 ,he saluted with his full glass as a signal of parting1 emptying it1 and then flinging it against the door in the rear wall4 ,the others followed his example1 consummating this symbolic action with all the solemnity of adepts4 ,justice was thus done the pleasure of stopping short--that royal pleasure which1 though briefer1 yet is more liberating than any other pleasure4 ,with a libation this pleasure ought to be entered upon1 with the libation of flinging one's glass into destruction and oblivion1 and tearing one's self passionately away from every memory1 as if it were a danger to one's life3 this libation is to the gods of the nether world4 ,one breaks off1 and strength is needed to do that1 greater strength than to sever a knot by a sword-blow2 for the difficulty of the knot tends to arouse one's passion1 but the passion required for breaking off must be of one's own making4 ,in a superficial sense the result is1 of course1 the same2 but from an artistic point of view there is a world of difference between something ceasing or simply coming to an end1 and it being broken off by one's own free will--whether it is a mere occurrence or a passionate decision2 whether it is all over1 like a school song1 because there is no more to it1 or whether it is terminated by the ,csarian operation of one's own pleasure2 whether it is a triviality every one has experienced1 or the secret which escapes most4 ,constantin's flinging his beaker against the door was intended merely as a symbolic rite2 nevertheless1 his so doing was1 in a way1 a decisive act2 for when the last glass was shattered the door opened1 and just as he who presumptuously knocked at ,death's door and1 on its opening1 beheld the powers of annihilation1 so the banqueters beheld the corps of destruction ready to demolish everything--a memento which in an instant put them to flight from that place1 while at the very same moment the entire surroundings had been reduced to the semblance of ruin4 ,a carriage stood ready at the door4 ,at ,constantin's invitation they seated themselves in it and drove away in good spirits2 for that tableau of destruction which they left behind had given their souls fresh elasticity4 ,after having covered a distance of several miles a halt was made4 ,here ,constantin took his leave as host1 informing them that five carriages were at their disposal--each one was free to suit his own pleasure and drive wherever he wanted1 whether alone or in company with whomsoever he pleased4 ,thus a rocket1 propelled by the force of the powder1 ascends at a single shot1 remains collected for an instant1 in order then to spread out to all the winds4 ,while the horses were being hitched to the carriages the nocturnal banqueters strolled a little way down the road4 ,the fresh air of the morning purified their hot blood with its coolness1 and they gave themselves up to it entirely4 ,their forms1 and the groups in which they ranged themselves1 made a fantastic impression on me4 ,for when the morning sun shines on field and meadow1 and on every creature which in the night found rest and strength to rise up jubilating with the sun--in this there is only a pleasing1 mutual understanding2 but a nightly company1 viewed by the morning light and in smiling surroundings1 makes a downright uncanny impression4 ,it makes one think of spooks which have been surprised by daylight1 of subterranean spirits which are unable to regain the crevice through which they may vanish1 because it is visible only in the dark2 of unhappy creatures in whom the difference between day and night has become obliterated through the monotony of their sufferings4 ,a foot path led them through a small patch of field toward a garden surrounded by a hedge1 from behind whose concealment a modest summer-cottage peeped forth4 ,at the end of the garden1 toward the field1 there was an arbor formed by trees4 ,becoming aware of people being in the arbor1 they all grew curious1 and with the spying glances of men bent on observation1 the besiegers closed in about that pleasant place of concealment1 hiding themselves1 and as eager as emissaries of the police about to take some one by surprise4 ,like emissaries of the police--well1 to be sure1 their appearance made the misunderstanding possible that it was they whom the minions of the law might be looking for4 ,each one had occupied a point of vantage for peeping in1 when ,victor drew back a step and said to his neighbor1 ,why1 dear me1 if that is not ,judge ,william and his wife6 ,they were surprised--not the two whom the foliage concealed and who were all too deeply concerned with their domestic enjoyment to be observers4 ,they felt themselves too secure to believe themselves an object of any one's observation excepting the morning sun's which took pleasure in looking in to them1 whilst a gentle zephyr moved the boughs above them1 and the repose-fulness of the countryside1 as well as all things around them girded the little arbor about with peace4 ,the happy married couple was not surprised and noticed nothing4 ,that they were a married couple was clear enough2 one could perceive that at a glance--alas6 if one is something of an observer one's self4 ,even if nothing in the wide world1 nothing1 whether overtly or covertly1 if nothing1 ,i say1 threatens to interfere with the happiness of lovers1 yet they are not thus secure when sitting together4 ,they are in a state of bliss2 and yet it is as if there were some power bent on separating them1 so firmly they clasp one another2 and yet it is as if there were some enemy present against whom they must defend themselves2 and yet it is as if they could never become sufficiently reassured4 ,not thus married people1 and not thus that married couple in the arbor4 ,how long they had been married1 however1 that was not to be determined with certainty4 ,to be sure1 the wife's activity at the tea-table revealed a sureness of hand born of practice1 but at the same time such almost childlike interest in her occupation as if she were a newly married woman and in that middle condition when she is not1 as yet1 sure whether marriage is fun or earnest1 whether being a housewife is a calling1 or a game1 or a pastime4 ,perhaps she had been married for some longer time but did not generally preside at the tea-table1 or perhaps did so only out here in the country1 or did it perhaps only that morning which1 possibly1 had a special significance for them4 ,who could tell8 ,all calculation is frustrated to a certain degree by the fact that every personality exhibits some originality which keeps time from leaving its marks4 ,when the sun shines in all his summer glory one thinks straightway that there must be some festal occasion at hand--that it cannot be so for every-day use1 or that it is the first time1 or at least one of the first times2 for surely1 one thinks1 it cannot be repeated for any length of time4 ,thus would think he who saw it but once1 or saw it for the first time2 and ,i saw the wife of the justice for the first time4 ,he who sees the object in question every day may think differently2 provided he sees the same thing4 ,but let the judge decide about that6 ,as ,i remarked1 our amiable housewife was occupied4 ,she poured boiling water into the cups1 probably to warm them1 emptied them again1 set a cup on a platter1 poured the tea and served it with sugar and cream--now all was ready2 was it fun or earnest8 ,in case a person did not relish tea at other times--he should have sat in the judge's place2 for just then that drink seemed most inviting to me1 only the inviting air of the lovely woman herself seemed to me more inviting4 ,it appeared that she had not had time to speak until then4 ,now she broke the silence and said1 while serving him his tea3 ,quick1 now1 dear1 and drink while it is hot1 the morning air is quite cool1 anyway2 and surely the least ,i can do for you is to be a little careful of you4 ,the least8 the judge answered laconically4 ,yes1 or the most1 or the only thing4 ,the judge looked at her inquiringly1 and whilst he was helping himself she continued3 ,you interrupted me yesterday when ,i wished to broach the subject1 but ,i have thought about it again2 many times ,i have thought about it1 and now particularly1 you know yourself in reference to whom3 it is certainly true that if you hadn't married1 you would have been far more successful in your career4 ,with his cup still on the platter the judge sipped a first mouthful with visible enjoyment1 thoroughly refreshed2 or was it perchance the joy over his lovely wife2 ,i for my part believe it was the latter4 ,she1 however1 seemed only to be glad that it tasted so good to him4 ,then he put down his cup on the table at his side1 took out a cigar1 and said3 ,may ,i light it at your chafing-dish8 ,certainly1 she said1 and handed him a live coal on a tea-spoon4 ,he lit his cigar and put his arm about her waist whilst she leaned against his shoulder4 ,he turned his head the other way to blow out the smoke1 and then he let his eyes rest on her with a devotion such as only a glance can reveal2 yet he smiled1 but this glad smile had in it a dash of sad irony4 ,finally he said3 ,do you really believe so1 my girl8 ,what do you mean8 she answered4 ,he was silent again1 his smile gained the upper hand1 but his voice remained quite serious1 nevertheless4 ,then ,i pardon you your previous folly1 seeing that you yourself have forgotten it so quickly2 thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh#eg--what great career should ,i have had8 ,his wife seemed embarrassed for a moment by this return1 but collected her wits quickly and now explained her meaning with womanly eloquence4 ,the judge looked down before him1 without interrupting her2 but as she continued he began to drum on the table with the fingers of his right hand1 at the same time humming a tune4 ,the words of the song were audible for a moment1 just as the pattern of a texture now becomes visible1 now disappears again2 and then again they were heard no longer as he hummed the tune of the song3 ,the goodman he went to the forest1 to cut the wands so white4 ,after this melodramatic performance1 consisting in the justice's wife explaining herself whilst he hummed his tune1 the dialogue set in again4 ,i am thinking1 he remarked1 ,i am thinking you are ignorant of the fact that the ,danish ,law permits a man to castigate his wife#eh--;a pity only that the law does not indicate on which occasions it is permitted4 ,his wife smiled at his threat and continued3 ,now why can ,i never get you to be serious when ,i touch on this matter8 ,you do not understand me3 believe me1 ,i mean it sincerely1 it seems to me a very beautiful thought4 ,of course1 if you weren't my husband ,i would not dare to entertain it2 but now ,i have done so1 for your sake and for my sake2 and now be nice and serious1 for my sake1 and answer me frankly4 ,no1 you can't get me to be serious1 and a serious answer you won't get2 ,i must either laugh at you1 or make you forget it1 as before1 or beat you2 or else you must stop talking about it1 or ,i shall have to make you keep silent about it some other way4 ,you see1 it is a joke1 and that is why there are so many ways out4 ,he arose1 pressed a kiss on her brow1 laid her arm in his1 and then disappeared in a leafy walk which led from the arbor4 ,the arbor was empty2 there was nothing else to do1 so the hostile corps of occupation withdrew without making any gains4 ,still1 the others were content with uttering some malicious remarks4 ,the company returned but missed ,victor4 ,he had rounded the corner and1 in walking along the garden1 had come up to the country home4 ,the doors of a garden-room facing the lawn were open1 and likewise a window4 ,very probably he had seen something which attracted his attention4 ,he leapt into the window1 and leapt out again just as the party were approaching1 for they had been looking for him4 ,triumphantly he held up some papers in his hand and exclaimed3 ,one of the judge's manuscripts6#ei ,seeing that ,i edited his other works it is no more than my duty that ,i should edit this one too4 ,he put it into his pocket2 or1 rather1 he was about to do so2 for as he was bending his arm and already had his hand with the manuscript half-way down in his pocket ,i managed to steal it from him4 ,but who1 then1 am ,i8 ,let no one ask6 ,if it hasn't occurred to you before to ask about it ,i am over the difficulty2 for now the worst is behind me4 ,for that matter1 ,i am not worth asking about1 for ,i am the least of all things1 people would put me in utter confusion by asking about me4 ,i am pure existence1 and therefore smaller1 almost1 than nothing4 ,i am pure existence which is present everywhere but still is never noticed2 for ,i am ever vanishing4 ,i am like the line above which stands the summa summarum--who cares about the line8 ,by my own strength ,i can accomplish nothing1 for even the idea to steal the manuscript from ,victor was not my own idea2 for this very idea which1 as a thief would say1 induced me to borrow the manuscript1 was borrowed from him4 ,and now1 when editing this manuscript1 ,i am1 again1 nothing at all2 for it rightly belongs to the judge4 ,and as editor1 ,i am in my nothingness only a kind of nemesis on ,victor1 who imagined that he had the prescriptive right to do so4 ,footnote #a3 ,cf4 ,luke ,,xiv1 #ai-bj4 ,footnote #b3 ,words used in the banns4 ,footnote #c3 ,which in ,latin means both from the temple and at once4 ,footnote #d3 ,the omission of the negative particle in the original is no doubt unintentional4 ,footnote #e3 ,pious wish4 ,footnote #f3 ,kings #bj1 #a2 ,isaiah #ch1 #a4 ,footnote #g3 ,an allusion to the plight of ,aristophanes in ,plato's ,symposion4 ,footnote #h3 ,haggai #a1 #f 7inexact74 ,footnote #i3 ,may it be fortunate and favorable4 ,footnote #aj3 ,symposion1 ch4 #i4 ,footnote #aa3 ,this ironic sally refers1 not to ,descartes' principle of skepsis1 but to the numerous ,danish followers of ,hegel and his method2 cf4 ,fear and ,trembling4 ,footnote #ab3 ,symposion1 ch4 #bd4 ,footnote #ac3 ,ibid41 ch4 #ae-af4 ,footnote #ad3 ,cf4 ,matthew #ac1 #ca etc4 ,footnote #ae3 ,a quotation from ,musus1 ,volksmrchen der ,deutschen1 ,,iii1 #bai4 ,footnote #af3 ,the reference is to a situation in ,richard ,cumberland's 7#agcb-ahaa7 play of ,the ,jew1 known to ,copenhagen playgoers in an adaptation4 ,footnote #ag3 ,i relate what ,i have been told4 ,footnote #ah3 ,a character in the ,danish playwright ,overskou's vaudeville of ,capriciosa 7,comedies ,,iii1 #ahd74 ,footnote #ai3 ,the glutton in ,oehlenschlger's vaudeville of ,sovedrikken4 ,footnote #bj3 ,supplied by the translator to complete the sense4 ,footnote #ba3 ,dejection4 ,cf4 the maxim3 omne animal post cotun triste4 ,footnote #bb3 ,this statement is to be found1 rather1 in ,aristotle's ,ethics ,,ii1 #f4 ,footnote #bc3 ,there is a pun here in the original4 ,footnote #bd3 ,in ,holberg's comedy of ,erasmus ,montanus1 ,,iii1 #f4 ,footnote #be3 ,cf4 ,the ,banquet4 ,footnote #bf3 ,eccles1 #c1 #g4 ,footnote #bg3 ,comical power4 ,footnote #bh3 ,in uncertain battle4 ,footnote #bi3 ,according to the development of these terms in ,kierkegaard's previous works1 the absolute belongs to the ethic1 the relative to the sthetic sphere4 ,footnote #cj3 ,heroine of ,mozart's ,don ,juan4 ,footnote #ca3 ,quotation from ,wessel's famous comedy of ,love without ,stockings1 ,,iii1 #c4 ,footnote #cb3 ,viz besides the eggs she duly furnishes2 ,holberg1 ,the ,busy-body1 ,,ii1 #a4 ,footnote #cc3 ,this figure is said by ,diogenes ,lrtios ,,ii1 #cg to have been used by ,socrates himself about his relation to ,xanthippe4 ,footnote #cd3 ,the following sentences are not as clear in meaning as is otherwise the case in ,kierkegaard4 ,footnote #ce3 ,poetics1 chap4 #ae4 ,footnote #cf3 ,cf4 ,the ,banquet ,footnote #cg3 ,they are1 that he had been created a man and not an animal1 a man and not a woman1 a ,greek and not a ,barbarian 7,lactantius1 ,instit4 ,,iii1 #ai1 #ag74 ,footnote #ch3 ,thales of ,miletos 7,diogenes ,lrtios ,i1 #cc74 ,footnote #ci3 ,german poet of the ,romantic ,school 7#aggc-ahec74 ,footnote #dj3 ,reasoning against the rules of logic4 ,footnote #da3 ,the ,lying-in ,room1 ,,ii1 #b4 ,footnote #db3 ,a quotation from ,oehlenschlager's ,aladdin4 ,footnote #dc3 ,scattered members4 ,footnote #dd3 ,see ,diogenes ,lrtios1 ,,vi1 #cg4 ,footnote #de3 ,by the immortal gods4 ,footnote #df3 ,i adjure you by the gods4 ,footnote #dg3 ,therefore those tears4 ,footnote #dh3 ,i concede4 ,footnote #di3 ,it can hardly be seen1 it is but for lips which understand each other exactly4 ,footnote #ej3 ,christiansfeld1 a town in ,south ,jutland1 was the seat of a colony of ,herrhutian ,pietists4 ,footnote #ea3 ,the reference is to the ,diary of the ,seducer 7in ,either-,or1 part ,i74 ,edward is the scorned lover of ,cordelia who is seduced by ,john4 ,footnote #eb3 ,i concede4 ,i have conceded4 ,footnote #ec3 ,reference to a comedy by ,farquhar1 which enjoyed a moderate popularity in ,copenhagen4 ,footnote #ed3 i4e41 evidently1 she docs not exist because of herself2 hence she is in a negative relation to herself4 ,the center of this relation is what attracts all the world4 ,footnote #ee3 ,in ,oehlenschlger's ,aladdin4 ,footnote #ef3 ,in the ,danish1 a pun on the homonyms en brud and et brud4 ,footnote #eg3 ,job #b1 #aj4 ,footnote #eh3 ,according to the ,jutland ,laws 7,a4 ,d4 #abda7 a man is permitted to punish his wife1 when she has misbehaved1 with stick and with rod1 but not with weapon4 ,in the ,danish ,law 7#afhc7 this right is restricted to children and servants4 ,s4 ,v4 ,footnote #ei3 ,containing the second part of ,stages on ,life's ,road1 entitled ,reflections on ,marriage in ,refutation of ,objections4 ,,fear ,,and ,,trembling ,,introduction ,,ii ,not only in the world of commerce but also in the world of ideas our age has arranged a regular clearance-sale4 ,everything may be had at such absurdly low prices that very soon the question will arise whether any one cares to bid4 ,every waiter with a speculative turn who carefully marks the significant progress of modern philosophy1 every lecturer in philosophy1 every tutor1 student1 every sticker-and-quitter of philosophy--they are not content with doubting everything1 but go right on4 ,it might1 possibly1 be ill-timed and inopportune to ask them whither they are bound2 but it is no doubt polite and modest to take it for granted that they have doubted everything--else it were a curious statement for them to make1 that they were proceeding onward4 ,so they have1 all of them1 completed that preliminary operation and1 it would seem1 with such ease that they do not think it necessary to waste a word about how they did it4 ,the fact is1 not even he who looked anxiously and with a troubled spirit for some little point of information1 ever found one1 nor any instruction1 nor even any little dietetic prescription1 as to how one is to accomplish this enormous task4 ,but did not ,descartes proceed in this fashion8 ,descartes1 indeed6 that venerable1 humble1 honest thinker whose writings surely no one can read without deep emotion--,descartes did what he said1 and said what he did4 ,alas1 alas6 that is a mighty rare thing in our times6 ,but ,descartes1 as he says frequently enough1 never uttered doubts concerning his faith4444 ,in our times1 as was remarked1 no one is content with faith1 but goes right on4 ,the question as to whither they are proceeding may be a silly question2 whereas it is a sign of urbanity and culture to assume that every one has faith1 to begin with1 for else it were a curious statement for them to make1 that they are proceeding further4 ,in the olden days it was different4 ,then1 faith was a task for a whole life-time because it was held that proficiency in faith was not to be won within a few days or weeks4 ,hence1 when the tried patriarch felt his end approaching1 after having fought his battles and preserved his faith1 he was still young enough at heart not to have forgotten the fear and trembling which disciplined his youth and which the mature man has under control1 but which no one entirely outgrows--except insofar as he succeeds in going on as early as possible4 ,the goal which those venerable men reached at last--at that spot every one starts1 in our times1 in order to proceed further4444 ,,preparation ,there lived a man who1 when a child1 had heard the beautiful ,bible story of how ,god tempted ,abraham and how he stood the test1 how he maintained his faith and1 against his expectations1 received his son back again4 ,as this man grew older he read this same story with ever greater admiration2 for now life had separated what had been united in the reverent simplicity of the child4 ,and the older he grew1 the more frequently his thoughts reverted to that story4 ,his enthusiasm waxed stronger and stronger1 and yet the story grew less and less clear to him4 ,finally he forgot everything else in thinking about it1 and his soul contained but one wish1 which was1 to behold ,abraham3 and but one longing1 which was1 to have been witness to that event4 ,his desire was1 not to see the beautiful lands of the ,orient1 and not the splendor of the ,promised ,land1 and not the reverent couple whose old age the ,lord had blessed with children1 and not the venerable figure of the aged patriarch1 and not the god-given vigorous youth of ,isaac--it would have been the same to him if the event had come to pass on some barren heath4 ,but his wish was1 to have been with ,abraham on the three days' journey1 when he rode with sorrow before him and with ,isaac at his side4 ,his wish was1 to have been present at the moment when ,abraham lifted up his eyes and saw ,mount ,moriah afar off2 to have been present at the moment when he left his asses behind and wended his way up to the mountain alone with ,isaac4 ,for the mind of this man was busy1 not with the delicate conceits of the imagination1 but rather with his shuddering thought4 ,the man we speak of was no thinker1 he felt no desire to go beyond his faith3 it seemed to him the most glorious fate to be remembered as the ,father of ,faith1 and a most enviable lot to be possessed of that faith1 even if no one knew it4 ,the man we speak of was no learned exegetist1 he did not even understand ,hebrew--who knows but a knowledge of ,hebrew might have helped him to understand readily both the story and ,abraham4 ,i ,and ,god tempted ,abraham and said unto him3 take ,isaac1 thine only son1 whom thou lovest and go to the land ,moriah and sacrifice him there on a mountain which ,i shall show thee4#a ,it was in the early morning1 ,abraham arose betimes and had his asses saddled4 ,he departed from his tent1 and ,isaac with him2 but ,sarah looked out of the window after them until they were out of sight4 ,silently they rode for three days2 but on the fourth morning ,abraham said not a word but lifted up his eyes and beheld ,mount ,moriah in the distance4 ,he left his servants behind and1 leading ,isaac by the hand1 he approached the mountain4 ,but ,abraham said to himself3 ,i shall surely conceal from ,isaac whither he is going4 ,he stood still1 he laid his hand on ,isaac's head to bless him1 and ,isaac bowed down to receive his blessing4 ,and ,abraham's aspect was fatherly1 his glance was mild1 his speech admonishing4 ,but ,isaac understood him not1 his soul would not rise to him2 he embraced ,abraham's knees1 he besought him at his feet1 he begged for his young life1 for his beautiful hopes1 he recalled the joy in ,abraham's house when he was born1 he reminded him of the sorrow and the loneliness that would be after him4 ,then did ,abraham raise up the youth and lead him by his hand1 and his words were full of consolation and admonishment4 ,but ,isaac understood him not4 ,he ascended ,mount ,moriah1 but ,isaac understood him not4 ,then ,abraham averted his face for a moment2 but when ,isaac looked again1 his father's countenance was changed1 his glance wild1 his aspect terrible1 he seized ,isaac and threw him to the ground and said3 ,thou foolish lad1 believest thou ,i am thy father8 ,an idol-worshipper am ,i4 ,believest thou it is ,god's command8 ,nay1 but my pleasure4 ,then ,isaac trembled and cried out in his fear3 ,god in heaven1 have pity on me1 ,god of ,abraham1 show mercy to me1 ,i have no father on earth1 be thou then my father6 ,but ,abraham said softly to himself3 ,father in heaven1 ,i thank thee4 ,better is it that he believes me inhuman than that he should lose his faith in thee4 ,when the child is to be weaned1 his mother blackens her breast2 for it were a pity if her breast should look sweet to him when he is not to have it4 ,then the child believes that her breast has changed2 but his mother is ever the same1 her glance is full of love and as tender as ever4 ,happy he who needed not worse means to wean his child6 ,,ii ,it was in the early morning4 ,abraham arose betimes and embraced ,sarah1 the bride of his old age4 ,and ,sarah kissed ,isaac who had taken the shame from her--,isaac1 her pride1 her hope for all coming generations4 ,then the twain rode silently along their way1 and ,abraham's glance was fastened on the ground before him2 until on the fourth day1 when he lifted up his eyes and beheld ,mount ,moriah in the distance2 but then his eyes again sought the ground4 ,without a word he put the fagots in order and bound ,isaac1 and without a word he unsheathed his knife4 ,then he beheld the ram ,god had chosen1 and sacrificed him1 and wended his way home4444 ,from that day on ,abraham1 grew old4 ,he could not forget that ,god had required this of him4 ,isaac flourished as before2 but ,abraham's eye was darkened1 he saw happiness no more4 ,when the child has grown and is to be weaned1 his mother will in maidenly fashion conceal her breast4 ,then the child has a mother no longer4 ,happy the child who lost not his mother in any other sense6 ,,iii ,it was in the early morning4 ,abraham arose betimes2 he kissed ,sarah1 the young mother1 and ,sarah kissed ,isaac1 her joy1 her delight for all times4 ,and ,abraham rode on his way1 lost in thought--he was thinking of ,hagar and her son whom he had driven out into the wilderness4 ,he ascended ,mount ,moriah and he drew the knife4 ,it was a calm evening when ,abraham rode out alone1 and he rode to ,mount ,moriah4 ,there he cast himself down on his face and prayed to ,god to forgive him his sin in that he had been about to sacrifice his son ,isaac1 and in that the father had forgotten his duty toward his son4 ,and yet oftener he rode on his lonely way1 but he found no rest4 ,he could not grasp that it was a sin that he had wanted to sacrifice to ,god his most precious possession1 him for whom he would most gladly have died many times4 ,but1 if it was a sin1 if he had not loved ,isaac thus1 then could he not grasp the possibility that he could be forgiven3 for what sin more terrible8 ,when the child is to be weaned1 the mother is not without sorrow that she and her child are to be separated more and more1 that the child who had first lain under her heart1 and afterwards at any rate rested at her breast1 is to be so near to her no more4 ,so they sorrow together for that brief while4 ,happy he who kept his child so near to him and needed not to sorrow more6 ,,iv ,it was in the early morning4 ,all was ready for the journey in the house of ,abraham4 ,he bade farewell to ,sarah2 and ,eliezer1 his faithful servant1 accompanied him along the way for a little while4 ,they rode together in peace1 ,abraham and ,isaac1 until they came to ,mount ,moriah4 ,and ,abraham prepared everything for the sacrifice1 calmly and mildly2 but when his father turned aside in order to unsheathe his knife1 ,isaac saw that ,abraham's left hand was knit in despair and that a trembling shook his frame--but ,abraham drew forth the knife4 ,then they returned home again1 and ,sarah hastened to meet them2 but ,isaac had lost his faith4 ,no one in all the world ever said a word about this1 nor did ,isaac speak to any man concerning what he had seen1 and ,abraham suspected not that any one had seen it4 ,when the child is to be weaned1 his mother has the stronger food ready lest the child perish4 ,happy he who has in readiness this stronger food6 ,thus1 and in many similar ways1 thought the man whom ,i have mentioned about this event4 ,and every time he returned1 after a pilgrimage to ,mount ,moriah1 he sank down in weariness1 folding his hands and saying3 ,no one1 in truth1 was great as was ,abraham1 and who can understand him8 ,a ,,panegyric ,,on ,,abraham ,if a consciousness of the eternal were not implanted in man2 if the basis of all that exists were but a confusedly fermenting element which1 convulsed by obscure passions1 produced all1 both the great and the insignificant2 if under everything there lay a bottomless void never to be filled--what else were life but despair8 ,if it were thus1 and if there were no sacred bonds between man and man2 if one generation arose after another1 as in the forest the leaves of one season succeed the leaves of another1 or like the songs of birds which are taken up one after another2 if the generations of man passed through the world like a ship passing through the sea and the wind over the desert--a fruitless and a vain thing2 if eternal oblivion were ever greedily watching for its prey and there existed no power strong enough to wrest it from its clutches--how empty were life then1 and how dismal6 ,and therefore it is not thus2 but1 just as ,god created man and woman1 he likewise called into being the hero and the poet or orator4 ,the latter cannot perform the deeds of the hero--he can only admire and love him and rejoice in him4 ,and yet he also is happy and not less so2 for the hero is1 as it were1 his better self with which he has fallen in love1 and he is glad he is not himself the hero1 so that his love can express itself in admiration4 ,the poet is the genius of memory1 and does nothing but recall what has been done1 can do nothing but admire what has been done4 ,he adds nothing of his own1 but he is jealous of what has been entrusted to him4 ,he obeys the choice of his own heart2 but once he has found what he has been seeking1 he visits every man's door with his song and with his speech1 so that all may admire the hero as he does1 and be proud of the hero as he is4 ,this is his achievement1 his humble work1 this is his faithful service in the house of the hero4 ,if thus1 faithful to his love1 he battles day and night against the guile of oblivion which wishes to lure the hero from him1 then has he accomplished his task1 then is he gathered to his hero who loves him as faithfully2 for the poet is at it were the hero's better self1 unsubstantial1 to be sure1 like a mere memory1 but also transfigured as is a memory4 ,therefore shall no one be forgotten who has done great deeds2 and even if there be delay1 even if the cloud of misunderstanding obscure the hero from our vision1 still his lover will come some time2 and the more time has passed1 the more faithfully will he cleave to him4 ,no1 no one shall be forgotten who was great in this world4 ,but each hero was great in his own way1 and each one was eminent in proportion to the great things he loved4 ,for he who loved himself became great through himself1 and he who loved others became great through his devotion1 but he who loved ,god became greater than all of these4 ,everyone of them shall be remembered1 but each one became great in proportion to his trust4 ,one became great by hoping for the possible2 another1 by hoping for the eternal2 but he who hoped for the impossible1 he became greater than all of these4 ,every one shall be remembered2 but each one was great in proportion to the power with which he strove4 ,for he who strove with the world became great by overcoming himself2 but he who strove with ,god1 he became the greatest of them all4 ,thus there have been struggles in the world1 man against man1 one against a thousand2 but he who struggled with ,god1 he became greatest of them all4 ,thus there was fighting on this earth1 and there was he who conquered everything by his strength1 and there was he who conquered ,god by his weakness4 ,there was he who1 trusting in himself1 gained all2 and there was he who1 trusting in his strength sacrificed everything2 but he who believed in ,god was greater than all of these4 ,there was he who was great through his strength1 and he who was great through his wisdom1 and he who was great through his hopes1 and he who was great through his love2 but ,abraham was greater than all of these--great through the strength whose power is weakness1 great through the wisdom whose secret is folly1 great through the hope whose expression is madness1 great through the love which is hatred of one's self4 ,through the urging of his faith ,abraham left the land of his forefathers and became a stranger in the land of promise4 ,ke left one thing behind and took one thing along3 he left his worldly wisdom behind and took with him faith4 ,for else he would not have left the land of his fathers1 but would have thought it an unreasonable demand4 ,through his faith he came to be a stranger in the land of promise1 where there was nothing to remind him of all that had been dear to him1 but where everything by its newness tempted his soul to longing4 ,and yet was he ,god's chosen1 he in whom the ,lord was well pleased6 ,indeed1 had he been one cast off1 one thrust out of ,god's mercy1 then might he have comprehended it2 but now it seemed like a mockery of him and of his faith4 ,there have been others who lived in exile from the fatherland which they loved4 ,they are not forgotten1 nor is the song of lament forgotten in which they mournfully sought and found what they had lost4 ,of ,abraham there exists no song of lamentation4 ,it is human to complain1 it is human to weep with the weeping2 but it is greater to believe1 and more blessed to consider him who has faith4 ,through his faith ,abraham received the promise that in his seed were to be blessed all races of mankind4 ,time passed1 there was still the possibility of it1 and ,abraham had faith4 ,another man there was who also lived in hopes4 ,time passed1 the evening of his life was approaching2 neither was he paltry enough to have forgotten his hopes3 neither shall he be forgotten by us6 ,then he sorrowed1 and his sorrow did not deceive him1 as life had done1 but gave him all it could2 for in the sweetness of sorrow he became possessed of his disappointed hopes4 ,it is human to sorrow1 it is human to sorrow with the sorrowing2 but it is greater to have faith1 and more blessed to consider him who has faith4 ,no song of lamentation has come down to us from ,abraham4 ,he did not sadly count the days as time passed2 he did not look at ,sarah with suspicious eyes1 whether she was becoming old2 he did not stop the sun's course lest ,sarah should grow old and his hope with her2 he did not lull her with his songs of lamentation4 ,abraham grew old1 and ,sarah became a laughing-stock to the people2 and yet was he ,god's chosen1 and heir to the promise that in his seed were to be blessed all races of mankind4 ,were it1 then1 not better if he had not been ,god's chosen8 ,for what is it to be ,god's chosen8 ,is it to have denied to one in one's youth all the wishes of youth in order to have them fulfilled after great labor in old age8 ,but ,abraham had faith and steadfastly lived in hope4 ,had ,abraham been less firm in his trust1 then would he have given up that hope4 ,he would have said to ,god3 ,so it is1 perchance1 not ,thy will1 after all1 that this shall come to pass4 ,i shall surrender my hope4 ,it was my only one1 it was my bliss4 ,i am sincere1 ,i conceal no secret grudge for that ,thou didst deny it to me4 ,he would not have remained forgotten1 his example would have saved many a one2 but he would not have become the ,father of ,faith4 ,for it is great to surrender one's hope1 but greater still to abide by it steadfastly after having surrendered it2 for it is great to seize hold of the eternal hope1 but greater still to abide steadfastly by one's worldly hopes after having surrendered them4 ,then came the fulness of time4 ,if ,abraham had not had faith1 then ,sarah would probably have died of sorrow1 and ,abraham1 dulled by his grief1 would not have understood the fulfillment1 but would have smiled about it as a dream of his youth4 ,but ,abraham had faith1 and therefore he remained young2 for he who always hopes for the best1 him life will deceive1 and he will grow old2 and he who is always prepared for the worst1 he will soon age2 but he who has faith1 he will preserve eternal youth4 ,praise1 therefore1 be to this story6 ,for ,sarah1 though advanced in age1 was young enough to wish for the pleasures of a mother1 and ,abraham1 though grey of hair1 was young enough to wish to become a father4 ,in a superficial sense it may be considered miraculous that what they wished for came to pass1 but in a deeper sense the miracle of faith is to be seen in ,abraham's and ,sarah's being young enough to wish1 and their faith having preserved their wish and therewith their youth4 ,the promise he had received was fulfilled1 and he accepted it in faith1 and it came to pass according to the promise and his faith2 whereas ,moses smote the rock with his staff but believed not4 ,there was joy in ,abraham's house when ,sarah celebrated the day of her ,golden ,wedding4 ,but it was not to remain thus2 for once more was ,abraham to be tempted4 ,he had struggled with that cunning power to which nothing is impossible1 with that ever watchful enemy who never sleeps1 with that old man who outlives all--he had struggled with ,time and had preserved his faith4 ,and now all the terror of that fight was concentrated in one moment4 ,and ,god tempted ,abraham1 saying to him3 take now thine only son ,isaac1 whom thou lovest1 and get thee into the land of ,moriah2 and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which ,i will tell thee off4#b ,all was lost1 then1 and more terribly than if a son had never been given him6 ,the ,lord had only mocked ,abraham1 then6 ,miraculously he had realized the unreasonable hopes of ,abraham2 and now he wished to take away what he had given4 ,a foolish hope it had been1 but ,abraham had not laughed when the promise had been made him4 ,now all was lost--the trusting hope of seventy years1 the brief joy at the fulfillment of his hopes4 ,who1 then1 is he that snatches away the old man's staff1 who that demands that he himself shall break it in two8 ,who is he that renders disconsolate the grey hair of old age1 who is he that demands that he himself shall do it8 ,is there no pity for the venerable old man1 and none for the innocent child8 ,and yet was ,abraham ,god's chosen one1 and yet was it the ,lord that tempted him4 ,and now all was to be lost6 ,the glorious remembrance of him by a whole race1 the promise of ,abraham's seed--all that was but a whim1 a passing fancy of the ,lord1 which ,abraham was now to destroy forever6 ,that glorious treasure1 as old as the faith in ,abraham's heart1 and many1 many years older than ,isaac1 the fruit of ,abraham's life1 sanctified by prayers1 matured in struggles--the blessing on the lips of ,abraham3 this fruit was now to be plucked before the appointed time1 and to remain without significance2 for of what significance were it if ,isaac was to be sacrificed8 ,that sad and yet blessed hour when ,abraham was to take leave from all that was dear to him1 the hour when he would once more lift up his venerable head1 when his face would shine like the countenance of the ,lord1 the hour when he would collect his whole soul for a blessing strong enough to render ,isaac blessed all the days of his life--that hour was not to come6 ,he was to say farewell to ,isaac1 to be sure1 but in such wise that he himself was to remain behind2 death was to part them1 but in such wise that ,isaac was to die4 ,the old man was not in happiness to lay his hand on ,isaac's head when the hour of death came1 but1 tired of life1 to lay violent hands on ,isaac4 ,and it was ,god who tempted him4 ,woe1 woe to the messenger who would have come before ,abraham with such a command6 ,who would have dared to be the messenger of such dread tidings8 ,but it was ,god that tempted ,abraham4 ,but ,abraham had faith1 and had faith for this life4 ,indeed1 had his faith been but concerning the life to come1 then might he more easily have cast away all1 in order to hasten out of this world which was not his4444 ,but ,abraham had faith and doubted not1 but trusted that the improbable would come to pass4 ,if ,abraham had doubted1 then would he have undertaken something else1 something great and noble2 for what could ,abraham have undertaken but was great and noble6 ,he would have proceeded to ,mount ,moriah1 he would have cloven the wood1 and fired it1 and unsheathed his knife--he would have cried out to ,god3 ,despise not this sacrifice2 it is not1 indeed1 the best ,i have2 for what is an old man against a child foretold of ,god2 but it is the best ,i can give thee4 ,let ,isaac never know that he must find consolation in his youth4 ,he would have plunged the steel in his own breast4 ,and he would have been admired throughout the world1 and his name would not have been forgotten2 but it is one thing to be admired and another1 to be a lode-star which guides one troubled in mind4 ,but ,abraham had faith4 ,he prayed not for mercy and that he might prevail upon the ,lord3 it was only when just retribution was to be visited upon ,sodom and ,gomorrha that ,abraham ventured to beseech ,him for mercy4 ,we read in ,scripture3 ,and ,god did tempt ,abraham1 and said unto him1 ,abraham3 and he said1 ,behold here ,i am4#c ,you1 whom ,i am now addressing did you do likewise8 ,when you saw the dire dispensations of ,providence approach threateningly1 did you not then say to the mountains1 ,fall on me2 and to the hills1 ,cover me8#d ,or1 if you were stronger in faith1 did not your step linger along the way1 longing for the old accustomed paths1 as it were8 ,and when the voice called you1 did you answer1 then1 or not at all1 and if you did1 perchance in a low voice1 or whispering8 ,not thus ,abraham1 but gladly and cheerfully and trustingly1 and with a resonant voice he made answer3 ,here am ,i4 ,and we read further3 ,and ,abraham rose up early in the morning4#e ,he made haste as though for some joyous occasion1 and early in the morning he was in the appointed place1 on ,mount ,moriah4 ,he said nothing to ,sarah1 nothing to ,eliezer1 his steward2 for who would have understood him8 ,did not his temptation by its very nature demand of him the vow of silence8 ,he laid the wood in order1 and bound ,isaac his son1 and laid him on the altar upon the wood4 ,and ,abraham stretched forth his hand1 and took the knife to slay his son4#f ,my listener6 ,many a father there has been who thought that with his child he lost the dearest of all there was in the world for him2 yet assuredly no child ever was in that sense a pledge of ,god as was ,isaac to ,abraham4 ,many a father there has been who lost his child2 but then it was ,god1 the unchangeable and inscrutable will of the ,almighty and ,his hand which took it4 ,not thus with ,abraham4 ,for him was reserved a more severe trial1 and ,isaac's fate was put into ,abraham's hand together with the knife4 ,and there he stood1 the old man1 with his only hope6 ,yet did he not doubt1 nor look anxiously to the left or right1 nor challenge ,heaven with his prayers4 ,he knew it was ,god the ,almighty who now put him to the test2 he knew it was the greatest sacrifice which could be demanded of him2 but he knew also that no sacrifice was too great which ,god demanded--and he drew forth his knife4 ,who strengthened ,abraham's arm1 who supported his right arm that it drooped not powerless8 ,for he who contemplates this scene is unnerved4 ,who strengthened ,abraham's soul so that his eyes grew not too dim to see either ,isaac or the ram8 ,for he who contemplates this scene will be struck with blindness4 ,and yet1 it is rare enough that one is unnerved or is struck with blindness1 and still more rare that one narrates worthily what there did take place between father and son4 ,to be sure1 we know well enough--it was but a trial6 ,if ,abraham had doubted1 when standing on ,mount ,moriah2 if he had looked about him in perplexity2 if he had accidentally discovered the ram before drawing his knife2 if ,god had permitted him to sacrifice it instead of ,isaac--then would he have returned home1 and all would have been as before1 he would have had ,sarah and would have kept ,isaac2 and yet how different all would have been6 ,for then had his return been a flight1 his salvation an accident1 his reward disgrace2 his future1 perchance1 perdition4 ,then would he have borne witness neither to his faith nor to ,god's mercy1 but would have witnessed only to the terror of going to ,mount ,moriah4 ,then ,abraham would not have been forgotten1 nor either ,mount ,moriah4 ,it would be mentioned1 then1 not as is ,mount ,ararat on which the ,ark landed1 but as a sign of terror1 because it was there ,abraham doubted4 ,venerable patriarch ,abraham6 ,when you returned home from ,mount ,moriah you required no encomiums to console you for what you had lost2 for1 indeed1 you did win all and still kept ,isaac1 as we all know4 ,and the ,lord did no more take him from your side1 but you sate gladly at table with him in your tent as in the life to come you will1 for all times4 ,venerable patriarch ,abraham6 ,thousands of years have passed since those times1 but still you need no late-born lover to snatch your memory from the power of oblivion1 for every language remembers you--and yet do you reward your lover more gloriously than any one1 rendering him blessed in your bosom1 and taking heart and eyes captive by the marvel of your deed4 ,venerable patriarch ,abraham6 ,second father of the race6 ,you who first perceived and bore witness to that unbounded passion which has but scorn for the terrible fight with the raging elements and the strength of brute creation1 in order to struggle with ,god2 you who first felt that sublimest of all passions1 you who found the holy1 pure1 humble expression for the divine madness which was a marvel to the heathen--forgive him who would speak in your praise1 in case he did it not fittingly4 ,he spoke humbly1 as if it concerned the desire of his heart2 he spoke briefly1 as is seemly2 but he will never forget that you required a hundred years to obtain a son of your old age1 against all expections2 that you had to draw the knife before being permitted to keep ,isaac2 he will never forget that in a hundred and thirty years you never got farther than to faith4 ,,preliminary ,,expectoration ,an old saying1 derived from the world of experience1 has it that he who will not work shall not eat4#g ,but1 strange to say1 this does not hold true in the world where it is thought applicable2 for in the world of matter the law of imperfection prevails1 and we see1 again and again1 that he also who will not work has bread to eat--indeed1 that he who sleeps has a greater abundance of it than he who works4 ,in the world of matter everything belongs to whosoever happens to possess it2 it is thrall to the law of indifference1 and he who happens to possess the ,ring also has the ,spirit of the ,ring at his beck and call1 whether now he be ,noureddin or ,aladdin1#h and he who controls the treasures of this world1 controls them1 howsoever he managed to do so4 ,it is different in the world of spirit4 ,there1 an eternal and divine order obtains1 there the rain does not fall on the just and the unjust alike1 nor does the sun shine on the good and the evil alike2#i but there the saying does hold true that he who will not work shall not eat1 and only he who was troubled shall find rest1 and only he who descends into the nether world shall rescue his beloved1 and only he who unsheathes his knife shall be given ,isaac again4 ,there1 he who will not work shall not eat1 but shall be deceived1 as the gods deceived ,orpheus with an immaterial figure instead of his beloved ,euridice1#aj deceived him because he was love-sick and not courageous1 deceived him because he was a player on the cithara rather than a man4 ,there1 it avails not to have an ,abraham for one's father1#aa or to have seventeen ancestors4 ,but in that world the saying about ,israel's maidens will hold true of him who will not work3 he shall bring forth wind2#ab but he who will work shall give birth to his own father4 ,there is a kind of learning which would presumptuously introduce into the world of spirit the same law of indifference under which the world of matter groans4 ,it is thought that to know about great men and great deeds is quite sufficient1 and that other exertion is not necessary4 ,and therefore this learning shall not eat1 but shall perish of hunger while seeing all things transformed into gold by its touch4 ,and what1 forsooth1 does this learning really know8 ,there were many thousands of contemporaries1 and countless men in after times1 who knew all about the triumphs of ,miltiades2 but there was only one whom they rendered sleepless4#ac ,there have existed countless generations that knew by heart1 word for word1 the story of ,abraham2 but how many has it rendered sleepless8 ,now the story of ,abraham has the remarkable property of always being glorious1 in however limited a sense it is understood2 still1 here also the point is whether one means to labor and exert one's half4 ,now people do not care to labor and exert themselves1 but wish nevertheless to understand the story4 ,they extol ,abraham1 but how8 ,by expressing the matter in the most general terms and saying3 the great thing about him was that he loved ,god so ardently that he was willing to sacrifice to ,him his most precious possession4 ,that is very true2 but the most precious possession is an indefinite expression4 ,as one's thoughts1 and one's mouth1 run on one assumes1 in a very easy fashion1 the identity of ,isaac and the most precious possession--and meanwhile he who is meditating may smoke his pipe1 and his audience comfortably stretch out their legs4 ,if the rich youth whom ,christ met on his way#ad had sold all his possessions and given all to the poor1 we would extol him as we extol all which is great--aye1 would not understand even him without labor2 and yet would he never have become an ,abraham1 notwithstanding his sacrificing the most precious possessions he had4 ,that which people generally forget in the story of ,abraham is his fear and anxiety2 for as regards money1 one is not ethically responsible for it1 whereas for his son a father has the highest and most sacred responsibility4 ,however1 fear is a dreadful thing for timorous spirits1 so they omit it4 ,and yet they wish to speak of ,abraham4 ,so they keep on speaking1 and in the course of their speech the two terms ,isaac and the most precious thing are used alternately1 and everything is in the best order4 ,but now suppose that among the audience there was a man who suffered with sleeplessness--and then the most terrible and profound1 the most tragic1 and at the same time the most comic1 misunderstanding is within the range of possibility4 ,that is1 suppose this man goes home and wishes to do as did ,abraham2 for his son is his most precious possession4 ,if a certain preacher learned of this he would1 perhaps1 go to him1 he would gather up all his spiritual dignity and exclaim3 ,thou abominable creature1 thou scum of humanity1 what devil possessed thee to wish to murder thy son8 ,and this preacher1 who had not felt any particular warmth1 nor perspired while speaking about ,abraham1 this preacher would be astonished himself at the earnest wrath with which he poured forth his thunders against that poor wretch2 indeed1 he would rejoice over himself1 for never had he spoken with such power and unction1 and he would have said to his wife3 ,i am an orator1 the only thing ,i have lacked so far was the occasion4 ,last ,sunday1 when speaking about ,abraham1 ,i did not feel thrilled in the least4 ,now1 if this same orator had just a bit of sense to spare1 ,i believe he would lose it if the sinner would reply1 in a quiet and dignified manner3 ,why1 it was on this very same matter you preached1 last ,sunday6 ,but however could the preacher have entertained such thoughts8 ,still1 such was the case1 and the preacher's mistake was merely not knowing what he was talking about4 ,ah1 would that some poet might see his way clear to prefer such a situation to the stuff and nonsense of which novels and comedies are full6 ,for the comic and the tragic here run parallel to infinity4 ,the sermon probably was ridiculous enough in itself1 but it became infinitely ridiculous through the very natural consequence it had4 ,or1 suppose now the sinner was converted by this lecture without daring to raise any objection1 and this zealous divine now went home elated1 glad in the consciousness of being effective1 not only in the pulpit1 but chiefly1 and with irresistible power1 as a spiritual guide1 inspiring his congregation on ,sunday1 whilst on ,monday he would place himself like a cherub with flaming sword before the man who by his actions tried to give the lie to the old saying that the course of the world follows not the priest's word4 ,if1 on the other hand1 the sinner were not convinced of his error his position would become tragic4 ,he would probably be executed1 or else sent to the lunatic asylum--at any rate1 he would become a sufferer in this world2 but in another sense ,i should think that ,abraham rendered him happy2 for he who labors1 he shall not perish4 ,now how shall we explain the contradiction contained in that sermon8 ,is it due to ,abraham's having the reputation of being a great man--so that whatever he does is great1 but if another should undertake to do the same it is a sin1 a heinous sin8 ,if this be the case ,i prefer not to participate in such thoughtless laudations4 ,if faith cannot make it a sacred thing to wish to sacrifice one's son1 then let the same judgment be visited on ,abraham as on any other man4 ,and if we perchance lack the courage to drive our thoughts to the logical conclusion and to say that ,abraham was a murderer1 then it were better to acquire that courage1 rather than to waste one's time on undeserved encomiums4 ,the fact is1 the ethical expression for what ,abraham did is that he wanted to murder ,isaac2 the religious1 that he wanted to sacrifice him4 ,but precisely in this contradiction is contained the fear which may well rob one of one's sleep4 ,and yet ,abraham were not ,abraham without this fear4 ,or1 again1 supposing ,abraham did not do what is attributed to him1 if his action was an entirely different one1 based on conditions of those times1 then let us forget him2 for what is the use of calling to mind that past which can no longer become a present reality8--,or1 the speaker had perhaps forgotten the essential fact that ,isaac was the son4 ,for if faith is eliminated1 having been reduced to a mere nothing1 then only the brutal fact remains that ,abraham wanted to murder ,isaac--which is easy for everybody to imitate who has not the faith--the faith1 that is1 which renders it most difficult for him4444 ,love has its priests in the poets1 and one hears at times a poet's voice which worthily extols it4 ,but not a word does one hear of faith4 ,who is there to speak in honor of that passion8 ,philosophy goes right on4 ,theology sits at the window with a painted visage and sues for philosophy's favor1 offering it her charms4 ,it is said to be difficult to understand the philosophy of ,hegel2 but to understand ,abraham1 why1 that is an easy matter6 ,to proceed further than ,hegel is a wonderful feat1 but to proceed further than ,abraham1 why1 nothing is easier6 ,personally1 ,i have devoted a considerable amount of time to a study of ,hegelian philosophy and believe ,i understand it fairly well2 in fact1 ,i am rash enough to say that when1 notwithstanding an effort1 ,i am not able to understand him in some passages1 it is because he is not entirely clear about the matter himself4 ,all this intellectual effort ,i perform easily and naturally1 and it does not cause my head to ache4 ,on the other hand1 whenever ,i attempt to think about ,abraham ,i am1 as it were1 overwhelmed4 ,at every moment ,i am aware of the enormous paradox which forms the content of ,abraham's life1 at every moment ,i am repulsed1 and my thought1 notwithstanding its passionate attempts1 cannot penetrate into it1 cannot forge on the breadth of a hair4 ,i strain every muscle in order to envisage the problem--and become a paralytic in the same moment4 ,i am by no means unacquainted with what has been admired as great and noble1 my soul feels kinship with it1 being satisfied1 in all humility1 that it was also my cause the hero espoused2 and when contemplating his deed ,i say to myself3 jam tua causa agitur4#ae ,i am able to identify myself with the hero2 but ,i cannot do so with ,abraham1 for whenever ,i have reached his height ,i fall down again1 since he confronts me as the paradox4 ,it is by no means my intention to maintain that faith is something inferior1 but1 on the contrary1 that it is the highest of all things2 also that it is dishonest in philosophy to offer something else instead1 and to pour scorn on faith2 but it ought to understand its own nature in order to know what it can offer4 ,it should take away nothing2 least of all1 fool people out of something as if it were of no value4 ,i am not unacquainted with the sufferings and dangers of life1 but ,i do not fear them1 and cheerfully go forth to meet them4444 ,but my courage is not1 for all that1 the courage of faith1 and is as nothing compared with it4 ,i cannot carry out the movement of faith3 ,i cannot close my eyes and confidently plunge into the absurd--it is impossible for me2 but neither do ,i boast of it4444 ,now ,i wonder if every one of my contemporaries is really able to perform the movements of faith4 ,unless ,i am much mistaken they are1 rather1 inclined to be proud of making what they perhaps think me unable to do1 viz41 the imperfect movement4 ,it is repugnant to my soul to do what is so often done1 to speak inhumanly about great deeds1 as if a few thousands of years were an immense space of time4 ,i prefer to speak about them in a human way and as though they had been done but yesterday1 to let the great deed itself be the distance which either inspires or condemns me4 ,now if ,i1 in the capacity of tragic hero--for a higher flight ,i am unable to take--if ,i had been summoned to such an extraordinary royal progress as was the one to ,mount ,moriah1 ,i know very well what ,i would have done4 ,i would not have been craven enough to remain at home2 neither would ,i have dawdled on the way2 nor would ,i have forgot my knife--just to draw out the end a bit4 ,but ,i am rather sure that ,i would have been promptly on the spot1 with every thing in order--in fact1 would probably have been there before the appointed time1 so as to have the business soon over with4 ,but ,i know also what ,i would have done besides4 ,in the moment ,i mounted my horse ,i would have said to myself3 ,now all is lost1 ,god demands ,isaac1 ,i shall sacrifice him1 and with him all my joy--but for all that1 ,god is love and will remain so for me2 for in this world ,god and ,i cannot speak together1 we have no language in common4 ,possibly1 one or the other of my contemporaries will be stupid enough1 and jealous enough of great deeds1 to wish to persuade himself and me that if ,i had acted thus ,i should have done something even greater than what ,abraham did2 for my sublime resignation was 7he thinks7 by far more ideal and poetic than ,abraham's literal-minded action4 ,and yet this is absolutely not so1 for my sublime resignation was only a substitute for faith4 ,i could not have made more than the infinite movement 7of resignation7 to find myself and again repose in myself4 ,nor would ,i have loved ,isaac as ,abraham loved him4 ,the fact that ,i was resolute enough to resign is sufficient to prove my courage in a human sense1 and the fact that ,i loved him with my whole heart is the very presupposition without which my action would be a crime2 but still ,i did not love as did ,abraham1 for else ,i would have hesitated even in the last minute1 without1 for that matter1 arriving too late on ,mount ,moriah4 ,also1 ,i would have spoiled the whole business by my behavior2 for if ,i had had ,isaac restored to me ,i would have been embarrassed4 ,that which was an easy matter for ,abraham would have been difficult for me1 ,i mean1 to rejoice again in ,isaac2 for he who with all the energy of his soul proprio motu et propriis auspiciis#af has made the infinite movement of resignation and can do no more1 he will retain possession of ,isaac only in his sorrow4 ,but what did ,abraham8 ,he arrived neither too early nor too late4 ,he mounted his ass and rode slowly on his way4 ,and all the while he had faith1 believing that ,god would not demand ,isaac of him1 though ready all the while to sacrifice him1 should it be demanded of him4 ,he believed this on the strength of the absurd2 for there was no question of human calculation any longer4 ,and the absurdity consisted in ,god's1 who yet made this demand of him1 recalling his demand the very next moment4 ,abraham ascended the mountain and whilst the knife already gleamed in his hand he believed--that ,god would not demand ,isaac of him4 ,he was1 to be sure1 surprised at the outcome2 but by a double movement he had returned at his first state of mind and therefore received ,isaac back more gladly than the first time4444 ,on this height1 then1 stands ,abraham4 ,the last stage he loses sight of is that of infinite resignation4 ,he does really proceed further1 he arrives at faith4 ,for all these caricatures of faith1 wretched lukewarm sloth1 which thinks3 ,oh1 there is no hurry1 it is not necessary to worry before the time comes2 and miserable hopefulness1 which says3 ,one cannot know what will happen1 there might perhaps--1 all these caricatures belong to the sordid view of life and have already fallen under the infinite scorn of infinite resignation4 ,abraham1 ,i am not able to understand2 and in a certain sense ,i can learn nothing from him without being struck with wonder4 ,they who flatter themselves that by merely considering the outcome of ,abraham's story they will necessarily arrive at faith1 only deceive themselves and wish to cheat ,god out of the first movement of faith--it were tantamount to deriving worldly wisdom from the paradox4 ,but who knows1 one or the other of them may succeed in doing this2 for our times are not satisfied with faith1 and not even with the miracle of changing water into wine--they go right on changing wine into water4 ,is it not preferable to remain satisfied with faith1 and is it not outrageous that every one wishes to go right on8 ,if people in our times decline to be satisfied with love1 as is proclaimed from various sides1 where will we finally land8 ,in worldly shrewdness1 in mean calculation1 in paltriness and baseness1 in all that which renders man's divine origin doubtful4 ,were it not better to stand fast in the faith1 and better that he that standeth take heed lest he fall2#ag for the movement of faith must ever be made by virtue of the absurd1 but1 note well1 in such wise that one does not lose the things of this world but wholly and entirely regains them4 ,as far as ,i am concerned1 ,i am able to describe most excellently the movements of faith2 but ,i cannot make them myself4 ,when a person wishes to learn how to swim he has himself suspended in a swimming-belt and then goes through the motions2 but that does not mean that he can swim4 ,in the same fashion ,i too can go through the motions of faith2 but when ,i am thrown into the water ,i swim2 to be sure 7for ,i am not a wader in the shallows71 but ,i go through a different set of movements1 to-wit1 those of infinity2 whereas faith does the opposite1 to-wit1 makes the movements to regain the finite after having made those of infinite resignation4 ,blessed is he who can make these movements1 for he performs a marvelous feat1 and ,i shall never weary of admiring him1 whether now it be ,abraham himself or the slave in ,abraham's house1 whether it be a professor of philosophy or a poor servant-girl3 it is all the same to me1 for ,i have regard only to the movements4 ,but these movements ,i watch closely1 and ,i will not be deceived1 whether by myself or by any one else4 ,the knights of infinite resignation are easily recognized1 for their gait is dancing and bold4 ,but they who possess the jewel of faith frequently deceive one because their bearing is curiously like that of a class of people heartily despised by infinite resignation as well as by faith--the philistines4 ,let me admit frankly that ,i have not in my experience encountered any certain specimen of this type2 but ,i do not refuse to admit that as far as ,i know1 every other person may be such a specimen4 ,at the same time ,i will say that ,i have searched vainly for years4 ,it is the custom of scientists to travel around the globe to see rivers and mountains1 new stars1 gay-colored birds1 misshapen fish1 ridiculous races of men4 ,they abandon themselves to a bovine stupor which gapes at existence and believe they have seen something worth while4 ,all this does not interest me2 but if ,i knew where there lived such a knight of faith ,i would journey to him on foot1 for that marvel occupies my thoughts exclusively4 ,not a moment would ,i leave him out of sight1 but would watch how he makes the movements1 and ,i would consider myself provided for life1 and would divide my time between watching him and myself practicing the movements1 and would thus use all my time in admiring him4 ,as ,i said1 ,i have not met with such a one2 but ,i can easily imagine him4 ,here he is4 ,i make his acquaintance and am introduced to him4 ,the first moment ,i lay my eyes on him ,i push him back1 leaping back myself1 ,i hold up my hands in amazement and say to myself3 ,good ,lord6 that person8 ,is it really he--why1 he looks like a parish-beadle6 ,but it is really he4 ,i become more closely acquainted with him1 watching his every movement to see whether some trifling incongruous movement of his has escaped me1 some trace1 perchance1 of a signaling from the infinite1 a glance1 a look1 a gesture1 a melancholy air1 or a smile1 which might betray the presence of infinite resignation contrasting with the finite4 ,but no6 ,i examine his figure from top to toe to discover whether there be anywhere a chink through which the infinite might be seen to peer forth4 ,but no6 he is of a piece1 all through4 ,and how about his footing8 ,vigorous1 altogether that of finiteness1 no citizen dressed in his very best1 prepared to spend his ,sunday afternoon in the park1 treads the ground more firmly4 ,he belongs altogether to this world1 no philistine more so4 ,there is no trace of the somewhat exclusive and haughty demeanor which marks off the knight of infinite resignation4 ,he takes pleasure in all things1 is interested in everything1 and perseveres in whatever he does with the zest characteristic of persons wholly given to worldly things4 ,he attends to his business1 and when one sees him one might think he was a clerk who had lost his soul in doing double bookkeeping1 he is so exact4 ,he takes a day off on ,sundays4 ,he goes to church4 ,but no hint of anything supernatural or any other sign of the incommensurable betrays him1 and if one did not know him it would be impossible to distinguish him in the congregation1 for his brisk and manly singing proves only that he has a pair of good lungs4 ,in the afternoon he walks out to the forest4 ,he takes delight in all he sees1 in the crowds of men and women1 the new omnibuses1 the ,sound--if one met him on the promenade one might think he was some shopkeeper who was having a good time1 so simple is his joy2 for he is not a poet1 and in vain have ,i tried to lure him into betraying some sign of the poet's detachment4 ,toward evening he walks home again1 with a gait as steady as that of a mail-carrier4 ,on his way he happens to wonder whether his wife will have some little special warm dish ready for him1 when he comes home--as she surely has--as1 for instance1 a roasted lamb's head garnished with greens4 ,and if he met one minded like him he is very likely to continue talking about this dish with him till they reach the ,east ,gate1 and to talk about it with a zest befitting a chef4 ,as it happens1 he has not four shillings to spare1 and yet he firmly believes that his wife surely has that dish ready for him4 ,if she has1 it would be an enviable sight for distinguished people1 and an inspiring one for common folks1 to see him eat1 for he has an appetite greater than ,esau's4 ,his wife has not prepared it--strange1 he remains altogether the same4 ,again1 on his way he passes a building lot and there meets another man4 ,they fall to talking1 and in a trice he erects a building1 freely disposing of everything necessary4 ,and the stranger will leave him with the impression that he has been talking with a capitalist--the fact being that the knight of my admiration is busy with the thought that if it really came to the point he would unquestionably have the means wherewithal at his disposal4 ,now he is lying on his elbows in the window and looking over the square on which he lives4 ,all that happens there1 if it be only a rat creeping into a gutter-hole1 or children playing together--everything engages his attention1 and yet his mind is at rest as though it were the mind of a girl of sixteen4 ,he smokes his pipe in the evening1 and to look at him you would swear it was the green-grocer from across the street who is lounging at the window in the evening twilight4 ,thus he shows as much unconcern as any worthless happy-go-lucky fellow2 and yet1 every moment he lives he purchases his leisure at the highest price1 for he makes not the least movement except by virtue of the absurd2 and yet1 yet--indeed1 ,i might become furious with anger1 if for no other reason than that of envy--and yet1 this man has performed1 and is performing every moment1 the movement of infinity444 ,he has resigned everything absolutely1 and then again seized hold of it all on the strength of the absurd444 ,but this miracle may so easily deceive one that it will be best if ,i describe the movements in a given case which may illustrate their aspect in contact with reality2 and that is the important point4 ,suppose1 then1 a young swain falls in love with a princess1 and all his life is bound up in this love4 ,but circumstances are such that it is out of the question to think of marrying her1 an impossibility to translate his dreams into reality4 ,the slaves of paltriness1 the frogs in the sloughs of life1 they will shout1 of course3 ,such a love is folly1 the rich brewer's widow is quite as good and solid a match4 ,let them but croak4 ,the knight of infinite resignation does not follow their advice1 he does not surrender his love1 not for all the riches in the world4 ,he is no fool1 he first makes sure that this love really is the contents of his life1 for his soul is too sound and too proud to waste itself on a mere intoxication4 ,he is no coward1 he is not afraid to let his love insinuate itself into his most secret and most remote thoughts1 to let it wind itself in innumerable coils about every fiber of his consciousness--if he is disappointed in his love he will never be able to extricate himself again4 ,he feels a delicious pleasure in letting love thrill his every nerve1 and yet his soul is solemn as is that of him who has drained a cup of poison and who now feels the virus mingle with every drop of his blood1 poised in that moment between life and death4 ,having thus imbibed love1 and being wholly absorbed in it1 he does not lack the courage to try and dare all4 ,he surveys the whole situation1 he calls together his swift thoughts which like tame pigeons obey his every beck1 he gives the signal1 and they dart in all directions4 ,but when they return1 every one bearing a message of sorrow1 and explain to him that it is impossible1 then he becomes silent1 he dismisses them1 he remains alone2 and then he makes the movement4 ,now if what ,i say here is to have any significance1 it is of prime importance that the movement be made in a normal fashion4 ,the knight of resignation is supposed to have sufficient energy to concentrate the entire contents of his life and the realization of existing conditions into one single wish4 ,but if one lacks this concentration1 this devotion to a single thought2 if his soul from the very beginning is scattered on a number of objects1 he will never be able to make the movement--he will be as worldly-wise in the conduct of his life as the financier who invests his capital in a number of securities to win on the one if he should lose on the other2 that is1 he is no knight4 ,furthermore1 the knight is supposed to possess sufficient energy to concentrate all his thought into a single act of consciousness4 ,if he lacks this concentration he will only run errands in life and will never be able to assume the attitude of infinite resignation2 for the very minute he approaches it he will suddenly discover that he forgot something so that he must remain behind4 ,the next minute1 thinks he1 it will be attainable again1 and so it is2 but such inhibitions will never allow him to make the movement but will1 rather1 tend to let him sink ever deeper into the mire4 ,our knight1 then1 performs the movement--which movement8 ,is he intent on forgetting the whole affair1 which1 too1 would presuppose much concentration8 ,no1 for the knight does not contradict himself1 and it is a contradiction to forget the main contents of one's life and still remain the same person4 ,and he has no desire to become another person2 neither does he consider such a desire to smack of greatness4 ,only lower natures forget themselves and become something different4 ,thus the butterfly has forgotten that it once was a caterpillar--who knows but it may forget altogether that it once was a butterfly1 and turn into a fish6 ,deeper natures never forget themselves and never change their essential qualities4 ,so the knight remembers all2 but precisely this remembrance is painful4 ,nevertheless1 in his infinite resignation he has become reconciled with existence4 ,his love for the princess has become for him the expression of an eternal love1 has assumed a religious character1 has been transfigured into a love for the eternal being which1 to be sure1 denied him the fulfillment of his love1 yet reconciled him again by presenting him with the abiding consciousness of his love's being preserved in an everlasting form of which no reality can rob him4444 ,now1 he is no longer interested in what the princess may do1 and precisely this proves that he has made the movement of infinite resignation correctly4 ,in fact1 this is a good criterion for detecting whether a person's movement is sincere or just make-believe4 ,take a person who believes that he too has resigned1 but lo6 time passed1 the princess did something on her part1 for example1 married a prince1 and then his soul lost the elasticity of its resignation4 ,this ought to show him that he did not make the movement correctly1 for he who has resigned absolutely is sufficient unto himself4 ,the knight does not cancel his resignation1 but preserves his love as fresh and young as it was at the first moment1 he never lets go of it just because his resignation is absolute4 ,whatever the princess does1 cannot disturb him1 for it is only the lower natures who have the law for their actions in some other person1 i4e4 have the premises of their actions outside of themselves4444 ,infinite resignation is the last stage which goes before faith1 so that every one who has not made the movement of infinite resignation cannot have faith2 for only through absolute resignation do ,i become conscious of my eternal worth1 and only then can there arise the problem of again grasping hold of this world by virtue of faith4 ,we will now suppose the knight of faith in the same case4 ,he does precisely as the other knight1 he absolutely resigns the love which is the contents of his life1 he is reconciled to the pain2 but then the miraculous happens1 he makes one more movement1 strange beyond comparison1 saying3 ,and still ,i believe that ,i shall marry her--marry her by virtue of the absurd1 by virtue of the act that to ,god nothing is impossible4 ,now the absurd is not one of the categories which belong to the understanding proper4 ,it is not identical with the improbable1 the unforeseen1 the unexpected4 ,the very moment our knight resigned himself he made sure of the absolute impossibility1 in any human sense1 of his love4 ,this was the result reached by his reflections1 and he had sufficient energy to make them4 ,in a transcendent sense1 however1 by his very resignation1 the attainment of his end is not impossible2 but this very act of again taking possession of his love is at the same time a relinquishment of it4 ,nevertheless this kind of possession is by no means an absurdity to the intellect2 for the intellect all the while continues to be right1 as it is aware that in the world of finalities1 in which reason rules1 his love was and is1 an impossibility4 ,the knight of faith realizes this fully as well4 ,hence the only thing which can save him is recourse to the absurd1 and this recourse he has through his faith4 ,that is1 he clearly recognizes the impossibility1 and in the same moment he believes the absurd2 for if he imagined he had faith1 without at the same time recognizing1 with all the passion his soul is capable of1 that his love is impossible1 he would be merely deceiving himself1 and his testimony would be of no value1 since he had not arrived even at the stage of absolute resignation4444 ,this last movement1 the paradoxical movement of faith1 ,i cannot make1 whether or no it be my duty1 although ,i desire nothing more ardently than to be able to make it4 ,it must be left to a person's discretion whether he cares to make this confession2 and at any rate1 it is a matter between him and the ,eternal ,being1 who is the object of his faith1 whether an amicable adjustment can be affected4 ,but what every person can do is to make the movement of absolute resignation1 and ,i for my part would not hesitate to declare him a coward who imagines he cannot perform it4 ,it is a different matter with faith4 ,but what no person has a right to1 is to delude others into the belief that faith is something of no great significance1 or that it is an easy matter1 whereas it is the greatest and most difficult of all things4 ,but the story of ,abraham is generally interpreted in a different way4 ,god's mercy is praised which restored ,isaac to him--it was but a trial6 ,a trial4 ,this word may mean much or little1 and yet the whole of it passes off as quickly as the story is told3 one mounts a winged horse1 in the same instant one arrives on ,mount ,moriah1 and presto one sees the ram4 ,it is not remembered that ,abraham only rode on an ass which travels but slowly1 that it was a three days' journey for him1 and that he required some additional time to collect the firewood1 to bind ,isaac1 and to whet his knife4 ,and yet one extols ,abraham4 ,he who is to preach the sermon may sleep comfortably until a quarter of an hour before he is to preach it1 and the listener may comfortably sleep during the sermon1 for everything is made easy enough1 without much exertion either to preacher or listener4 ,but now suppose a man was present who suffered with sleeplessness and who went home and sat in a corner and reflected as follows3 ,the whole lasted but a minute1 you need only wait a little while1 and then the ram will be shown and the trial will be over4 ,now if the preacher should find him in this frame of mind1 ,i believe he would confront him in all his dignity and say to him3 ,wretch that thou art1 to let thy soul lapse into such folly2 miracles do not happen1 all life is a trial4 ,and as he proceeded he would grow more and more passionate1 and would become ever more satisfied with himself2 and whereas he had not noticed any congestion in his head whilst preaching about ,abraham1 he now feels the veins on his forehead swell4 ,yet who knows but he would stand aghast if the sinner should answer him in a quiet and dignified manner that it was precisely this about which he preached the ,sunday before4 ,let us then either waive the whole story of ,abraham1 or else learn to stand in awe of the enormous paradox which constitutes his significance for us1 so that we may learn to understand that our age1 like every age1 may rejoice if it has faith4 ,if the story of ,abraham is not a mere nothing1 an illusion1 or if it is just used for show and as a pastime1 the mistake cannot by any means be in the sinner's wishing to do likewise2 but it is necessary to find out how great was the deed which ,abraham performed1 in order that the man may judge for himself whether he has the courage and the mission to do likewise4 ,the comical contradiction in the procedure of the preacher was his reduction of the story of ,abraham to insignificance whereas he rebuked the other man for doing the very same thing4 ,but should we then cease to speak about ,abraham8 ,i certainly think not4 ,but if ,i were to speak about him ,i would first of all describe the terrors of his trial4 ,to that end leech-like ,i would suck all the suffering and distress out of the anguish of a father1 in order to be able to describe what ,abraham suffered whilst yet preserving his faith4 ,i would remind the hearer that the journey lasted three days and a goodly part of the fourth--in fact1 these three and a half days ought to become infinitely longer than the few thousand years which separate me from ,abraham4 ,i would remind him1 as ,i think right1 that every person is still permitted to turn about-before trying his strength on this formidable task2 in fact1 that he may return every instant in repentance4 ,provided this is done1 ,i fear for nothing4 ,nor do ,i fear to awaken great desire among people to attempt to emulate ,abraham4 ,but to get out a cheap edition of ,abraham and yet forbid every one to do as he did1 that ,i call ridiculous4#ah ,footnote #a3 ,freely after ,genesis #bb4 ,footnote #b3 ,genesis #bj1 #aa f4 ,footnote #c3 ,genesis #bb1 #a4 ,footnote #d3 ,luke #bc1 #cj4 ,footnote #e3 ,genesis #bb1 #c4 ,footnote #f3 ,genesis #bb1 #i4 ,footnote #g3 ,cf4 ,thessalonians #c1 #aj4 ,footnote #h3 ,in ,aladdin1 ,oehlenschlger's famous dramatic poem1 ,aladdin1 the cheerful son of nature1 is contrasted with ,noureddin1 representing the gloom of doubt and night4 ,footnote #i3 ,matthew #e1 #de4 ,footnote #aj3 ,cf4 not the legend but ,plato's ,symposion4 ,footnote #aa3 ,matthew #c1 #i4 ,footnote #ab3 ,isaiah #bf1 #ah4 ,footnote #ac3 ,themistocles1 that is2 see ,plutarch1 ,lives4 ,footnote #ad3 ,matthew #ai1 #af;f4 ,footnote #ae3 ,your cause1 too1 is at stake4 ,footnote #af3 ,by his own impulse and on his own responsibility4 ,footnote #ag3 ,cf4 ,i ,cor4 #aj1 #ab4 ,footnote #ah3 ,the above1 with the omissions indicated1 constitutes about one-third of ,fear and ,trembling4 ,,preparation ,,for ,a ,,christian ,,life ,i#a ,,come ,,hither ,,unto ,,me1 ,,all ,,ye ,,that ,,labor ,,and ,,are ,,heavy ,,laden1 ,,and ,i ,,will ,,give ,,you ,,rest4 7,,matthew #aa1 #bh47 ,,the ,,invitation ,come hither6--,it is not at all strange if he who is in danger and needs help--speedy1 immediate help1 perhaps--it is not strange if he cries out3 come hither6 ,nor it is strange that a quack cries his wares3 come hither1 ,i cure all maladies2 alas1 for in the case of the quack it is only too true that it is the physician who has need of the sick4 ,come hither all ye who at extortionate prices can pay for the cure--or at any rate for the medicine2 here is physic for everybody--who can pay2 come hither6 ,in all other cases1 however1 it is generally true that he who can help must be sought2 and1 when found1 may be difficult of access2 and1 if access is had1 his help may have to be implored a long time2 and when his help has been implored a long time1 he may be moved only with difficulty1 that is1 he sets a high price on his services2 and sometimes1 precisely when he refuses payment or generously asks for none1 it is only an expression of how infinitely high he values his services4 ,on the other hand1 he#b who sacrificed himself1 he sacrifices himself1 here too2 it is indeed he who seeks those in need of help1 is himself the one who goes about and calls1 almost imploringly3 come hither6 ,he1 the only one who can help1 and help with what alone is indispensable1 and can save from the one truly mortal disease1 he does not wait for people to come to him1 but comes himself1 without having been called2 for it is he who calls out to them1 it is he who holds out help--and what help6 ,indeed1 that simple sage of antiquity#c was as infinitely right as the majority who do the opposite are wrong1 in setting no great price1 whether on himself or his instruction2 even if he thus in a certain sense proudly expressed the utter difference in kind between payment and his services4 ,but he was not so solicitous as to beg any one to come to him1 notwithstanding--or shall ,i say because8--he was not altogether sure what his help signified2 for the more sure one is that his help is the only one obtainable1 the more reason has he1 in a human sense1 to ask a great price for it2 and the less sure one is1 the more reason has he to offer freely the possible help he has1 in order to do at least something for others4 ,but he who calls himself the ,savior1 and knows that he is1 he calls out solicitously3 come hither unto me6 ,come hither all ye6--,strange6 ,for if he who1 when it comes to the point1 perhaps cannot help a single one--if such a one should boastfully invite everybody1 that would not seem so very strange1 man's nature being such as it is4 ,but if a man is absolutely sure of being able to help1 and at the same time willing to help1 willing to devote his all in doing so1 and with all sacrifices1 then he generally makes at least one reservation2 which is1 to make a choice among those he means to help4 ,that is1 however willing one may be1 still it is not everybody one cares to help2 one does not care to sacrifice one's self to that extent4 ,but he1 the only one who can really help1 and really help everybody--the only one1 therefore1 who really can invite everybody--he makes no conditions whatever2 but utters the invitation which1 from the beginning of the world1 seems to have been reserved for him3 ,come hither all ye6 ,ah1 human self-sacrifice1 even when thou art most beautiful and noble1 when we admire thee most3 this is a sacrifice still greater1 which is1 to sacrifice every provision for one's own self1 so that in one's willingness to help there is not even the least partiality4 ,ah1 the love that sets no price on one's self1 that makes one forget altogether that he is the helper1 and makes one altogether blind as to who it is one helps1 but infinitely careful only that he be a sufferer1 whatever else he may be2 and thus willing unconditionally to help everybody--different1 alas6 in this from everybody6 ,come hither unto me6 ,strange6 ,for human compassion also1 and willingly1 does something for them that labor and are heavy laden2 one feeds the hungry1 clothes the naked1 makes charitable gifts1 builds charitable institutions1 and if the compassion be heartfelt1 perhaps even visits those that labor and are heavy laden4 ,but to invite them to come to one1 that will never do1 because then all one's household and manner of living would have to be changed4 ,for a man cannot himself live in abundance1 or at any rate in well-being and happiness1 and at the same time dwell in one and the same house together with1 and in daily intercourse with1 the poor and miserable1 with them that labor and are heavy laden6 ,in order to be able to invite them in such wise1 a man must himself live altogether in the same way1 as poor as the poorest1 as lowly as the lowliest1 familiar with the sorrows and sufferings of life1 and altogether belonging to the same station as they whom he invites1 that is1 they who labor and are heavy laden4 ,if he wishes to invite a sufferer1 he must either change his own condition to be like that of the sufferer1 or else change that of the sufferer to be like his own2 for if this is not done the difference will stand out only the more by contrast4 ,and if you wish to invite all those who suffer--for you may make an exception with one of them and change his condition--it can be done only in one way1 which is1 to change your condition so as to live as they do2 provided your life be not already lived thus1 as was the case with ,him who said3 ,come hither unto me1 all ye that labor and are heavy laden6 ,thus said he2 and they who lived with him saw him1 and behold6 there was not even the least thing in his manner of life to contradict it4 ,with the silent and truthful eloquence of actual performance his life expresses--even though he had never in his life said these words--his life expresses3 ,come hither1 unto me1 all ye that labor and are heavy laden6 ,he abides by his word1 or he himself is the word2 he is what he says1 and also in this sense he is the ,word4#d ,all ye that labor and are heavy laden4 ,strange6 ,his only concern is lest there be a single one who labors and is heavy laden who does not hear this invitation4 ,neither does he fear that too many will come4 ,ah1 heart-room makes house-room2 but where wilt thou find heart-room1 if not in his heart8 ,he leaves it to each one how to understand his invitation3 he has a clear conscience about it1 for he has invited all those that labor and are heavy laden4 ,but what means it1 then1 to labor and be heavy laden8 ,why does he not offer a clearer explanation so that one may know exactly whom he means1 and why is he so chary of his words8 ,ah1 thou narrow-minded one1 he is so chary of his words1 lest he be narrow-minded2 and thou narrow-hearted one1 he is so chary of his words lest he be narrow-hearted4 ,for such is his love--and love has regard to all--as to prevent any one from troubling and searching his heart whether he too be among those invited4 ,and he who would insist on a more definite explanation1 is he not likely to be some self-loving person who is calculating whether this explanation does not particularly fit himself2 one who does not consider that the more of such exact explanations are offered1 the more certainly some few would be left in doubt as to whether they were invited8 ,ah man1 why does thine eye see only thyself1 why is it evil because he is good8#e ,the invitation to all men opens the arms of him who invites1 and thus he stands of aspect everlasting2 but no sooner is a closer explanation attempted which might help one or the other to another kind of certainty1 than his aspect would be transformed and1 as it were1 a shadow of change would pass over his countenance4 ,i will give you rest4 ,strange6 ,for then the words come hither unto me must be understood to mean3 stay with me1 ,i am rest2 or1 it is rest to remain with me4 ,it is not1 then1 as in other cases where he who helps and says come hither must afterwards say3 now depart again1 explaining to each one where the help he needs is to be found1 where the healing herb grows which will cure him1 or where the quiet spot is found where he may rest from labor1 or where the happier continent exists where one is not heavy laden4 ,but no1 he who opens his arms1 inviting every one--ah1 if all1 all they that labor and are heavy laden came to him1 he would fold them all to his heart1 saying3 stay with me now2 for to stay with me is rest4 ,the helper himself is the help4 ,ah1 strange1 he who invites everybody and wishes to help everybody1 his manner of treating the sick is as if calculated for every sick man1 and as if every sick man who comes to him were his only patient4 ,for otherwise a physician divides his time among many patients who1 however great their number1 still are far1 far from being all mankind4 ,he will prescribe the medicine1 he will say what is to be done1 and how it is to be used1 and then he will go--to some other patient2 or1 in case the patient should visit him1 he will let him depart4 ,the physician cannot remain sitting all day with one patient1 and still less can he have all his patients about him in his home1 and yet sit all day with one patient without neglecting the others4 ,for this reason the helper and his help are not one and the same thing4 ,the help which the physician prescribes is kept with him by the patient all day so that he may constantly use it1 whilst the physician visits him now and again2 or he visits the physician now and again4 ,but if the helper is also the help1 why1 then he will stay with the sick man all day1 or the sick man with him--ah1 strange that it is just this helper who invites all men6 ,,ii ,,come ,,hither ,,all ,,ye ,,that ,,labor ,,and ,,are ,,heavy ,,laden1 ,,and ,i ,,will ,,give ,,you ,,rest4 ,what enormous multiplicity1 what an almost boundless diversity1 of people invited2 for a man1 a lowly man1 may1 indeed1 try to enumerate only a few of these diversities--but he who invites must invite all men1 even if every one specially and individually4 ,the invitation goes forth1 then--along the highways and the byways1 and along the loneliest paths2 aye1 goes forth where there is a path so lonely that one man only1 and no one else1 knows of it1 and goes forth where there is but one track1 the track of the wretched one who fled along that path with his misery1 that and no other track2 goes forth even where there is no path to show how one may return3 even there the invitation penetrates and by itself easily and surely finds its way back--most easily1 indeed1 when it brings the fugitive along to him that issued the invitation4 ,come hither1 come hither all ye1 also thou1 and thou1 and thou1 too1 thou loneliest of all fugitives6 ,thus the invitation goes forth and remains standing1 wheresoever there is a parting of the ways1 in order to call out4 ,ah1 just as the trumpet call of the soldiers is directed to the four quarters of the globe1 likewise does this invitation sound wherever there is a meeting of roads2 with no uncertain sound--for who would then come8--but with the certitude of eternity4 ,it stands by the parting of the ways where worldly and earthly sufferings have set down their crosses1 and calls out3 ,come hither1 all ye poor and wretched ones1 ye who in poverty must slave in order to assure yourselves1 not of a care-free1 but of a toilsome1 future2 ah1 bitter contradiction1 to have to slave for--assuring one's self of that under which one groans1 of that which one flees6 ,ye despised and overlooked ones1 about whose existence no one1 aye1 no one is concerned1 not so much even as about some domestic animal which is of greater value6 ,ye sick1 and halt1 and blind1 and deaf1 and crippled1 come hither6--,ye bed-ridden1 aye1 come hither1 ye too2 for the invitation makes bold to invite even the bed-ridden--to come6 ,ye lepers2 for the invitation breaks down all differences in order to unite all1 it wishes to make good the hardship caused by the difference in men1 the difference which seats one as a ruler over millions1 in possession of all gifts of fortune1 and drives another one out into the wilderness--and why8 7ah1 the cruelty of it67 because 7ah1 the cruel human inference67 because he is wretched1 indescribably wretched4 ,why then8 ,because he stands in need of help1 or at any rate1 of compassion4 ,and why1 then8 ,because human compassion is a wretched thing which is cruel when there is the greatest need of being compassionate1 and compassionate only when1 at bottom1 it is not true compassion6 ,ye sick of heart1 ye who only through your anguish learned to know that a man's heart and an animal's heart are two different things1 and what it means to be sick at heart--what it means when the physician may be right in declaring one sound of heart and yet heart-sick2 ye whom faithlessness deceived and whom human sympathy--for the sympathy of man is rarely late in coming--whom human sympathy made a target for mockery2 all ye wronged and aggrieved and ill-used2 all ye noble ones who1 as any and everybody will be able to tell you1 deservedly reap the reward of ingratitude 7for why were ye simple enough to be noble1 why foolish enough to be kindly1 and disinterested1 and faithful7--all ye victims of cunning1 of deceit1 of backbiting1 of envy1 whom baseness chose as its victim and cowardice left in the lurch1 whether now ye be sacrificed in remote and lonely places1 after having crept away in order to die1 or whether ye be trampled underfoot in the thronging crowds where no one asks what rights ye have1 and no one1 what wrongs ye suffer1 and no one1 where ye smart or how ye smart1 whilst the crowd with brute force tramples you into the dust--come ye hither6 ,the invitation stands at the parting of the ways1 where death parts death and life4 ,come hither all ye that sorrow and ye that vainly labor6 ,for indeed there is rest in the grave2 but to sit by a grave1 or to stand by a grave1 or to visit a grave1 all that is far from lying in the grave2 and to read to one's self again and again one's own words which one knows by heart1 the epitaph which one devised one's self and understands best1 namely1 who it is that lies buried here1 all that is not the same as to lie buried one's self4 ,in the grave there ,is rest1 but by the grave there is no rest2 for it is said3 so far and no farther1 and so you may as well go home again4 ,but however often1 whether in your thoughts or in fact1 you return to that grave--you will never get any farther1 you will not get away from the spot1 and this is very trying and is by no means rest4 ,come ye hither1 therefore3 here is the way by which one may go farther1 here is rest by the grave1 rest from the sorrow over loss1 or rest in the sorrow of loss--through him who everlastingly re-unites those that are parted1 and more firmly than nature unites parents with their children1 and children with their parents--for1 alas6 they were parted2 and more closely than the minister unites husband and wife--for1 alas6 their separation did come to pass2 and more indissolubly than the bond of friendship unites friend with friend--for1 alas6 it was broken4 ,separation penetrated everywhere and brought with it sorrow and unrest2 but here is rest6--,come hither also ye who had your abodes assigned to you among the graves1 ye who are considered dead to human society1 but neither missed nor mourned--not buried and yet dead2 that is1 belonging neither to life nor to death2 ye1 alas6 to whom human society cruelly closed its doors and for whom no grave has as yet opened itself in pity--come hither1 ye also1 here is rest1 and here is life6 ,the invitation stands at the parting of the ways1 where the road of sin turns away from the inclosure of innocence--ah1 come hither1 ye are so close to him2 but a single step in the opposite direction1 and ye are infinitely far from him4 ,very possibly ye do not yet stand in need of rest1 nor grasp fully what that means2 but still follow the invitation1 so that he who invites may save you from a predicament out of which it is so difficult and dangerous to be saved2 and so that1 being saved1 ye may stay with him who is the ,savior of all1 likewise of innocence4 ,for even if it were possible that innocence be found somewhere1 and altogether pure3 why should not innocence also need a savior to keep it safe from evil8--,the invitation stands at the parting of the ways1 where the road of sin turns away to enter more deeply into sin4 ,come hither all ye who have strayed and have been lost1 whatever may have been your error and sin3 whether one more pardonable in the sight of man and nevertheless perhaps more frightful1 or one more terrible in the sight of man and yet1 perchance1 more pardonable2 whether it be one which became known here on earth or one which1 though hidden1 yet is known in heaven--and even if ye found pardon here on earth without finding rest in your souls1 or found no pardon because ye did not seek it1 or because ye sought it in vain3 ah1 return and come hither1 here is rest6 ,the invitation stands at the parting of the ways1 where the road of sin turns away for the last time and to the eye is lost in perdition4 ,ah1 return1 return1 and come hither6 ,do not shrink from the difficulties of the retreat1 however great2 do not fear the irksome way of conversion1 however laboriously it may lead to salvation2 whereas sin with winged speed and growing pace leads forward or--downward1 so easily1 so indescribably easy--as easily1 in fact1 as when a horse1 altogether freed from having to pull1 cannot even with all his might stop the vehicle which pushes him into the abyss4 ,do not despair over each relapse which the ,god of patience has patience enough to pardon1 and which a sinner should surely have patience enough to humble himself under4 ,nay1 fear nothing and despair not3 he that sayeth come hither1 he is with you on the way1 from him come help and pardon on that way of conversion which leads to him2 and with him is rest4 ,come hither all1 all ye--with him is rest2 and he will raise no difficulties1 he does but one thing3 he opens his arms4 ,he will not first ask you1 you sufferer--as righteous men1 alas1 are accustomed to1 even when willing to help--,are you not perhaps yourself the cause of your misfortune1 have you nothing with which to reproach yourself8 ,it is so easy to fall into this very human error1 and from appearances to judge a man's success or failure3 for instance1 if a man is a cripple1 or deformed1 or has an unprepossessing appearance1 to infer that therefore he is a bad man2 or1 when a man is unfortunate enough to suffer reverses so as to be ruined or so as to go down in the world1 to infer that therefore he is a vicious man4 ,ah1 and this is such an exquisitely cruel pleasure1 this being conscious of one's own righteousness as against the sufferer--explaining his afflictions as ,god's punishment1 so that one does not even--dare to help him2 or asking him that question which condemns him and flatters our own righteousness1 before helping him4 ,but he will not ask you thus1 will not in such cruel fashion be your benefactor4 ,and if you are yourself conscious of your sin he will not ask about it1 will not break still further the bent reed1 but raise you up1 if you will but join him4 ,he will not point you out by way of contrast1 and place you outside of himself1 so that your sin will stand out as still more terrible1 but he will grant you a hiding place within him2 and hidden within him your sins will be hidden4 ,for he is the friend of sinners4 ,let him but behold a sinner1 and he not only stands still1 opening his arms and saying come hither1 nay1 but he stands--and waits1 as did the father of the prodigal son2 or he does not merely remain standing and waiting1 but goes out to search1 as the shepherd went forth to search for the strayed sheep1 or as the woman went to search for the lost piece of silver4 ,he goes--nay1 he has gone1 but an infinitely longer way than any shepherd or any woman1 for did he not go the infinitely long way from being ,god to becoming man1 which he did to seek sinners8 ,,iii ,,come ,,hither ,,unto ,,me ,,all ,,ye ,,that ,,labor ,,and ,,are ,,heavy ,,laden1 ,,and ,i ,,will ,,give ,,you ,,rest4 ,come hither6 ,for he supposes that they that labor and are heavy laden feel their burden and their labor1 and that they stand there now1 perplexed and sighing--one casting about with his eyes to discover whether there is help in sight anywhere2 another with his eyes fixed on the ground1 because he can see no consolation2 and a third with his eyes staring heavenward1 as though help was bound to come from heaven--but all seeking4 ,therefore he sayeth3 come hither6 ,but he invites not him who has ceased to seek and to sorrow4--,come hither6 ,for he who invites knows that it is a mark of true suffering1 if one walks alone and broods in silent disconsolateness1 without courage to confide in any one1 and with even less self-confidence to dare to hope for help4 ,alas1 not only he whom we read about was possessed of a dumb devil4#f ,no suffering which does not first of all render the sufferer dumb is of much significance1 no more than the love which does not render one silent2 for those sufferers who run on about their afflictions neither labor nor are heavy laden4 ,behold1 therefore the inviter will not wait till they that labor and are heavy laden come to him1 but calls them lovingly2 for all his willingness to help might1 perhaps1 be of no avail if he did not say these words and thereby take the first step2 for in the call of these words3 come hither unto me6 he comes himself to them4 ,ah1 human compassion--sometimes1 perhaps1 it is indeed praiseworthy self-restraint1 sometimes1 perhaps1 even true compassion1 which may cause you to refrain from questioning him whom you suppose to be brooding over a hidden affliction2 but also1 how often indeed is this compassion but worldly wisdom which does not care to know too much6 ,ah1 human'compassion--how often was it not pure curiosity1 and not compassion1 which prompted you to venture into the secret of one afflicted2 and how burdensome it was--almost like a punishment of your curiosity--when he accepted your invitation and came to you6 ,but he who sayeth these redeeming words ,come hither6 he is not deceiving himself in saying these words1 nor will he deceive you when you come to him in order to find rest by throwing your burden on him4 ,he follows the promptings of his heart in saying these words1 and his heart follows his words2 if you then follow these words1 they will follow you back again to his heart4 ,this follows as a matter of course--ah1 will you not follow the invitation8--,come hither6 ,for he supposes that they that labor and are heavy laden are so worn out and overtaxed1 and so near swooning that they have forgotten1 as though in a stupor1 that there is such a thing as consolation4 ,alas1 or he knows for sure that there is no consolation and no help unless it is sought from him2 and therefore must he call out to them ,come hither6 ,come hither6 ,for is it not so that every society has some symbol or token which is worn by those who belong to it8 ,when a young girl is adorned in a certain manner one knows that she is going to the dance3 ,come hither all ye that labor and are heavy laden--come hither6 ,you need not carry an external and visible badge2 come but with your head anointed and your face washed1 if only you labor in your heart and are heavy laden4 ,come hither6 ,ah1 do not stand still and consider2 nay1 consider1 consider that with every moment you stand still after having heard the invitation you will hear the call more faintly and thus withdraw from it1 even though you are standing still4--,come hither6 ,ah1 however weary and faint you be from work1 or from the long1 long and yet hitherto fruitless search for help and salvation1 and even though you may feel as if you could not take one more step1 and not wait one more moment1 without dropping to the ground3 ah1 but this one step and here is rest6--,come hither6 ,but if1 alas1 there be one who is so wretched that he cannot come8--,ah1 a sigh is sufficient2 your mere sighing or him is also to come hither4 ,,the ,,pause ,,come ,,hither ,,unto ,,me ,,all ,,ye ,,that ,,labor ,,and ,,are ,,heavy ,,laden1 ,,and ,i ,,shall ,,give ,,you ,,rest4 ,pause now6 ,but what is there to give pause8 ,that which in the same instant makes all undergo an absolute change--so that1 instead of seeing an immense throng ofthem that labor and are heavy laden following the invitation1 you will in the end behold the very opposite1 that is1 an immense throng of men who flee back shudderingly1 scrambling to get away1 trampling all down before them2 so that1 if one were to infer the sense of what had been said from the result it produced1 one would have to infer that the words had been procul o procul este profani1 rather than come hither--that gives pause which is infinitely more important and infinitely more decisive3 ,,the ,,person ,,of ,,him ,,who ,,invites4 ,not in the sense that he is not the man to do what he has said1 or not ,god1 to keep what he has promised2 no1 in a very different sense4 ,pause is given by the fact that he who invites is1 and insists on being1 the definite historic person he was #ahjj years ago1 and that he as this definite person1 and living under the conditions then obtaining1 spoke these words of invitation4--,he is not1 and does not wish to be1 one about whom one may simply know something from history 7i4e4 world history1 history proper1 as against ,sacred ,history72 for from history one cannot learn anything about him1 the simple reason being that nothing can be known about him4--,he does not wish to be judged in a human way1 from the results of his life2 that is1 he is and wishes to be1 a rock of offense and the object of faith4 ,to judge him after the consequences of his life is a blasphemy1 for being ,god1 his life1 and the very fact that he was then living and really did live1 is infinitely more important than all the consequences of it in history4 ,a ,who spoke these words of invitation8 ,he that invites4 ,who is he8 ,jesus ,christ4 ,which ,jesus ,christ8 ,he that sits in glory on the right side of his ,father8 ,no4 ,from his seat of glory he spoke not a single word4 ,therefore it is ,jesus ,christ in his lowliness1 and in the condition of lowliness1 who spoke these words4 ,is then ,jesus ,christ not the same8 ,yes1 verily1 he is today1 and was yesterday1 and #ahjj years ago1 the same who abased himself1 assuming the form of a servant--the ,jesus ,christ who spake these words of invitation4 ,it is also he who hath said that he would return again in glory4 ,in his return in glory he is1 again1 the same ,jesus ,christ2 but this has not yet come to pass4 ,is he then not in glory now8 ,assuredly1 that the ,christian believes4 ,but it was in his lowly condition that he spoke these words2 he did not speak them from his glory4 ,and about his return in glory nothing can be known1 for this can in the strictest sense be a matter of belief only4 ,but a believer one cannot become except by having gone to him in his lowly condition--to him1 the rock of offense and the object of faith4 ,in other shape he does not exist1 for only thus did he exist4 ,that he will return in glory is indeed expected1 but can be expected and believed only by him who believes1 and has believed1 in him as he was here on earth4 ,jesus ,christ is1 then1 the same2 yet lived he #ahjj years ago in debasement1 and is transfigured only at his return4 ,as yet he has not returned2 therefore he is still the one in lowly guise about whom we believe that he will return in glory4 ,whatever he said and taught1 every word he spoke1 becomes eo ipso untrue if we give it the appearance of having been spoken by ,christ in his glory4 ,nay1 he is silent4 ,it is the lowly ,christ who speaks4 ,the space of time between 7i4e4 between his debasement and his return in glory7 which is at present about #ahjj years1 and will possibly become many times #ahjj--this space of time1 or else what this space of time tries to make of ,christ1 the worldly information about him furnished by world history or church history1 as to who ,christ was1 as to who it was who really spoke these words--all this does not concern us1 is neither here nor there1 but only serves to corrupt our conception of him1 arid thereby renders untrue these words of invitation4 ,it is untruthful of me to impute to a person words which he never used4 ,but it is likewise untruthful1 and the words he used likewise become untruthful1 or it becomes untrue that he used them1 if ,i assign to him a nature essentially unlike the one he had when he did use them4 ,essentially unlike2 for an untruth concerning this or the other trifling circumstance will not make it untrue that he said them4 ,and therefore1 if it please ,god to walk on earth in such strict incognito as only one all-powerful can assume1 in guise impenetrable to all men2 if it please him--and why he does it1 for what purpose1 that he knows best himself2 but whatever the reason and the purpose1 it is certain that the incognito is of essential significance--,i say1 if it please ,god to walk on earth in the guise of a servant and1 to judge from his appearance1 exactly like any other man2 if it please him to teach men in this guise--if1 now1 any one repeats his very words1 but gives the saying the appearance that it was ,god that spoke these words3 then it is untruthful2 for it is untrue that h e said these words4 ,b ,can one from history#g learn to know anything about ,christ8 ,no4 ,and why not8 ,because one cannot know anything at all about ,christ2 for he is the paradox1 the object of faith1 and exists only for faith4 ,but all historic information is communication of knowledge4 ,therefore one cannot learn anything about ,christ from history4 ,for whether now one learn little or much about him1 it will not represent what he was in reality4 ,hence one learns something else about him than what is strictly true1 and therefore learns nothing about him1 or gets to know something wrong about him2 that is1 one is deceived4 ,history makes ,christ look different from what he looked in truth1 and thus one learns much from history about--,christ8 ,no1 not about ,christ2 because about him nothing can be known1 he can only be believed4 ,c ,can one prove from history that ,christ was ,god8 ,let me first ask another question3 is any more absurd contradiction thinkable than wishing to prove 7no matter1 for the present1 whether one wishes to do so from history1 or from whatever else in the wide world one wishes to prove it7 that a certain person is ,god8 ,to maintain that a certain person is ,god--that is1 professes to be ,god--is indeed a stumbling block in the purest sense4 ,but what is the nature of a stumbling block8 ,it is an assertion which is at variance with all 7human7 reason4 ,now think of proving that6 ,but to prove something is to render it reasonable and real4 ,is it possible1 then1 to render reasonable and real what is at variance with all reason8 ,scarcely2 unless one wishes to contradict one's self4 ,one can prove only that it is at variance with all reason4 ,the proofs for the divinity of ,christ given in ,scripture1 such as the miracles and his resurrection from the grave exist1 too1 only for faith2 that is1 they are no proofs1 for they are not meant to prove that all this agrees with reason but1 on the contrary1 are meant to prove that it is at variance with reason and therefore a matter of faith4 ,first1 then1 let us take up the proofs from history4 ,is it not #ahjj years ago now that ,christ lived1 is not his name proclaimed and reverenced throughout the world1 has not his teaching 7,christianity7 changed the aspect of the world1 having victoriously affected all affairs3 has then history not sufficiently1 or more than sufficiently1 made good its claim as to who he was1 and that he was--,god8 ,no1 indeed1 history has by no means sufficiently1 or more than sufficiently1 made good its claim1 and in fact history cannot accomplish this in all eternity4 ,however1 as to the first part of the statement1 it is true enough that his name is proclaimed throughout the world--as to whether it is reverenced1 that ,i do not presume to decide4 ,also1 it is true enough that ,christianity has transformed the aspect of the world1 having victoriously affected all affairs1 so victoriously indeed1 that everybody now claims to be a ,christian4 ,but what does this prove8 ,it proves1 at most1 that ,jesus ,christ was a great man1 the greatest1 perhaps1 who ever lived4 ,but that he was ,god--stop now1 that conclusion shall with ,god's help fall to the ground4 ,now1 if one intends to introduce this conclusion by assuming that ,jesus ,christ was a man1 and then considers the #ahjj years of history 7i4e4 the consequences of his life71 one may indeed conclude with a constantly rising superlative3 he was great1 greater1 the greatest1 extraordinarily and astonishingly the greatest man who ever lived4 ,if one begins1 on the other hand1 with the assumption 7of faith7 that he was ,god1 one has by so doing stricken out and car celled the #ahjj years as not making the slightest difference1 one way or the other1 because the certainty of faith is on an infinitely higher plane4 ,and one course or the other one must take2 but we shall arrive at sensible conclusions only if we take the latter4 ,if one takes the former course one will find it impossible--unless by committing the logical error of passing over into a different category--one will find it impossible in the conclusion suddenly to arrive at the new category ,god2 that is1 one cannot make the consequence1 or consequences1 of--a man's life suddenly prove at a certain point in the argument that this man was ,god4 ,if such a procedure were correct one ought to be able to answer satisfactorily a question like this3 what must the consequence be1 how great the effects1 how many centuries must elapse1 in order to infer from the consequences of a man's life--for such was the assumption--that he was ,god2 or whether it is really the case that in the year #cjj ,christ had not yet been entirely proved to be ,god1 though certainly the most extraordinarily1 astonishingly1 greatest man who had ever lived1 but that a few more centuries would be necessary to prove that he was ,god4 ,in that case we would be obliged to infer that people in the fourth century did not look upon ,christ as ,god1 and still less they who lived in the first century2 whereas the certainty that he was ,god would grow with every century4 ,also1 that in our century this certainty would be greater than it had ever been1 a certainty in comparison with which the first centuries hardly so much as glimpsed his divinity4 ,you may answer this question or not1 it does not matter4 ,in general1 is it at all possible by the consideration of the gradually unfolding consequences of something to arrive at a conclusion different in quality from what we started with8 ,is it not sheer insanity 7providing man is sane7 to let one's judgment become so altogether confused as to land in the wrong category8 ,and if one begins with such a mistake1 then how will one be able1 at any subsequent point1 to infer from the consequences of something1 that one has to deal with an altogether different1 in fact1 infinitely different1 category8 ,a foot-print certainly is the consequence of some creature having made it4 ,now ,i may mistake the track for that of1 let us say1 a bird2 whereas by nearer inspection1 and by following it for some distance1 ,i may make sure that it was made by some other animal4 ,very good2 but there was no infinite difference in quality between my first assumption and my later conclusion4 ,but can ,i1 on further consideration and following the track still further1 arrive at the conclusion3 therefore it was a spirit--a spirit that leaves no tracks8 ,precisely the same holds true of the argument that from the consequences of a human life--for that was the assumption--we may infer that therefore it was ,god4 ,is ,god then so like man1 is there so little difference between the two that1 while in possession of my right senses1 ,i may begin with the assumption that ,christ was human8 ,and1 for that matter1 has not ,christ himself affirmed that he was ,god8 ,on the other hand1 if ,god and man resemble each other so closely1 and are related to each other to such a degree--that is1 essentially belong to the same category of beings1 then the conclusion therefore he was ,god is nevertheless just humbug1 because if that is all there is to being ,god1 then ,god does not exist at all4 ,but if ,god does exist and1 therefore1 belongs to a category infinitely different from man1 why1 then neither ,i nor any one else can start with the assumption that ,christ was human and end with the conclusion that therefore he was ,god4 ,any one with a bit of logical sense will easily recognize that the whole question about the consequences of ,christ's life on earth is incommensurable with the decision that he is ,god4 ,in fact1 this decision is to be made on an altogether different plane3 man must decide for himself whether he will believe ,christ to be what he himself affirmed he was1 that is1 ,god1 or whether he will not believe so4 ,what has been said--mind you1 providing one will take the time to understand it--is sufficient to make a logical mind stop drawing any inferences from the consequences of ,christ's life3 that therefore he was ,god4 ,but faith in its own right protests against every attempt to approach ,jesus ,christ by the help of historical information about the consequences of his life4 ,faith contends that this whole attempt is--blasphemous4 ,faith contends that the only proof left unimpaired by unbelief when it did away with all the other proofs of the truth of ,christianity1 the proof which--indeed1 this is complicated business--,i say1 which unbelief invented in order to prove the truth of ,christianity--the proof about which so excessively much ado has been made in ,christendom1 the proof of #ahjj years3 as to this1 faith contends that it is--blasphemy4 ,with regard to a man it is true that the consequences of his life are more important than his life4 ,if one1 then1 in order to find out who ,christ was1 and in order to find out by some inference1 considers the consequences of his life3 why1 then one changes him into a man by this very act--a man who1 like other men1 is to pass his examination in history1 and history is in this case as mediocre an examiner as any half-baked teacher in ,latin4 ,but strange6 ,by the help of history1 that is1 by considering the consequences of his life1 one wishes to arrive at the conclusion that therefore1 therefore he was ,god2 and faith makes the exactly opposite contention that he who even begins with this syllogism is guilty of blasphemy4 ,nor does the blasphemy consist in assuming hypothetically that ,christ was a man4 ,no1 the blasphemy consists in the thought which lies at the bottom of the whole business1 the thought without which one would never start it1 and of whose validity one is fully and firmly assured that it will hold also with regard to ,christ--the thought that the consequences of his life are more important than his life2 in other words1 that he is a man4 ,the hypothesis is3 let us assume that ,christ was a man2 but at the bottom of this hypothesis1 which is not blasphemy as yet1 there lies the assumption that1 the consequences of a man's life being more important than his life1 this will hold true also of ,christ4 ,unless this is assumed one must admit that one's whole argument is absurd1 must admit it before beginning--so why begin at all8 ,but once it is assumed1 and the argument is started1 we have the blasphemy4 ,and the more one becomes absorbed in the consequences of ,christ's life1 with the aim of being able to make sure whether or no he was ,god1 the more blasphemous is one's conduct2 and it remains blasphemous so long as this consideration is persisted in4 ,curious coincidence3 one tries to make it appear that1 providing one but thoroughly considers the consequences of ,christ's life1 this therefore will surely be arrived at--and faith condemns the very beginning of this attempt as blasphemy1 and hence the continuance in it as a worse blasphemy4 ,history1 says faith1 has nothing to do with ,christ4 ,with regard to him we have only ,sacred ,history 7which is different in kind from general history71 ,sacred ,history which tells of his life and career when in debasement1 and tells also that he affirmed himself to be ,god4 ,he is the paradox which history never will be able to digest or convert into a general syllogism4 ,he is in his debasement the same as he is in his exaltation--but the #ahjj years1 or let it be #ah1jjj years1 have nothing whatsoever to do with this4 ,the brilliant consequences in the history of the world which are sufficient1 almost1 to convince even a professor of history that he was ,god1 these brilliant consequences surely do not represent his return in glory6 ,forsooth1 in that case it were imagined rather meanly6 ,the same thing over again3 ,christ is thought to be a man whose return in glory can be1 and can become1 nothing else than the consequences of his life in history--whereas ,christ's return in glory is something absolutely different and a matter of faith4 ,he abased himself and was swathed in rags--he will return in glory2 but the brilliant consequences in history1 especially when examined a little more closely1 are too shabby a glory--at any rate a glory of an altogether incongruous nature1 of which faith therefore never speaks1 when speaking about his glory4 ,history is a very respectable science indeed1 only it must not become so conceited as to take upon itself what the ,father will do1 and clothe ,christ in his glory1 dressing him up with the brilliant garments of the consequences of his life1 as if that constituted his return4 ,that he was ,god in his debasement and that he will return in glory1 all this is far beyond the comprehension of history2 nor can all this be got from history1 excepting by an incomparable lack of logic1 and however incomparable one's view of history may be otherwise4 ,how strange1 then1 that one ever wished to use history in order to prove ,christ divine4 ,d ,are the consequences of ,christ's life more important than his life8 ,no1 by no means1 but rather the opposite2 for else ,christ were but a man4 ,there is really nothing remarkable in a man having lived4 ,there have certainly lived millions upon millions of men4 ,if the fact is remarkable1 there must have been something remarkable in a man's life4 ,in other words1 there is nothing remarkable in his having lived1 but his life was remarkable for this or that4 ,the remarkable thing may1 among other matters1 also be what he accomplished2 that is1 the consequences of his life4 ,but that ,god lived here on earth in human form1 that is infinitely remarkable4 ,no matter if his life had had no consequences at all--it remains equally remarkable1 infinitely remarkable1 infinitely more remarkable than all possible consequences4 ,just try to introduce that which is remarkable as something secondary and you will straightway see the absurdity of doing so3 now1 if you please1 whatever remarkable is there in ,god's life having had remarkable consequences8 ,to speak in this fashion is merely twaddling4 ,no1 that ,god lived here on earth1 that is what is infinitely remarkable1 that which is remarkable in itself4 ,assuming that ,christ's life had had no consequences whatsoever--if any one then undertook to say that therefore his life was not remarkable it would be blasphemy4 ,for it would be remarkable all the same2 and if a secondary remarkable characteristic had to be introduced it would consist in the remarkable fact that his life had no consequences4 ,but if one should say that ,christ's life was remarkable because of its consequences1 then this again were a blasphemy2 for it is his life which in itself is the remarkable thing4 ,there is nothing very remarkable in a man's having lived1 but it is infinitely remarkable that ,god has lived4 ,god alone can lay so much emphasis on himself that the fact of his having lived becomes infinitely more important than all the consequences which may flow therefrom and which then become a matter of history4 ,e ,a comparison between ,christ and a man who in his life endured the same treatment by his times as ,christ endured4 ,let us imagine a man1 one of the exalted spirits1 one who was wronged by his times1 but whom history later reinstated in his rights by proving by the consequences of his life who he was4 ,i do not deny1 by the way1 that all this business of proving from the consequences is a course well suited to a world which ever wishes to be deceived4 ,for he who was contemporary with him and did not understand who he was1 he really only imagines that he understands when he has got to know it by help of the consequences of the noble one's life4 ,still1 ,i do not wish to insist on this point1 for with regard to a man it certainly holds true that the consequences of his life are more important than the fact of his having lived4 ,let us imagine one of these exalted spirits4 ,he lives among his contemporaries without being understood1 his significance is not recognized--he is misunderstood1 and then mocked1 persecuted1 and finally put to death like a common evil-doer4 ,but the consequences of his life make it plain who he was2 history which keeps a record of these consequences re-instates him in his rightful position1 and now he is named in one century after another as the great and the noble spirit1 and the circumstances of his debasement are almost completely forgotten4 ,it was blindness on the part of his contemporaries which prevented them from comprehending his true nature1 and wickedness which made them mock him and deride him1 and finally put him to death4 ,but be no more concerned about this2 for only after his death did he really become what he was1 through the consequences of his life which1 after all1 are by far more important than his life4 ,now is it not possible that the same holds true with regard to ,christ8 ,it was blindness and wickedness on the part of those times#h--;but be no more concerned about this1 history has now re-instated him1 from history we know now who ,jesus ,christ was1 and thus justice is done him4 ,ah1 wicked thoughtlessness which thus interprets ,sacred ,history like profane history1 which makes ,christ a man6 ,but can one1 then1 learn anything from history about ,jesus8 7cf4 b7 ,no1 nothing4 ,jesus ,christ is the object of faith--one either believes in him or is offended by him2 for to know means precisely that such knowledge does not pertain to him4 ,history can therefore1 to be sure1 give one knowledge in abundance2 but knowledge annihilates ,jesus ,christ4 ,again--ah1 the impious thoughtlessness6--for one to presume to say about ,christ's abasement3 ,let us be concerned no more about his abasement4 ,surely1 ,christ's abasement was not something which merely happened to him--even if it was the sin of that generation to crucify him2 was surely not something that simply happened to him and1 perhaps1 would not have happened to him in better times4 ,christ himself wished to be abased and lowly4 ,his abasement 7that is1 his walking on earth in humble guise1 though being ,god7 is therefore a condition of his own making1 something he wished to be knotted together1 a dialectic knot which no one shall presume to untie1 and which no one will untie1 for that matter1 until he himself shall untie it when returning in his glory4 ,his case is1 therefore1 not the same as that of a man who1 through the injustice inflicted on him by his times1 was not allowed to be himself or to be valued at his worth1 while history revealed who he was2 for ,christ himself wished to be abased--it is precisely this condition which he desired4 ,therefore1 let history not trouble itself to do him justice1 and let us not in impious thoughtlessness presumptuously imagine that we as a matter of course know who he was4 ,for that no one knows2 and he who believes it must become contemporaneous with him in his abasement4 ,when ,god chooses to let himself be born in lowliness1 when he who holds all possibilities in his hand assumes the form of a humble servant1 when he fares about defenseless1 letting people do with him what they list3 he surely knows what he does and why he does it2 for it is at all events he who has power over men1 and not men who have power over him--so let not history be so impertinent as to wish to reveal who he was4 ,lastly--ah the blasphemy6--if one should presume to say that the percussion which ,christ suffered expresses something accidental6 ,if a man is persecuted by his generation it does not follow that he has the right to say that this would happen to him in every age4 ,insofar there is reason in what posterity says about letting bygones be bygones4 ,but it is different with ,christ6 ,it is not he who by letting himself be born1 and by appearing in ,palestine1 is being examined by history2 but it is he who examines1 his life is the examination1 not only of that generation1 but of mankind4 ,woe unto the generation that would presumptuously dare to say3 let bygones be bygones1 and forget what he suffered1 for history has now revealed who he was and has done justice by him4 ,if one assumes that history is really able to do this1 then the abasement of ,christ bears an accidental relation to him2 that is to say1 he thereby is made a man1 an extraordinary man to whom this happened through the wickedness of that generation--a fate which he was far from wishing to suffer1 for he would gladly 7as is human7 have become a great man2 whereas ,christ voluntarily chose to be the lowly one and1 although it was his purpose to save the world1 wished also to give expression to what the truth suffered then1 and must suffer in every generation4 ,but if this is his strongest desire1 and if he will show himself in his glory only at his return1 and if he has not returned as yet2 and if no generation may be without repentance1 but on the contrary every generation must consider itself a partner in the guilt of that generation3 then woe to him who presumes to deprive him of his lowliness1 or to cause what he suffered to be forgotten1 and to clothe him in the fabled human glory of the historic consequences of his life1 which is neither here nor there4 ,f ,the ,misfortune of ,christendom ,but precisely this is the misfortune1 and has been the misfortune1 in ,christendom that ,christ is neither the one nor the other--neither the one he was when living on earth1 nor he who will return in glory1 but rather one about whom we have learned to know something in an inadmissible way from history--that he was somebody or other of great account4 ,in an inadmissible and unlawful way we have learned to know him2 whereas to believe in him is the only permissible mode of approach4 ,men have mutually confirmed one another in the opinion that the sum total of information about him is available if they but consider the result of his life and the following #ahjj years1 i4e4 the consequences4 ,gradually1 as this became accepted as the truth1 all pith and strength was distilled out of ,christianity2 the paradox was relaxed1 one became a ,christian without noticing it1 without noticing in the least the possibility of being offended by him4 ,one took over ,christ's teachings1 turned them inside out and smoothed them down--he himself guaranteeing them1 of course1 the man whose life had had such immense consequences in history6 ,all became plain as day--very naturally1 since ,christianity in this fashion became heathendom4 ,there is in ,christendom an incessant twaddling on ,sundays about the glorious and invaluable truths of ,christianity1 its mild consolation4 ,but it is indeed evident that ,christ lived #ahjj years ago2 for the rock of offense and object of faith has become a most charming fairy-story character1 a kind of divine good old man4#i ,people have not the remotest idea of what it means to be offended by him1 and still less1 what it means to worship4 ,the qualities for which ,christ is magnified are precisely those which would have most enraged one1 if one had been contemporaneous with him2 whereas now one feels altogether secure1 placing implicit confidence in the result and1 relying altogether on the verdict of history that he was the great man1 concludes therefore that it is correct to do so4 ,that is to say1 it is the correct1 arid the noble1 and the exalted1 and the true1 thing--if it is he who does it2 which is to say1 again1 that one does not in any deeper sense take the pains to understand what it is he does1 and that one tries even less1 to the best of one's ability and with the help of ,god1 to be like him in acting rightly and nobly1 and in an exalted manner1 and truthfully4 ,for1 not really fathoming it in any deeper sense1 one may1 in the exigency of a contemporaneous situation1 judge him in exactly the opposite way4 ,one is satisfied with admiring and extolling and is1 perhaps1 as was said of a translator who rendered his original word for word and therefore without making sense1 too conscientious1--one is1 perhaps1 also too cowardly and too weak to wish to understand his real meaning4 ,christendom has done away with ,christianity1 without being aware of it4 ,therefore1 if anything is to be done about it1 the attempt must be made to re-introduce ,christianity4 ,,ii ,he who invites is1 then1 ,jesus ,christ in his abasement1 it is he who spoke these words of invitation4 ,it is not from his glory that they are spoken4 ,if that were the case1 then ,christianity were heathendom and the name of ,christ taken in vain1 and for this reason it cannot be so4 ,but if it were the case that he who is enthroned in glory had said these words3 ,come hither--as though it were so altogether easy a matter to be clasped in the arms of glory--well1 what wonder1 then1 if crowds of men ran to him6 ,but they who thus throng to him merely go on a wild goose chase1 imagining they know who ,christ is4 ,but that no one knows2 and in order to believe in him one has to begin with his abasement4 ,he who invites and speaks these words1 that is1 he whose words they are--whereas the same words if spoken by some one else are1 as we have seen1 an historic falsification--he is the same lowly ,jesus ,christ1 the humble man1 born of a despised maiden1 whose father is a carpenter1 related to other simple folk of the very lowest class1 the lowly man who at the same time 7which1 to be sure1 is like oil poured on the fire7 affirms himself to be ,god4 ,it is the lowly ,jesus ,christ who spoke these words4 ,and no word of ,christ1 not a single one1 have you permission to appropriate to yourself1 you have not the least share in him1 are not in any way of his company1 if you have not become his contemporary in lowliness in such fashion that you have become aware1 precisely like his contemporaries1 of his warning3 ,blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me4#aj ,you have no right to accept ,christ's words1 and then lie him away2 you have no right to accept ,christ's words1 and then in a fantastic manner1 and with the aid of history1 utterly change the nature of ,christ2 for the chatter of history about him is literally not worth a fig4 ,it is ,jesus ,christ in his lowliness who is the speaker4 ,it is historically true that h e said these words2 but so soon as one makes a change in his historic status1 it is false to say that these words were spoken by him4 ,this poor and lowly man1 then1 with twelve poor fellows as his disciples1 all from the lowest class of society1 for some time an object of curiosity1 but later on in company only with sinners1 publicans1 lepers1 and madmen2 for one risked honor1 life1 and property1 or at any rate 7and that we know for sure7 exclusion from the synagogue1 by even letting one's self be helped by him--come hither now1 all ye that labor and are heavy laden6 ,ah1 my friend1 even if you were deaf and blind and lame and leprous1 if you1 which has never been seen or heard before1 united all human miseries in your misery--and if he wished to help you by a miracle3 it is possible that 7as is human7 you would fear more than all your sufferings the punishment which was set on accepting aid from him1 the punishment of being cast out from the society of other men1 of being ridiculed and mocked1 day after day1 and perhaps of losing your life4 ,it is human 7and it is characteristic of being human7 were you to think as follows3 no1 thank you1 in that case ,i prefer to remain deaf and blind and lame and leprous1 rather than accept aid under such conditions4 ,come hither1 come hither1 all1 ye that labor and are heavy laden1 ah1 come hither1 lo6 he invites you and opens his arms4 ,ah1 when a gentlemanly man clad in a silken gown says this in a pleasant1 harmonious voice so that the words pleasantly resound in the handsome vaulted church1 a man in silk who radiates honor and respect on all who listen to him2 ah1 when a king in purple and velvet says this1 with the ,christmas tree in the background on which are hanging all the splendid gifts he intends to distribute1 why1 then of course there is some meaning in these words6 ,but whatever meaning you may attach to them1 so much is sure that it is not ,christianity1 but the exact opposite1 something as diametrically opposed to ,christianity as may well be2 for remember who it is that invites6 ,and now judge for yourself--for that you have a right to do2 whereas men really do not have a right to do what is so often done1 viz4 to deceive themselves4 ,that a man of such appearance1 a man whose company every one shuns who has the least bit of sense in his head1 or the least bit to lose in the world1 that he--well1 this is the absurdest and maddest thing of all1 one hardly knows whether to laugh or to weep about it--that he--indeed1 that is the very last word one would expect to issue from his mouth2 for if he had said3 ,come hither and help me1 or3 ,leave me alone1 or3 ,spare me1 or proudly3 ,i despise you all1 we could understand that perfectly--but that such a man says3 ,come hither to me6 why1 ,i declare1 that looks inviting indeed6 ,and still further3 ,all ye that labor and are heavy laden--as though such folk were not burdened enough with troubles1 as though they now1 to cap all1 should be exposed to the consequences of associating with him4 ,and then1 finally3 ,i shall give you rest4 ,what's that8--he help them8 ,ah1 ,i am sure even the most good-natured joker who was contemporary with him would have to say3 ,surely1 that was the thing he should have undertaken last of all--to wish to help others1 being in that condition himself6 ,why1 it is about the same as if a beggar were to inform the police that he had been robbed4 ,for it is a contradiction that one who has nothing1 and has had nothing1 informs us that he has been robbed2 and likewise1 to wish to help others when one's self needs help most4 ,indeed it is1 humanly speaking1 the most harebrained contradiction1 that he who literally hath not where to lay his head1 that he about whom it was spoken truly1 in a human sense1 ,behold the man6--that he should say3 ,come hither unto me all ye that suffer--,i shall help6 ,now examine yourself--for that you have a right to do4 ,you have a right to examine yourself1 but you really do not have a right to let yourself without self-examination be deluded by the others into the belief1 or to delude yourself into the belief1 that you are a ,christian--therefore examine yourself3 supposing you were contemporary with him6 ,true enough he--alas6 he affirmed himself to be ,god6 ,but many another madman has made that claim--and his times gave it as their opinion that he uttered blasphemy4 ,why1 was not that precisely the reason why a punishment was threatened for allowing one's self to be aided by him8 ,it was the godly care for their souls entertained by the existing order and by public opinion1 lest any one should be led astray3 it was this godly care that led them to persecute him in this fashion4 ,therefore1 before any one resolves to be helped by him1 let him consider that he must not only expect the antagonism of men1 but--consider it well6--even if you could bear the consequences of that step--but consider well1 that the punishment meted out by men is supposed to be ,god's punishment of him1 the blasphemer--of him who invites6 ,come hither now all ye that labor and are heavy laden6 ,how now8 ,surely this is nothing to run after--some little pause is given1 which is most fittingly used to go around about by way of another street4 ,and even if you should not thus sneak out in some way--always providing you feel yourself to be contemporary with him--or sneak into being some kind of ,christian by belonging to ,christendom3 yet there will be a tremendous pause given1 the pause which is the very condition that faith may arise3 you are given pause by the possibility of being offended in him4 ,but in order to make it entirely clear1 and bring it home to our minds1 that the pause is given by him who invites1 that it is he who gives us pause and renders it by no means an easy1 but a peculiarly difficult1 matter to follow his invitation1 because one has no right to accept it without accepting also him who invites--in order to make this entirely clear ,i shall briefly review his life under two aspects which1 to be sure1 show some difference though both essentially pertain to his abasement4 ,for it is always an abasement for ,god to become man1 even if he were to be an emperor of emperors2 and therefore he is not essentially more abased because he is a poor1 lowly man1 mocked1 and as ,scripture adds1#aa spat upon4 ,,the ,,first ,,phase ,,of ,,his ,,life ,and now let us speak about him in a homely fashion1 just as his contemporaries spoke about him1 and as one speaks about some contemporary--let him be a man of the same kind as we are1 whom one meets on the street in passing1 of whom one knows where he lives and in what story1 what his business is1 who his parents are1 his family1 how he looks and how he dresses1 with whom he associates1 and there is nothing extraordinary about him1 he looks as men generally look2 in short1 let us speak of him as one speaks of some contemporary about whom one does not make a great ado2 for in living life together with these thousands upon thousands of real people there is no room for a fine distinction like this3 ,possibly1 this man will be remembered in centuries to come1 and at the same time he is really only a clerk in some shop who is no whit better than his fellows4 ,therefore1 let us speak about him as contemporaries speak about some contemporary4 ,i know very well what ,i am doing2 and ,i want you to believe that the canting and indolent world-historic habit we have of always reverently speaking about ,christ 7since one has learned all about it from history1 and has heard so much about his having been something very extraordinary1 indeed1 or something of that kind7--that reverent habit1 ,i assure you1 is not worth a row of pins but is1 rather1 sheer thoughtlessness1 hypocrisy1 and as such blasphemy2 for it is blasphemy to reverence thoughtlessly him whom one is either to believe in or to be offended in4 ,it is the lowly ,jesus ,christ1 a humble man1 born of a maiden of low degree1 whose father is a carpenter4 ,to be sure1 his appearance is made under conditions which are bound to attract attention to him4 ,the small nation among whom he appears1 ,god's ,chosen ,people as they call themselves1 live in anticipation of a ,messiah who is to bring a golden period to land and people4 ,you must grant that the form in which he appears is as different as possible from what most people would have expected4 ,on the other hand1 his appearance corresponds more to the ancient prophecies with which the people are thought to have been familiar4 ,thus he presents himself4 ,a predecessor has called attention to him1 and he himself fastens attention very decidedly on himself by signs and wonders which are noised abroad in all the land--and he is the hero of the hour1 surrounded by unnumbered multitudes of people wheresoever he fares4 ,the sensation aroused by him is enormous1 every one's eyes are fastened on him1 every one who can go about1 aye even those who can only crawl1 must see the wonder--and every one must have some opinion about him1 so that the purveyors of ready-made opinions are put to it because the demand is so furious and the contradictions so confusing4 ,and yet he1 the worker of miracles1 ever remains the humble man who literally hath not where to lay his head4 ,and let us not forget3 signs and wonders as contemporary events have a markedly greater elasticity in repelling or attracting than the tame stories generally re-hashed by the priests1 or the still tamer stories about signs and wonders that happened--#ahjj years ago6 ,signs and wonders as contemporary events are something plaguy and importunate1 something which in a highly embarrassing manner almost compels one to have an opinion1 something which1 if one does not happen to be disposed to believe1 may exasperate one excessively by thus forcing one to be contemporaneous with it4 ,indeed1 it renders existence too complicated1 and the more so1 the more thoughtful1 developed1 and cultured one is4 ,it is a peculiarly ticklish matter1 this having to assume that a man who is contemporaneous with one really performs signs and wonders2 but when he is at some distance from one1 when the consequences of his life stimulate the imagination a bit1 then it is not so hard to imagine1 in a fashion1 that one believes it4 ,as ,i said1 then1 the people are carried away with him2 they follow him jubilantly1 and see signs and wonders1 both those which he performs and those which he does not perform1 and they are glad in their hope that the golden age will begin1 once he is king4 ,but the crowd rarely have a clear reason for their opinions1 they think one thing today and another tomorrow4 ,therefore the wise and the critical will not at once participate4 ,let us see now what the wise and the critical must think1 so soon as the first impression of astonishment and surprise has subsided4 ,the shrewd and critical man would probably say3 ,even assuming that this person is what he claims to be1 that is1 something extraordinary--for as to his affirming himself to be ,god ,i can1 of course1 not consider that as anything but an exaggeration for which ,i willingly make allowances1 and pardon him1 if ,i really considered him to be something extraordinary2 for ,i am not a pedant--assuming then1 which ,i hesitate to do1 for it is a matter on which ,i shall at any rate suspend my judgment--assuming then that he is really performing miracles3 is it not an inexplicable mystery that this person can be so foolish1 so weak-minded1 so altogether devoid of worldly wisdom1 so feeble1 or so good-naturedly vain1 or whatever else you please to call it--that he behaves in this fashion and almost forces his benefactions on men8 ,instead of proudly and commandingly keeping people away from himself at a distance marked by their profoundest submission1 whenever he does allow himself to be seen1 at rare occasions3 instead of doing so1 think of his being accessible to every one1 or rather himself going to every one1 of having intercourse with everybody1 almost as if being the extraordinary person consisted in his being everybody's servant1#ab as if the extraordinary person he claims to be were marked by his being concerned only lest men should fail to be benefited by him--in short as if being an extraordinary person consisted in being the most solicitous of all persons4 ,the whole business is inexplicable to me--what he wants1 what his purpose is1 what end he has in mind1 what he expects to accomplish2 in a word1 what the meaning of it all is4 ,he who by so many a wise saying reveals so profound an insight into the human heart1 he must certainly know what ,i1 using but half of my wits1 can predict for him1 viz4 that in such fashion one gets nowhere in the world--unless1 indeed1 despising prudence1 one consistently1 aims to make a fool of one's self or1 perchance1 goes so far in sincerity as to prefer being put to death2 but anyone1 one desiring that must certainly be crazy4 ,having such profound knowledge of the human heart he certainly ought to know that the thing to do is to deceive people and then to give one's deception the appearance of being a benefaction conferred on the whole race4 ,by doing so one reaps all advantages1 even the one whose enjoyment is the sweetest of all1 which is1 to be called by one's contemporaries a benefactor of the human race--for1 once in your grave1 you may snap your fingers at what posterity may have to say about you4 ,but to surrender one's self altogether1 as he does1 and not to think the least of one's self--in fact1 almost to beg people to accept these benefactions3 no1 ,i would not dream of joining his company4 ,and1 of course1 neither does he invite me2 for1 indeed1 he invites only them that labor and are heavy laden4 ,or he would reason as follows3 ,his life is simply a fantastic dream4 ,in fact1 that is the mildest expression one can use about it2 for1 when judging him in this fashion1 one is good-natured enough to forget altogether the evidence of sheer madness in his claim to be ,god4 ,this is wildly fantastical4 ,one may possibly live a few years of one's youth in such fashion4 ,but he is now past thirty years4 ,and he is literally nothing4 ,still further1 in a very short time he will necessarily lose all the respect and reputation he has gained among the people1 the only thing1 you may say1 he has gained for himself4 ,one who wishes to keep in the good graces of the people--the riskiest chance imaginable1 ,i will admit--he must act differently4 ,not many months will pass before the crowd will grow tired of one who is so altogether at their service4 ,he will be regarded as a ruined person1 a kind of outcast1 who ought to be glad to end his days in a corner1 the world forgetting1 by the world forgot2 providing he does not1 by continuing his previous behavior1 prefer to maintain his present attitude and be fantastic enough to wish to be put to death1 which is the unavoidable consequence of persevering in that course4 ,what has he done for his future8 ,nothing4 ,has he any assured position8 ,no4 ,what expectations has he8 ,none4 ,even this trifling matter3 what will he do to pass the time when he grows older1 the long winter nights1 what will he do to make them pass--why1 he cannot even play cards6 ,he is now enjoying a bit of popular favor--in truth1 of all movable property the most movable--which in a trice may turn into an enormous popular hatred of him4--,join his company8 ,no1 thank you1 ,i am still1 thank ,god1 in my right mind4 ,or he may reason as follows3 ,that there is something extraordinary about this person--even if one reserves the right1 both one's own and that of common sense1 to refrain from venturing any opinion as to his claim of being ,god--about that there is really little doubt4 ,rather1 one might be indignant at ,providence's having entrusted such a person with these powers--a person who does the very opposite of what he himself bids us do3 that we shall not cast our pearls before the swine2 for which reason he will1 as he himself predicts1 come to grief by their turning about and trampling him under their feet4 ,one may always expect this of swine2 but1 on the other hand1 one would not expect that he who had himself called attention to this likelihood1 himself would do precisely#ac what he knows one should not do4 ,if only there were some means of cleverly stealing his wisdom--for ,i shall gladly leave him in undisputed possession of that very peculiar thought of his that he is ,god--if one could but rob his wisdom without1 at the same time1 becoming his disciple6 ,if one could only steal up to him at night and lure it from him2 for ,i am more than equal to editing and publishing it1 and better than he1 if you please4 ,i undertake to astonish the whole world by getting something altogether different out of it2 for ,i clearly see there is something wondrously profound in what he says1 and the misfortune is only that he is the man he is4 ,but perhaps1 who knows1 perhaps it is feasible1 anyway1 to fool him out of it4 ,perhaps in that respect too he is good-natured and simple enough to communicate it quite freely to me4 ,it is not impossible2 for it seems to me that the wisdom he unquestionably possesses1 evidently has been entrusted to a fool1 seeing there is so much contradiction in his life4--,but as to joining his company and becoming his disciple--no1 indeed1 that would be the same as becoming'a fool oneself4 ,or he might reason as follows3 ,if this person does indeed mean to further what is good and true 7,i do not venture to decide this71 he is helpful at least1 in this respect1 to youths and inexperienced people4 ,for they will be benefited1 in this serious life of ours1 by learning1 the sooner the better1 and very thoroughly--he opens the eyes even of the blindest to this--that all this pretense of wishing to live only for goodness and truth contains a considerable admixture of the ridiculous4 ,he proves how right the poets of our times are when they let truth and goodness be represented by some half-witted fellow1 one who is so stupid that you can knock down a wall with him4 ,the idea of exerting one's self1 as this man does1 of renouncing everything but pains and trouble1 to be at beck and call all day long1 more eager than the busiest family physician--and pray why8 ,because he makes a living by it8 ,no1 not in the very least2 it has never occurred to him1 as far as ,i can see1 to want something in return4 ,does he earn any money by it8 ,no1 not a red cent--he has not a red cent to his name1 and if he did he would forthwith give it away4 ,does he1 then1 aspire to a position of honor and dignity in the state8 ,on the contrary1 he loathes all worldly honor4 ,and he who1 as ,i said1 condemns all worldly honor1 and practices the art of living on nothing2 he who1 if any one1 seems best fitted to pass his life in a most comfortable dolce far niente--which is not such a bad thing--3 he lives under a greater strain than any government official who is rewarded by honor and dignity1 lives under a greater strain than any business man who earns money like sand4 ,why does he exert himself thus1 or 7why this question about a matter not open to question87 why should any one exert himself thus--in order to attain to the happiness of being ridiculed1 mocked1 and so forth8 ,to be sure1 a peculiar kind of pleasure6 ,that one should push one's way through a crowd to reach the spot where money1 honor1 and glory are distributed--why1 that is perfectly understandable2 but to push forward to be whipped3 how exalted1 how ,christian1 how stupid6 ,or he will reason as follows3 ,one hears so many rash opinions about this person from people who understand nothing--and worship him2 and so many severe condemnations of him by those who1 perhaps1 misunderstand him after all4 ,as for me1 ,i am not going to allow myself to be accused of venturing a hasty opinion4 ,i shall keep entirely cool and calm2 in fact1 which counts for still more1 ,i am conscious of being as reasonable and moderate with him as is possible4 ,grant now--which1 to be sure4 ,i do only to a certain extent--grant even that one's reason is impressed by this person4 ,what1 then1 is my opinion about him8 ,my opinion is1 that for the present1 ,i can form no opinion about him4 ,i do not mean about his claim of being ,god2 for about that ,i can never in all eternity have an opinion4 ,no1 ,i mean about him as a man4 ,only by the consequences of his life shall we be able to decide whether he was an extraordinary person or whether1 deceived by his imagination1 he applied too high a standard1 not only to himself1 but also to humanity in general4 ,more ,i cannot do for him1 try as ,i may--if he were my only friend1 my own child1 ,i could not judge him more leniently1 nor differently1 either4 ,it follows from this1 to be sure1 that in all probability1 and for good reasons1 ,i shall not ever be able to have any opinion about him4 ,for in order to be able to form an opinion ,i must first see the consequences of his life1 including his very last moments2 that is1 he must be dead4 ,then1 and perhaps not even then1 may ,i form an opinion of him4 ,and even granting this1 it is not really an opinion about him1 for he is then no more4 ,no more is needed to say why it is impossible for me to join him while he is living4 ,the authority he is said to show in his teaching can have no decisive influence in my case2 for it is surely easy to see that his thought moves in a circle4 ,he quotes as authority that which he is to prove1 which in its turn can be proved only by the consequences of his life2 provided1 of course1 it is not connected with that fixed idea of his about being ,god1 because if it is therefore he has this authority 7because he is ,god7 the answer must be3 yes--if6 ,so much1 however1 ,i may admit1 that if ,i could imagine myself self living in some later age1 and if the consequences of his life as shown in history had made it plain that he was the extraordinary person he in a former age claimed to be1 then it might very well be--in fact1 ,i might come very near1 becoming his disciple4 ,an ecclesiastic would reason as follows3 ,for an impostor and demagogue he has1 to say the truth1 a remarkable air of honesty about him2 for which reason he cannot be so absolutely dangerous1 either1 even though the situation looks dangerous enough while the squall is at its height1 and even though the situation looks dangerous enough with his enormous popularity--until the squall has passed over and the people--yes1 precisely the people--overthrow him again4 ,the honest thing about him is his claim to be the ,messiah when he resembles him so little as he does4 ,that is honest1 just as if some one in preparing bogus paper-money made the bills so poorly that every one who knows the least about it cannot fail to detect the fraud4--,true enough1 we all look forward to a ,messiah1 but surely no one with any sense expects ,god himself to come1 and every religious person shudders at the blasphemous attitude of this person4 ,we look forward to a ,messiah1 we are all agreed on that4 ,but the governance of the world does not go forward tumultuously1 by leaps and bounds2 the development of the world1 as is indicated by the very fact that it is a development1 proceeds by evolution1 not by revolution4 ,the true ,messiah will therefore look quite different1 and will arrive as the most glorious flower1 and the highest development1 of that which already exists4 ,thus will the true ,messiah come1 and he will proceed in an entirely different fashion3 he will recognize the existing order as the basis of things1 he will summon all the clergy to council and present to them the results accomplished by him1 as well as his credentials--and then1 if he obtain the majority of the votes when the ballot is cast1 he will be received and saluted as the extraordinary person1 as the one he is3 the ,messiah4#ad ,however1 there is a duplicity in this man's behavior2 he assumes too much the role of judge4 ,it seems as if he wished to be1 at one and the same time1 both the judge who passes sentence on the existing order of things1 and the ,messiah4 ,if he does not wish to play the role of the judge1 then why his absolute isolation1 his keeping at a distance from all which has to do with the existing order of things8 ,and if he does not wish to be the judge1 then why his fantastic flight from reality to join the ignorant crowd1 then why with the haughtiness of a revolutionary does he despise all the intelligence and efficiency to be found in the existing order of things8 ,and why does he begin afresh altogether1 and absolutely from the bottom up1 by the help of--fishermen and artisans8 ,may not the fact that he is an illegitimate child fitly characterize his entire relation to the existing order of things8 ,on the other hand1 if he wishes to be only the ,messiah1 why then his warning about putting a piece of new cloth unto an old garment4#ae ,for these words are precisely the watchwords of every revolution since they are expressive of a person's discontent with the existing order and of his wish to destroy it4 ,that is1 these words reveal his desire to remove existing conditions1 rather than to build on them and better them1 if one is a reformer1 or to develop them to their highest possibility1 if one is indeed the ,messiah4 ,this is duplicity4 ,in fact1 it is not feasible to be both judge and ,messiah4 ,such duplicity will surely result in his downfall4#af ,the climax in the life of a judge is his death by violence1 and so the poet pictures it correctly2 but the climax in the life of the ,messiah cannot possibly be his death4 ,or else1 by that very fact1 he would not be the ,messiah1 that is1 he whom the existing order expects in order to deify him4 ,this duplicity has not as yet been recognized by the people1 who see in him their ,messiah2 but the existing order of things cannot by any manner of means recognize him as such4 ,the people1 the idle and loafing crowd1 can do so only because they represent nothing less than the existing order of things4 ,but as soon as the duplicity becomes evident to them1 his doom is sealed4 ,why1 in this respect his predecessor was a far more definitely marked personality1 for he was but one thing1 the judge4 ,but what confusion and thoughtlessness1 to wish to be both1 and what still worse confusion1 to acknowledge his predecessor as the judge--that is1 in other words1 precisely to make the existing order of things receptive and ripe for the ,messiah who is to come after the judge1 and yet not wish to associate himself with the existing order of things6 ,and the philosopher would reason as follows3 ,such dreadful or1 rather1 insane vanity1 that a single individual claims to be ,god1 is a thing hitherto unheard of4 ,never before have we been witness to such an excess of pure subjectivity and sheer negation4 ,he has no doctrines1 no system of philosophy1 he knows really nothing1 he simply keeps on repeating1 and making variations on1 some unconnected aphoristic sentences1 some few maxims1 and a couple of parables by which he dazzles the crowd for whom he also performs signs and wonders2 so that they1 instead of learning something1 or being improved1 come to believe in one who in a most brazen way constantly forces his subjective views on us4 ,there is nothing objective or positive whatever in him and in what he says4 ,indeed1 from a philosophical point of view1 he does not need to fear destruction for he has perished already1 since it is inherent in the nature of subjectivity to perish4 ,one may in all fairness admit that his subjectivity is remarkable and that1 be it as it may with the other miracles1 he constantly repeats his miracle with the five small loaves1#ag viz41 by means of a few lyric utterances and some aphorisms he rouses the whole country4 ,but even if one were inclined to overlook his insane notion of affirming himself to be ,god1 it is an incomprehensible mistake1 which1 to be sure1 demonstrates a lack of philosophic training1 to believe that ,god could reveal himself in the form of an individual4 ,the race1 the universal1 the total1 is ,god2 but the race surely is not an individual6 ,generally speaking1 that is the impudent assumption of subjectivity1 which claims that the individual is something extraordinary4 ,but sheer insanity is shown in the claim of an individual to be ,god4 ,because if the insane thing were possible1 viz4 that an individual might be ,god1 why1 then this individual would have to be worshipped1 and a more beastly philosophic stupidity is not conceivable4 ,the astute statesman would reason as follows3 ,that at present this person wields great power is undeniable--entirely disregarding1 of course1 this notion of his that he is ,god4 ,foibles like these1 being idiosyncrasies1 do not count against a man and concern no one1 least of all a statesman4 ,a statesman is concerned only with what power a man wields2 and that he does wield great power cannot1 as ,i have remarked1 be denied4 ,but what he intends to do1 what his aim is1 ,i cannot make out at all4 ,if this be calculation it must be of an entirely new and peculiar order1 not so altogether unlike what is otherwise called madness4 ,he possesses points of considerable strength2 but he seems to defeat1 rather than to use1 it2 he expends it without himself getting any returns4 ,i consider him a phenomenon with which--as ought to be one's rule with all phenomena--a wise man should not have anything to do1 since it is impossible to calculate him or the catastrophe threatening his life4 ,it is possible that he will be made king4 ,it is possible1 ,i say2 but it is not impossible1 or rather1 it is just as possible1 that he may end on the gallows4 ,he lacks earnestness in all his endeavors4 ,with all his enormous stretch of wings he only hovers and gets nowhere4 ,he does not seem to have any definite plan of procedure1 but just hovers4 ,is it for his nationality he is fighting1 or does he aim at a communistic revolution8 ,does he wish to establish a republic or a kingdom8 ,with which party does he affiliate himself to combat which party1 or does he wish to fight all parties8 ,i have anything to do with him8--,no1 that would be the very last thing to enter my mind4 ,in fact1 ,i take all possible precautions to avoid him4 ,i keep quiet1 undertake nothing1 act as if ,i did not exist2 for one cannot even calculate how he might interfere with one's undertakings1 be they ever so unimportant1 or at any rate1 how one might become involved in the vortex of his activities4 ,dangerous1 in a certain sense enormously dangerous1 is this man4 ,but ,i calculate that ,i may ensnare him precisely by doing nothing4 ,for overthrown he must be4 ,and this is done most2 safely by letting him do it himself1 by letting him stumble over himself4 ,i have1 at least at this moment1 not sufficient power to bring about his fall2 in fact1 ,i know no one who has4 ,to undertake the least thing against him now1 means to be crushed one's self4 ,no1 my plan is constantly to exert only negative resistance to him1 that is1 to do nothing1 and he will probably involve himself in the enormous consequences he draws after him1 till in the end he will tread on his own train1 as it were1 and thus fall4 ,and the steady citizen would reason as follows 7which would then become the opinion of his family73 ,now1 let us be human1 everything is good when done in moderation1 too little and too much spoil everything1 and as a ,french saying has it which ,i once heard a traveling salesman use3 every power which exceeds itself comes to a fall--and as to this person1 his fall is certainly sure enough4 ,i have earnestly spoken to my son and warned and admonished him not to drift into evil ways and join that person4 ,and why8 ,because all people are running after him4 ,that is to say1 what sort of people8 ,idlers and loafers1 street-walkers and tramps1 who run after everything4 ,but mightily few of the men who have house and property1 and nobody who is wise and respected1 none after whom ,i set my clock1 neither councillor ,johnson1 nor senator ,anderson1 nor the wealthy broker ,nelson--oh no6 they know what's what4 ,and as to the ministry who ought to know most about such matters--ah1 they will have none of him4 ,what was it pastor ,green said in the club the other evening8 ',that man will yet come to a terrible end1' he said4 ,and ,green1 he can do more than preach1 you oughtn't to hear him ,sundays in church so much as ,mondays in the club--,i just wished ,i had half his knowledge of affairs6 ,he said quite correctly1 and as if spoken out of my own heart3 ',only idlers and loafers are running after that man4' ,and why do they run after him8 ,because he performs some miracles4 ,but who is sure they are miracles1 or that he can confer the same power on his disciples8 ,and1 in any case1 a miracle is something mightily uncertain1 whereas the certain is the certain4 ,every serious father who has grown-up children must be truly alarmed lest his sons be seduced and join that man together with the desperate characters who follow him--desperate characters who have nothing to lose4 ,and even these1 how does he help them8 ,why1 one must be mad to wish to be helped in this fashion4 ,even the poorest beggar is brought to a worse estate than his former one1 is brought to a pass he could have escaped by remaining what he was1 that is1 a beggar and no more4 ,and the mocker1 not the one hated on account of his malice1 but the one who is admired for his wit and liked for his good nature1 he would reason as follows3 ,it is1 after all1 a rich idea which is going to prove useful to all of us1 that an individual who is in no wise different from us claims to be ,god4 ,if that is not being a benefactor of the race then ,i don't know what charity and beneficence are4 ,if we assume that the characteristic of being ,god--well1 who in all the world would have hit on that idea8 ,how true that such an idea could not have entered into the heart of man#ah--;but if we assume that it consists in looking in no wise different from the rest of us1 and in nothing else3 why1 then we are all gods4 ,q4 ,e4 ,d4 ,three cheers for him1 the inventor of a discovery so extraordinarily important for mankind6 ,tomorrow ,i1 the undersigned1 shall proclaim that ,i am ,god1 and the discoverer at least will not be able to contradict me without contradicting himself4 ,at night all cats are gray2 and if to be ,god consists in looking like the rest of us1 absolutely and altogether like the rest of mankind3 why1 then it is night and we all are4441 or what is it ,i wanted to say3 we all are ,god1 every one of us1 and no one has a right to say he isn't as well off as his neighbor4 ,this is the most ridiculous situation imaginable1 the contradiction here being the greatest imaginable1 and a contradiction always making for a comical effect4 ,but this is in no wise my discovery1 but solely that of the discoverer3 this idea that a man of exactly the same appearance as the rest of us1 only not half so well dressed as the average man1 that is1 a poorly dressed person who1 rather than being ,god1 seems to invite the attention of the society for the relief of the poor--that he is ,god6 ,i am only sorry for the director of the charitable society that he will not get a raise from this general advancement of the human race but that he will1 rather1 lose his job on account of this1 etc4 ,ah1 my friend1 ,i know well what ,i am doing1 ,i know my responsibility1 and my soul is altogether assured of the correctness of my procedure4 ,now then1 imagine yourself a contemporary of him who invites4 ,imagine yourself to be a sufferer1 but consider well to what you expose yourself in becoming his disciple and following him4 ,you expose yourself to losing practically everything in the eyes of all wise and sensible and respected men4 ,he who invites demands of you that you surrender all1 give up everything2 but the common sense of your own times and of your contemporaries will not give you up1 but will judge that to join him is madness4 ,and mockery will descend cruelly upon you2 for while it will almost spare him1 out of compassion1 you will be thought madder than a march-hare for becoming his disciple4 ,people will say3 ,that h e is a wrong-headed enthusiast1 that can't be helped4 ,well and good2 but to become--in all seriousness--his disciple1 that is the greatest piece of madness imaginable4 ,there surely is but one possibility of being madder than a madman1 which is the higher madness of joining a madman in all seriousness and regarding him as a sage4 ,do not say that the whole presentation above is exaggerated4 ,ah1 you know 7but1 possibly1 have not fully realized it7 that among all the respectable men1 among all the enlightened and sensible men1 there was but one--though it is easily possible that one or the other of them1 impelled by curiosity1 entered into conversation with him--that there was but one among them who sought him in all seriousness4#ai ,and he came to him--in the night6 ,and as you know1 in the night one walks on forbidden paths1 one chooses the night to go to places of which one does not like to be known as a frequenter4 ,consider the opinion of the inviter implied in this--it was a disgrace to visit him1 something no man of honor could afford to do1 as little as to pay a nightly visit to--but no1 ,i do not care to say in so many words what would follow this as little as4 ,come hither to me now all ye that labor and are heavy laden1 and ,i will give you rest4 ,,the ,,second ,,phase ,,of ,,his ,,life ,his end was what all the wise and the sensible1 the statesmen and the citizens and the mockers1 etc41 predicted it would be4 ,and as was later spoken to him1 in a moment when1 it would seem1 the most hardened ought to have been moved to sympathy1 and the very stones to tears3 ,he saved others2 let him save himself1#bj and as it has been repeated thousands upon thousands of times1 by thousands upon thousands3 ,what was it he spoke of before1 saying his hour was not yet come#ba--;is it come now1 perchance8--,it has been repeated1 alas1 the while the single individual1 the believer1 shudders whenever considering--while yet unable to refrain from gazing into the depth of what to men is a meaningless absurdity--shudders when considering that ,god in human guise1 that his divine teaching1 that these signs and wonders which might have made a very ,sodom and ,gomorrha reform its ways1 in reality produced the exact opposite1 and caused the teacher to be shunned1 hated1 despised4 ,who he is1 one can recognize more easily now when the powerful ones and the respected ones1 and all the precautionary measures of those upholding the existing order1 have corrected any wrong conception one might have entertained about him at first--now when the people have lost their patience to wait for a ,messiah1 seeing that his life1 instead of rising in dignity1 lapsed into ever greater degradation4 ,who1 pray1 does not recognize that a man is judged according to the society in which he moves--and now1 think of his society6 ,indeed1 his society one might well designate as equivalent to being expelled from human society2 for his society are the lowest classes of the people1 with sinners and publicans among them1 people whom everybody with the slightest self-respect shuns for the sake of his good name and reputation--and a good name and reputation surely are about the least one can wish to preserve4 ,in his company there are1 furthermore1 lepers whom every one flees1 madmen who can only inspire terror1 invalids and wretches--squalor and misery4 ,who1 then1 is this person that1 though followed by such a company1 still is the object of the persecution of the mighty ones8 ,he is one despised as a seducer of men1 an impostor1 a blasphemer6 ,and if any one enjoying a good reputation refrains from expressing contempt of him1 it is really only a kind of compassion2 for to fear him is1 to be sure1 something different4 ,such1 then1 is his appearance2 for take care not to be influenced by anything that you may have learned after the event--as1 how his exalted spirit1 with an almost divine majesty1 never was so markedly manifest as just them4 ,ah1 my friend1 if you were the contemporary of one who is not only himself excluded from the synagogue but1 as you will remember1 whose very help meant being excluded from the synagogue--,i say1 if you were the contemporary of an outcast1 who in every respect answers to that term1 7for everything has two sides73 then you will scarcely be the man to explain all this in terms directly contrary to appearances2#bb or1 which is the same thing1 you will not be the single individual which1 as you well know1 no one wants to be1 and to be which is regarded as a ridiculous oddity1 perhaps even as a crime4 ,and now--for they are his society chiefly--as to his apostles6 ,what absurdity2 though not--what new absurdity1 for it is quite in keeping with the rest--his apostles are some fishermen1 ignorant people who but the other day followed their trade4 ,and tomorrow1 to pile one absurdity on the other1 they are to go out into the wide world and transform its aspect4 ,and it is he who claims to be ,god1 and these are his duly appointed apostles6 ,now1 is he to make his apostles respected1 or are perhaps the apostles to make him respected8 ,is he1 the inviter1 is he an absurd dreamer8 ,indeed1 his procession would make it seem so2 no poet could have hit on a better idea4 ,a teacher1 a sage1 or whatever you please to call him1 a kind of stranded genius1 who affirms himself to be ,god--surrounded by a jubilant mob1 himself accompanied by some publicans1 criminals1 and lepers2 nearest to him a chosen few1 his apostles4 ,and these judges so excellently competent as to what truth is1 these fishermen1 tailors1 and shoe-makers1 they do not only admire him1 their teacher and master1 whose every word is wisdom and truth3 they do not only see what no one else can see1 his exaltedness and holiness1 nay1 but they see ,god in him and worship him4 ,certainly1 no poet could invent a better situation1 and it is doubtful if the poet would not forget the additional item that this same person is feared by the mighty ones and that they are scheming to destroy him4 ,his death alone can reassure and satisfy them4 ,they have set an ignominious punishment on joining his company1 on merely accepting aid from him2 and yet they do not feel secure1 and cannot feel altogether reassured that the whole thing is mere wrong-headed enthusiasm and absurdity4 ,thus the mighty ones4 ,the populace who had ,idolized him1 the populace have pretty nearly given him up1 only in moments does their old conception of him blaze forth again4 ,in all his existence there is not a shred the most envious of the envious might envy him to have4 ,nor do the mighty ones envy his life4 ,they demand his death for safety's sake1 so that they may have peace again1 when all has returned to the accustomed ways1 peace having been made still more secure by the warning example of his death4 ,these are the two phases of his life4 ,it began with the people's idolizing him1 whereas all who were identified with the existing order of things1 all who had power and influence1 vengefully1 but in a cowardly and hidden manner1 laid their snares for him--in which he was caught1 then8 ,yes1 but he perceived it well4 ,finally the people discover that they had been deceived in him1 that the fulfillment he would bring them answered least of all to their expectations of wonders and mountains of gold4 ,so the people deserted him and the mighty ones drew the snare about him--in which he was caught1 then8 ,yes1 but he perceived it well4 ,the mighty ones drew the snare together about him--and thereupon the people1 who then saw themselves completely deceived1 turned against him in hatred and rage4 ,and--to include that too--compassion would say2 or1 among the compassionate ones--for compassion is sociable1 and likes to assemble together1 and you will find spitefulness and envy keeping company with whining soft-headedness3 since1 as a heathen philosopher observed long ago1 no one is so ready to sympathize as an envious person--among the compassionate ones the verdict would be3 it is really too bad that this good-hearted fellow is to come to such an end4 ,for he was really a good sort of fellow4 ,granting it was an exaggeration to claim to be ,god1 he really was good to the poor and the needy1 even if in an odd manner1 by becoming one of them and going about in the company of beggars4 ,but there is something touching in it all1 and one can't help but feel sorry for the poor fellow who is to suffer such a miserable death4 ,for you may say what you will1 and condemn him as strongly as you will1 ,i cannot help feeling pity for him4 ,i am not so heard-hearted as not to feel compassion4 ,we have arrived at the last phase1 not of ,sacred ,history1 as handed down by the apostles and disciples who believed in ,christ1 but of profane history1 its counterpart4 ,come hither now1 all ye that labor and are heavy laden2 that is1 if you feel the need1 even if you are of all sufferers the most miserable--if you feel the need of being helped in this fashion1 that is1 to fall into still greater suffering1 then come hither1 he will help you4 ,,iii ,,the ,,invitation ,,and ,,the ,,inviter ,let us forget for a little while what1 in the strictest sense1 constitutes the offense2 which is1 that the inviter claims to be ,god4 ,let us assume that he did not claim to be more than a man1 and let us then consider the inviter and his invitation4 ,the invitation is surely inviting enough4 ,how1 then1 shall one explain the bad relation which did exist1 this terribly wrong relation1 that no one1 or practically no one1 accepted the invitation2 that1 on the contrary1 all1 or practically all--alas6 and was it not precisely all who were invited8--that practically all were at one in offering resistance to the inviter1 in wishing to put him to death1 and in setting a punishment on accepting aid from him8 ,should one not expect that after an invitation such as he issued all1 all who suffered1 would come crowding to him1 and that all they who were not suffering would crowd to him1 touched by the thought of such compassion and mercy1 and that thus the whole race would be at one in admiring and extolling the inviter8 ,how is the opposite to be explained8 ,for that this was the outcome is certain enough2 and the fact that it all happened in those remote times is surely no proof that the generation then living was worse than other generations6 ,how could any one be so thoughtless as to believe that8 ,for whoever gives any thought to the matter will easily see that it happened in that generation only because they chanced to be contemporaneous with him4 ,how then explain that it happened--that all came to that terribly wrong end1 so opposite to what ought to have been expected8 ,well1 in the first place1 if the inviter had looked the figure which purely human compassion would have him be2 and1 in the second place1 if he had entertained the purely human conception of what constitutes man's misery--why1 then it would probably not have happened4 ,in the first place3 ,according to this human conception of him he should have been a most generous and sympathetic person1 and at the same time possessed of all qualifications requisite for being able to help in all troubles of this world1 ennobling the help thus extended by a profound and heartfelt human compassion4 ,withal 7so they would imagine him7 he should also have been a man of some distinction and not without a certain amount of human self-assertion--the consequence of which would be1 however1 that he would neither have been able1 in his compassion1 to reach down to all sufferers1 nor yet to have comprehended fully what constitutes the misery of man and of mankind4 ,but divine compassion1 the infinite unconcern which takes thought only of those that suffer1 and not in the least of one's self1 and which with absolute unconcern takes thought of all that suffer3 that will always seem to men only a kind of madness1 and they will ever be puzzled whether to laugh or to weep about it4 ,even if nothing else had militated against the inviter1 this alone would have been sufficient to make his lot hard in the world4 ,let a man but try a little while to practice divine compassion1 that is1 to be somewhat unconcerned in his compassion1 and you will at once perceive what the opinion of mankind would be4 ,for example3 let one who could occupy some higher rank in society1 let him not 7preserving all the while the distinction of his position7 lavishly give to the poor1 and philanthropically 7i4e4 in a superior fashion7 visit the poor and the sick and the wretched--no1 let him give up altogether the distinction of his position and in all earnest choose the company of the poor and the lowly1 let him live altogether with the people1 with workmen1 hodmen1 mortar-mixers1 and the like6 ,ah1 in a quiet moment1 when not actually beholding him1 most of us will be moved to tears by the mere thought of it2 but no sooner would they see him in this company--him who might have attained to honor and dignity in the world--see him walking along in such goodly company1 with a bricklayer's apprentice on his right side and a cobbler's boy on his left1 but--well1 what then8 ,first they would devise a thousand explanations to explain that it is because of queer notions1 or obstinacy1 or pride1 or vanity that he chooses this mode of life4 ,and even if they would refrain from attributing to him these evil motives they will never be reconciled with the sight of him--in this company4 ,the noblest person in the world will be tempted to laugh1 the moment he sees it4 ,and if all the clergymen in the world1 whether in velvet or in silk or in broadcloth or in satin1 contradicted me ,i would say3 ,you lie1 you only deceive people with your ,sunday sermons4 ,because it will always be possible for a contemporary to say about one so compassionate 7who1 it is to be kept in mind1 is our contemporary73 ,i believe he is actuated by vanity1 and that is why ,i laugh and mock at him2 but if he were truly compassionate1 or had ,i been contemporary with him1 the noble one--why then6 ,and now1 as to those exalted ones who were not understood by men--to speak in the fashion of the usual run of sermons--why1 sure enough1 they are dead4 ,in this fashion these people succeed in playing hide and seek4 ,you simply assume that every contemporary who ventures out so far is actuated only by vanity2 and as to the departed1 you assume that they are dead and that they1 therefore1 were among the glorious ones4 ,it must be remembered1 to be sure1 that every person wishes to maintain his own level in life1 and this fixed point1 this steady endeavor1 is one of the causes which limit human compassion to a certain sphere4 ,the cheese-monger will think that to live like the inmate of a poorhouse is going too far in expressing one's sympathy2 for the sympathy of the cheese-monger is biased in one regard which is1 his regard of the opinion of other cheese-mongers and of the saloon-keepers4 ,his compassion is therefore not without its limitations4 ,and thus with every class--and the journalists1 living as they do on the pennies of the poor1 under the pretense of asserting and defending their rights1 they would be the first to heap ridicule on this unlimited compassion4 ,to identify one's self wholly and literally with him who is most miserable 7and this1 only this1 is divine compassion71 that is to men the too much by which one is moved to tears1 in a quiet ,sunday hour1 and about which one unconsciously bursts into laughter when one sees it in reality4 ,the fact is1 it is too exalted a sight for daily use2 one must have it at some distance to be able to support it4 ,men are not so familiar with exalted virtue to believe it at once4 ,the contradiction seen here is1 therefore1 that this exalted virtue manifests itself in--reality1 in daily life1 quite literally the daily life4 ,when the poet or the orator illustrates this exalted virtue1 that is1 pictures it in a poetical distance from real life1 men are moved2 but to see this exalted virtue in reality1 the reality of daily life1 here in ,copenhagen1 on the ,market ,square1 in the midst of busy every-day life--6 ,and when the poet or the orator does touch people it is only for a short time1 and just so long are men able to believe1 almost1 in this exalted virtue4 ,but to see it in real life every day--6 ,to be sure1 there is an enormous contradiction in the statement that the most exalted of all has become the most every-day occurrence6 ,insofar1 then1 it was certain in advance what would be the inviter's fate1 even if nothing else had contributed to his doom4 ,the absolute1#bc or all which makes for an absolute standard1 becomes by that very fact the victim4 ,for men are willing enough to practice sympathy and self-denial1 are willing enough to strive for wisdom1 etc42 but they wish themselves to determine the standard and to have that read3 to a certain degree4 ,they do not wish to do away with all these splendid virtues4 ,on the contrary1 they want--at a bargain and in all comfort--to have the appearance and the name of practicing them4 ,truly divine compassion is therefore necessarily the victim so soon as it shows itself in this world4 ,it descends on earth out of compassion for mankind1 and yet it is mankind who trample upon it4 ,and whilst it is wandering about among them1 scarcely even the sufferer dares to flee to it1 for fear of mankind4 ,the fact is1 it is most important for the world to keep up the appearance of being compassionate2 but this it made out by divine compassion to be a falsehood--and therefore3 away with divine compassion6 ,but now the inviter represented precisely this divine compassion--and therefore he was sacrificed1 and therefore even those that suffered fled from him2 for they comprehended 7and1 humanly speaking1 very exactly71 what is true of most human infirmities1 that one is better off to remain what one is than to be helped by him4 ,in the second place3 the inviter likewise had an other1 and altogether different1 conception than the purely human one as to what constitutes man's misery4 ,and in this sense only he was intent on helping2 for he had with him neither money1 nor medicine1 nor anything else of this kind4 ,indeed1 the inviter's appearance is so altogether different from what human compassion wold imagine it that he is a downright offense to men4 ,in a purely human sense there is something positively cruel--something outrageous1 something so exasperating as to make one wish to kill that person--in the fact of his inviting to him the poor and the sick and the suffering1 and then not being able to do anything for them1 except to promise them remission of their sins4 ,let us be human1 man is no spirit4 ,and when a person is about to die of starvation and you say to him3 ,i promise you the gracious remission of your sins--that is revolting cruelty4 ,in fact it is ridiculous1 though too serious a matter to laugh about4 ,well 7for in quoting these sentiments ,i wish merely to let offended man discover the contradiction and exaggerate it--it is not ,i who wish to exaggerate71 well then1 the real intention of the inviter was to point out that sin is the destruction of mankind4 ,behold now1 that makes room1 as the invitation also made room1 almost as if he had said procul1 o procul este profani1 or as if1 even though he had not said it1 a voice had been heard which thus interpreted the come hither of the invitation4 ,there surely are not many sufferers who will follow the invitation4 ,and even if there were one who1 although aware that from this inviter no actual wordily help was to be expected1 nevertheless had sought refuge with him1 touched by his compassion3 now even he will flee from him4 ,for is it not almost a bit of sharp practice to profess to be here out of compassion1 and then to speak about sin8 ,indeed1 it is a piece of cunning1 unless you are altogether certain that you are a sinner4 ,if it is tooth-ache which bothers you1 or if your house is burned to the ground1 but if it has escaped you that you are a sinner--why1 then it was cunning on his part4 ,it is a bit of sharp practice of him to assert3 ,i heal all manner of disease1 in order to say1 when one approaches him3 the fact is1 ,i recognize only one disease1 which is sin--of that ,i shall cure all them 'that labor and are heavy laden1' all them that labor to work themselves free of the power of sin1 that labor to resist the evil1 and to vanquish their weakness1 but succeed only in being laden4 ,of this malady he cures all persons2 even if there were but a single one who turned to him because of this malady3 he heals all persons4 ,but to come to him on account of any other disease1 and only because of that1 is about as useful as to look up an eye-doctor when you have fractured your leg4 ,,christianity ,,as ,,the ,,absolute2 ,,contemporaneousness ,,with ,,christ ,with its invitation to all that labor and are heavy laden ,christianity has entered the world1 not--as the clergy whimperingly and falsely introduce it--as a shining paragon of mild grounds of consolation2 but as the absolute4 ,god wills it so because of ,his love1 but it is ,god who wills it1 and ,he wills it as ,he wills it4 ,he does not choose to have ,his nature changed by man and become a nice1 that is to say1 humane1 ,god2 but ,he chooses to change the nature of man because of ,his love for them4 ,neither does ,he care to hear any human impertinence concerning the why and wherefore of ,christianity1 and why it entered the world3 it is1 and is to be1 the absolute4 ,therefore all the relative explanations which may have been ventured as to its why and wherefore are entirely beside the point4 ,possibly1 these explanations were suggested by a kind of human compassion which believes it necessary to haggle a bit--,god very likely does not know the nature of man very well1 ,his demands are a bit exorbitant1 and therefore the clergymen must haggle and beat ,him down a bit4#bd ,maybe the clergy hit upon that idea in order to stand well with men and reap some advantage from preaching the gospel2 for if its demands are reduced to the purely human1 to the demands which arise in man's heart1 why1 then men will of course think well of it1 and of course also of the amiable preacher who knows how to make ,christianity so mild--if the ,apostles had been able to do that the world would have esteemed them highly also in their time4 ,however1 all this is the absolute4 ,but what is it good for1 then--is it not a downright torment8 ,why1 yes1 you may say so3 from the standpoint of the relative1 the absolute is the greatest torment4 ,in his dull1 languid1 sluggish moments1 when man is dominated by his sensual nature1 ,christianity is an absurdity to him since it is not commensurable with any definite wherefore8 ,but of what use is it1 then8 ,answer3 peace6 it is the absolute4 ,and thus it must be represented2 that is1 in a fashion which makes it appear as an absurdity to the sensual nature of man4 ,and therefore is it1 ah1 so true and1 in still another sense1 so true when the worldly-wise man who is contemporaneous with ,christ condemns him with the words3 he is literally nothing--quite true1 for he is the absolute4 ,and1 being absolute1 ,christianity has come in the world1 not as a consolation in the human sense3 in fact1 quite on the contrary1 it is ever reminding one how the ,christian must suffer in order to become1 or to remain1 a ,christian--sufferings which he may1 if you please1 escape by not electing to be a ,christian4 ,there is1 indeed1 an unbridgeable gulf fixed between ,god and man4 ,it therefore became plain to those contemporary with ,christ that the process of becoming a ,christian 7that is1 being changed into the likeness of ,god7 is1 in a human sense1 a greater torment and wretchedness and pain than the greatest conceivable human suffering1 and moreover a crime in the eyes of one's contemporaries4 ,and thus will it always be2 that is1 if becoming a ,christian in reality means becoming contemporaneous with ,christ4 ,and if becoming a ,christian does not have that meaning1 then all your chatter about becoming a ,christian is a vanity1 a delusion and a snare1 and likewise a blasphemy and a sin against the ,holy ,ghost4 ,for with regard to the absolute there is but one time1 viz4 the present4 ,he who is not contemporaneous with the absolute1 for him it does not exist at all4 ,and since ,christ is the absolute1 it is evident that in respect of him there is but one situation3 contemporaneousness4 ,the three1 or seven1 or fifteen1 or seventeen1 or eighteen hundred years which have elapsed since his death do not make the least difference1 one way or the other4 ,they neither change him nor reveal1 either1 who he was2 for his real nature is revealed only to faith4 ,christ1 let me say so with the utmost seriousness1 is not an actor2 neither is he a merely historical personage since1 being the paradox1 he is an extremely unhistorical personage4 ,but precisely this is the difference between poetry and reality3 contemporaneousness4#be ,the difference between poetry and history is no doubt this1 that history is what has really happened1 and poetry1 what is possible1 the action which is supposed to have taken place1 the life which has taken form in the poet's imagination4 ,but that which really happened 7the past7 is not necessarily reality1 except in a certain sense1 viz41 in contrast with poetry4 ,there is still lacking in it the criterion of truth 7as inwardness7 and of all religion1 there is still lacking the criterion3 the truth ,,for ,,you4 ,that which is past is not a reality--for me1 but only my time is4 ,that which you are contemporaneous with1 that is reality--for you4 ,thus every person has the choice to be contemporaneous with the age in which he is living--and also with one other period1 with that of ,christ's life here on earth2 for ,christ's life on earth1 or ,sacred ,history1 stands by itself1 outside of history4 ,history you may read and hear about as a matter of the past4 ,within its realm you can1 if you so care1 judge actions by their results4 ,but in ,christ's life here on earth there is nothing past4 ,it did not wait for the assistance of any subsequent results in its own time1 #ahjj years ago2 neither does it now4 ,historic ,christianity is sheer moonshine and un-,christian muddle-headedness4 ,for those true ,christians who in every generation live a life contemporaneous with that of ,christ have nothing whatsoever to do with ,christians of the preceding generation1 but all the more with their contemporary1 ,christ4 ,his life here on earth attends every generation1 and every generation severally1 as ,sacred ,history2 his life on earth is eternal contemporaneousness4 ,for this reason all learned lecturing about ,christianity1 which has its haunt and hiding-place in the assumption that ,christianity is something which belongs to the past and to the #ahjj years of history1 this lecturing is the most un-,christian of heresies1 as every one would readily recognize if he but tried to imagine the generation contemporaneous with ,christ as--lecturing6 ,no1 we must ever keep in mind that every generation 7of the faithful7 is contemporaneous with him4 ,if you cannot master yourself so as to make yourself contemporaneous with him and thus become a ,christian2 or if he cannot1 as your contemporary1 draw you to himself1 then you will never be a ,christian4 ,you may1 if you please1 honor1 praise1 thank1 and with all worldly goods reward1 him who deludes you into thinking that you are a ,christian2 nevertheless--he deceives you4 ,you may count yourself happy that you were not contemporaneous with one who dared to assert this2 or you may be exasperated to madness by the torment1 like that of the gadfly1#bf of being contemporaneous with one who says this to your face3 in the first case you are deceived1 whereas in the second you have at least had a chance to hear the truth4 ,if you cannot bear this contemporaneousness1 and not bear to see this sight in reality--if you cannot prevail upon yourself to go out into the street--and behold6 it is ,god in that loathsome procession2 and if you cannot bear to think that this will be your condition also if you kneel and worship him3 then you are not essentially a ,christian4 ,in that case1 what you will have to do is to admit the fact unconditionally to yourself1 so that you may1 above all1 preserve humility1 and fear and trembling1 when contemplating what it means really to be a ,christian4 ,for that way you must proceed1 in order to learn and to practice how to flee to grace1 so that you will not seek it in vain2 but do not1 for ,god's sake1 go to any one to be consoled4 ,for to be sure it is written3 blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see1#bg which word the priests have on the tips of their tongues--curiously enough2 at times1 perhaps1 even to defend a worldly finery which1 if contemporary with ,christ1 would be rather incongruous--as if these words had not been said solely about those contemporaries of his who believed4 ,if his exaltation had been evident to the eyes so that every one without any trouble could have beheld it1 why then it would be incorrect to say that ,christ abased himself and assumed the guise of a servant1 and it would be superfluous to warn against being offended in him2 for why in the world should one take offense in an exalted one arrayed in glory8 ,and how in the world will you explain it that ,christ fared so ill and that everybody failed to rush up admiringly to behold what was so plain8 ,ah no1 he hath no form nor comeliness2 and when we shall see him1 there is no beauty that we should desire him 7,isaiah #ec1 #bbh72 and there was to all appearances nothing remarkable about him who in lowly guise1 and by performing signs and wonders1 constantly presented the possibility of offense1 who claimed to be ,god--in lowly guise2 which therefore expresses3 in the first place1 what ,god means by compassion1 and by one's self needing to be humble and poor if one wishes to be compassionate2 and in the second place1 what ,god means by the misery of mankind4 ,which1 again1 in both instances is extremely different from what men mean by these things and which every generation1 to the end of time1 has to learn over again from the beginning1 and beginning in every respect at the same point where those who were contemporary with ,christ had to start2 that is1 to practice these things as contemporaries of ,christ4 ,human impatience and unruliness is1 of course1 of no avail whatsoever4 ,no man will be able to tell you in how far you may succeed in becoming essentially a ,christian4 ,but neither will anxiety and fear and despair help one4 ,sincerity toward ,god is the first and the last condition1 sincerity in confessing to one's self just where one stands1 sincerity before ,god in ever aiming at one's task4 ,however slowly one may proceed1 and if it be but crawling--one is1 at any rate1 in the right position and is not misled and deceived by the trick of changing the nature of ,christ who1 instead of being ,god1 is thereby made to represent that sentimental compassion which is man's own invention2 by which men instead of being lifted up to heaven by ,christianity1 are delayed on their way and remain human and no more4 ,,the ,,moral ,and what1 then1 does all this signify8 ,it signifies that every one1 in silent inwardness before ,god1 is to feel humility before what it means to be in the strictest sense a ,christian2 is to confess sincerely before ,god what his position is1 so that he may worthily partake of the grace which is offered to every one who is not perfect1 that is1 to every one4 ,and it means no more than that4 ,for the rest let him attend to his work and find joy in it1 let him love his wife1 rejoicing in her1 let him raise his children to be a joy to him1 and let him love his fellow-men and enjoy life4 ,god will surely let him know if more is demanded of him1 and will also help him to accomplish it2 for in the terrifying language of the law this sounds so terrible because it would seem as if man by his own strength were to hold fast to ,christ1 whereas in the language of love it is ,christ that holds fast to him4 ,as was said1 then1 ,god will surely let him know if more is demanded of him4 ,but what is demanded of every one is that he humble himself in the presence of ,god under the demands of ideality4 ,and therefore these demands should be heard1 and heard again and again in all their absoluteness4 ,to be a ,christian has become a matter of no importance whatever--a mummery1 something one is anyway1 or something one acquires more readily than a trick4 ,in very truth1 it is high time that the demands of ideality were heard4 ,but if being a ,christian is something so terrifying and awesome1 how in all the world can a man get it into his head to wish to accept ,christianity8 ,very simply and1 if you so wish1 quite according to ,luther3 only the consciousness of sin1 if ,i may express myself so1 can force one--from the other side1 grace exerts the attraction--can force one into this terror4 ,and in the same instant the ,christian ideal is transformed1 and is sheer mildness1 grace1 love1 and pity4 ,looking at it any other way1 however1 ,christianity is1 and shall ever be1 the greatest absurdity1 or else the greatest terror4 ,approach is had only through the consciousness of sin1 and to desire to enter by any other way amounts to a crime of lse-majest against ,christianity4 ,but sin1 or the fact that you and ,i1 individually1 are sinners1 has at present either been done away with1 or else the demands have been lowered in an unjustifiable manner1 both in life--the domestic1 the civic1 as well as the ecclesiastic--and in science which has invented the new doctrine of sin in general4 ,as an equivalent1 one has hit upon the device of helping men into ,christianity1 and keeping them in it1 by the aid of a knowledge of world-historic events1 of that mild teaching1 the exalted and profound spirit of it1 about ,christ as a friend1 etc41 etc4--all of which ,luther would have called stuff and nonsense and which is really blasphemy1 aiming as it does at fraternizing impudently with ,god and with ,christ4 ,only the consciousness of being a sinner can inspire one with absolute respect for ,christianity4 ,and just because ,christianity demands absolute respect it must and shall1 to any other way of looking at it1 seem absurdity or terror2 just because only thereby can the qualitative and absolute emphasis fall on the fact that it is only the consciousness of being a sinner which will procure entrance into it1 and at the same time give the vision which1 being absolute respect1 enables one to see the mildness and love and compassion of ,christianity4 ,the poor in spirit who acknowledge themselves to be sinners1 they do not need to know the least thing about the difficulties which appear when one is neither simple nor humble-minded4 ,but when this humble consciousness of one's self1 i4 e41 the individual's1 being a sinner is lacking--aye1 even though one possessed all human ingenuity and wisdom1 and had all accomplishments possible to man3 it will profit him little4 ,christianity will in the same degree rise terrifying before him and transform itself into absurdity or terror2 until he learns1 either to renounce it1 or else1 by the help of what is nothing less than scientific propdeutics1 apologetics1 etc41 that is1 through the torments of a contrite heart1 to enter into ,christianity by the narrow path1 through the consciousness of sin4 ,footnote #a3 ,first ,part2 comprising about one-fourth of the whole book4 ,footnote #b3 ,i4 e4 ,christ2 cf4 ,introduction for the use of small letters4 ,footnote #c3 ,socrates4 ,footnote #d3 ,john ,i1 #a4 ,footnote #e3 ,matthew #bj1 #ae4 ,footnote #f3 ,luke #aa1 #ad4 ,footnote #g3 ,kierkegaard's note3 by history we mean here profane history1 world history1 history as such1 as against ,sacred ,history4 ,footnote #h3 ,cf4 the claim of the ,pharisees1 ,matth4 #bc1 #cj3 ,if we had been in the days of our fathers1 we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets4 ,footnote #i3 ,one is here irresistibly reminded of passages in ,ibsen's ,brand1 e4 g41 ,brand's conversation with ,einar1 in ,act ,i4 ,cf4 also ,the invitation and the inviter and ,introduction ,footnote #aj3 ,matthew #aa1 #f4 ,footnote #aa3 ,luke #ah1 #cb4 ,footnote #ab3 ,matthew #bj1 #bg;f4 ,footnote #ac3 ,the original here does not agree with the sense of the passage4 ,footnote #ad3 ,bjrnson's play of ,beyond ,human ,power1 ,part ,i1 ,act #b1 reads like an elaboration of these views4 ,footnote #ae3 ,matthew #i1 #af4 ,footnote #af3 ,the following passage is capable of different interpretations in the original4 ,footnote #ag3 ,matthew #ad1 #ag4 ,footnote #ah3 ,cf4 #a ,cor4 #b1 #i4 ,footnote #ai3 ,john #c1 #a;f4 ,footnote #bj3 ,luke #bc1 #ce4 ,footnote #ba3 ,john #b1 #d1 etc4 ,footnote #bb3 ,the passage is not quite clear4 ,probably1 you will not be the man to explain this phenomenon in the very opposite terms1 viz41 as the divinity himself4 ,footnote #bc3 ,here1 the unreserved identification with human suffering above referred to4 ,footnote #bd3 ,cf4 ,footnote #h1 in ,the ,misfortune of ,christendom4 ,footnote #be3 ,as my friend1 ,h4 ,m4 ,jones1 points out1 the following passage is essentially ,aristotelian3 ,the true difference is that one 7history7 relates what has happened1 the other 7poetry7 what may happen2 ,poetics1 ,chap4 ,,ix4 ,footnote #bf3 ,cf4 ,plato's ,apologia where ,socrates is made to say of himself that he is inflicted on the ,athenians like a gadfly on a horse1 in order to keep them awake4 ,footnote #bg3 ,luke #aj1 #bc4 ,footnote #bh3 ,kierkegaard's own note4 ,,the ,,present ,,moment#a ,,by ,,way ,,of ,,introduction 7,no4 ,i1 #a7 ,plato says somewhere in his ,republic that things will go well only when those men shall govern the state who do not desire to govern4 ,the idea is probably that1 assuming the necessary capability1 a man's reluctance to govern affords a good guarantee that he will govern well and efficiently2 whereas a man desirous of governing may very easily either abuse his power and become a tyrant1 or by his desire to govern be brought into an unforeseen situation of dependence on the people he is to rule1 so that his government really becomes an illusion4 ,this observation applies also to other relations where much depends on taking things seriously3 assuming there is ability in a man1 it is best that he show reluctance to meddle with them4 ,to be sure1 as the proverb has it3 where there is a will there is a way2 but true seriousness appears only when a man fully equal to his task is forced1 against his will1 to undertake it--against his will1 but fully equal to the task4 ,in this sense ,i may say of myself that ,i bear a correct relation to the task in hand3 to work in the present moment2 for ,god knows that nothing is more distasteful to me4 ,authorship--well1 ,i confess that ,i find it pleasant2 and ,i may as well admit that ,i have dearly loved to write--in the manner1 to be sure1 which suits me4 ,and what ,i have loved to do is precisely the opposite of working in the present moment4 ,what ,i have loved is precisely remoteness from the present moment--that remoteness in which1 like a lover1 ,i may dwell on my thoughts and1 like an artist in love with his instrument1 entertain myself with language and lure from it the expressions demanded by my thoughts--ah blissful entertainment6 ,in an eternity ,i should not weary of this occupation4 ,to contend with men--well1 ,i do like it in a certain sense2 for ,i have by nature a temperament so polemic that ,i feel in my element only when surrounded by men's mediocrity and meanness4 ,but only on one condition1 viz41 that ,i be permitted to scorn them in silence and to satisfy the master passion of my soul3 scorn--opportunity for which my career as an author has often enough given me4 ,i am therefore a man of whom it may be said truthfully that he is not in the least desirous to work in the present moment--very probably ,i have been called to do so for that very reason4 ,now that ,i am to work in the present moment ,i must1 alas6 say farewell to thee1 beloved remoteness1 where there was no necessity to hurry1 but always plenty of time1 where ,i could wait for hours and days and weeks for the proper expression to occur to me2 whereas now ,i must break with all such regards of tender love4#b ,and now that ,i am to work in the present moment ,i find that there will be not a few persons whom ,i must oblige by paying my respects to all the insignificant things which mediocrity with great self-importance will lecture about2 to all the nonsense which mediocre people1 by interpreting into my words their own mediocrity1 will find in all ,i shall write2 and to all the lies and calumnies to which a man is exposed against whom those two great powers in society3 envy and stupidity1 must of necessity conspire4 ,why1 then1 do ,i wish to work in the present moment8 ,because ,i should forever repent of not having done so1 and forever repent of having been discouraged by the consideration that the generation now living would find a representation of the essential truths of ,christianity interesting and curious reading1 at most2 having accomplished which they will calmly remain where they are2 that is1 in the illusion that they are ,christians and that the clergy's toying with ,christianity really is ,christianity4 ,a ,,panegyric ,,on ,,the ,,human ,,race ,,or ,,proof ,,that ,,the ,,new ,,testament ,,is ,,no ,,longer ,,true4 7,no4 ,,ii1 #e7 ,in the ,new ,testament the ,savior of the ,world1 our ,lord ,jesus ,christ1 represents the matter in this way3 ,strait is the gate1 and narrow is the way1 which leadeth unto life1 and few there be that find it4#c --,now1 however1 just to confine ourselves to ,denmark1 the way is as broad as a road can possibly be2 in fact1 the broadest in ,denmark1 for it is the road we all travel4 ,at the same time it is in all respects a comfortable way1 and the gate as wide as it is possible for a gate to be2 for certainly a gate cannot be wider than to let all men pass through en masse3 ,therefore1 the ,new ,testament is no longer true4 ,all credit is due to the human race6 ,for thou1 oh ,savior of the ,world1 thou didst entertain too low an estimate of the human race1 so that thou didst not foresee the exalted plan which1 in its perfectibility1 it may reach by steadily continued endeavor6 ,to such an extent1 then1 is the ,new ,testament no longer true3 the way is the broadest possible1 the gate the widest possible1 and we are all ,christians4 ,in fact1 ,i may venture still further--,i am enthusiastic about it1 for you see ,i am writing a panegyric on the human race--,i venture to assert that the average ,jew living among us is1 to a certain degree1 a ,christian just as well as we others3 to such an extent are we all ,christians1 and to such an extent is the ,new ,testament no longer true4 ,and1 since the point is to find out all which may be adduced to extol the human race1 one ought--while having a care not to mention anything which is not true--one ought to watch that nothing1 nothing escape one which in this connection may serve as a proof or even as a suggestion4 ,so ,i venture still further--without wishing to be too positive1 as ,i lack definite information on this subject and would like1 therefore1 to refer the matter to specialists in this line to decide--3 whether there are not present among our domestic animals1 or at any rate the nobler ones1 such as the horse1 the dog and the cow1 indications of a ,christian spirit4 ,it is not improbable4 ,consider what it means to live in a ,christian state1 among a ,christian people1 where everything is ,christian and everybody is a ,christian and where one1 turn where one may1 sees nothing but ,christians and ,christianity1 truth and martyrs for the truth--it is not at all unlikely that this exerts an influence on the nobler domestic animals and thereby again--which is ever of the utmost importance1 according to the opinion both of veterinarians and of clergymen--an influence on their progeny4 ,we have all read of ,jacob's ruse1 how in order to obtain spotted lambs he put party-colored twigs into the watering troughs1 so that the ewes saw nothing but mottled things and then brought forth spotted lambs4 ,hence it is not improbable--although ,i do not wish to be positive1 since ,i do not belong to the profession1 but would rather have this passed on by a committee composed of both clergymen and veterinarians--,i say1 it is not improbable that the result will finally be that the domestic animals living in a ,christian nation will produce a ,christian progeny4 ,the thought almost takes away my breath4 ,to be sure1 in that case the ,new ,testament will to the greatest possible extent have ceased to be true4 ,ah1 ,thou ,savior of the ,world1 when ,thou saidst with great concern3 ,when the ,son of man cometh1 shall ,he find ,faith on the earth8#d--;and when ,thou didst bow ,thy head in death1 then didst ,thou least of all think that ,thy expectations were to be exceeded to such a degree1 and that the human race would in such a pretty and touching way render the ,new ,testament no longer true1 and ,thy significance almost doubtful2 for such nice creatures certainly also needed a ,savior6#e ,,if ,,we ,,are ,,really ,,christians--,,then ,,what ,,is ,,god8 7,no4 ,,ii1 #h7 ,if it is not so--that all we mean by being ,christians is a delusion--that all this machinery1 with a ,state ,church and thousands of spiritual-worldly councillors of chancery1 etc41 is a stupendous delusion which will not be of the least help to us in the life everlasting but1 on the contrary1 will be turned into an accusation against us--if this is not so2 for if it is1 then let us1 for the sake of life everlasting1 get rid of it1 the sooner the better-- ,if it is not so1 and if what we understand by being a ,christian really is to be a ,christian3 then what is ,god in ,heaven8 ,he is the most ridiculous being that ever existed1 ,his ,word is the most ridiculous book which has ever appeared2 for to move heaven and earth1 as ,he does in his ,word1 and to threaten with hell and everlasting damnation--in order to obtain as ,his result what we understand by being ,christians 7and our assumption was that we are true ,christians7--well1 now1 has anything so ridiculous ever been seen before8 ,imagine that a fellow with a loaded pistol in his hand held up a person and said to him1 ,i shall shoot you2 or imagine1 what is still more terrible1 that he said1 ,i shall seize you and torture you to death in the most horrible manner1 if--now watch1 here's the point--if you do not render your life here on earth as profitable and as enjoyable as you can3 would not that be utterly ridiculous8 ,for to obtain that effect it certainly is not necessary to threaten one with a loaded pistol and the most painful torture2 in fact1 it is possible that neither the loaded pistol nor the most painful torture would be able to deter him from making his life as comfortable as he can4 ,and the same is true when1 by fear of eternal punishment 7terrible threat671 and by hope of eternal salvation1 ,he wishes to bring about--well1 to make us what we are 7for what we call ,christian is1 as we have seen1 really being ,christian71 to make us--well1 to make us what we are2 that is1 make men live as they please2 for to abstain from committing crimes is nothing but common prudence6 ,the most terrible blasphemy is the one of which ,christianity is guilty1 which is1 to transform the ,god of the ,spirit into--a ridiculous piece of nonsense4 ,and the stupidest kind of worship1 more stupid than any idolatry ever was among the heathen1 and more stupid than to worship as a god some stone1 or an ox1 or an insect--more stupid than anything1 is to adore as god--a fool6 ,,diagnosis 7,no4 ,,iv1 #a7 ,i ,every physician will admit that by the correct diagnosis of a malady more than half the fight against it is won2 also1 that if a correct diagnosis has not been made1 all skill and all care and attention will be of little avail4 ,the same is true with regard to religion4 ,we are agreed to let stand the claim that in ,christendom we are ,christians1 every one of us2 and then we have laid and1 perhaps1 will lay1 emphasis now on this1 now on that1 side of the teachings of the ,scriptures4 ,but the truth is3 we are not only not ,christians--no1 we are not even the heathen to whom ,christianity may be taught without misgivings1 and what is worse1 we are prevented through a delusion1 an enormous delusion 7viz4 ,christendom1 the ,christian state1 a ,christian country1 a ,christian world7 from becoming ,christians4 ,and then the suggestion is made to one to continue untouched and unchanged this delusion and1 rather1 to furnish a new presentation of the teachings of ,christ4#f ,this has been suggested2 and1 in a certain sense1 it is altogether fitting4 ,just because one lives in a delusion 7not to speak even of being interested in keeping up the delusion71 one is bound to desire that which will feed the malady--a common enough observation this--the sick man desiring precisely those things which feed his malady4 ,,ii ,imagine a hospital4 ,the patients are dying off like so many flies4 ,the methods are changed1 now this way1 now that3 of no avail6 ,what may be the cause8 ,the cause lies in the building--the whole building is tainted4 ,the patients are put down as having died1 the one of this1 the other of that1 disease1 but strictly speaking this is not true2 for they all died from the taint which is in the building4 ,the same is true in religion4 ,that religious conditions are wretched1 and that people in respect of their religion are in a wretched condition1 nothing is more certain4 ,so one ventures the opinion that if we could but have a new hymn-book2 and another1 if we could but have a new service-book2 and a third1 if we could but have a musical service1 etc41 etc4--that then matters would mend4 ,in vain2 for the fault lies in the edifice4 ,the whole ramshackle pile of a ,state ,church which has not been aired1 spiritually speaking1 in times out of mind--the air in it has developed a taint4 ,and therefore religious life has become diseased or has died out2 alas1 for precisely that which the worldly mind regards as health is1 in a ,christian sense1 disease--just as1 vice versa1 that which is healthy in a ,christian sense1 is regarded as diseased from a worldly point of view4 ,then let the ramshackle pile collapse1 get it out of the way1 close all these shops and booths which are the only ones which are excepted from the strict ,sunday regulations1 forbid this official double-dealing1 put them out of commission1 and provide for them1 for all these quacks3--even though it is true that the royally attested physician is the acceptable one1 and he who is not so attested is a quack3 in ,christianity it is just the reverse2 that is1 the royally attested teacher is the quack1 is a quack by the very fact that he is royally attested--and let us worship ,god again in simplicity1 instead of making a fool of him in splendid edifices2 let us be in earnest again and stop playing2 for a ,christianity preached by royal officials who are payed and insured by the state and who use the police against the others1 such a ,christianity bears about the same relation to the ,christianity of the ,new ,testament as swimming with the help of a cork-belt or a bladder does to swimming alone--it is mere play4 ,yes1 let that come about4 ,what ,christianity needs is not the stifling protection of the state--ah no1 it needs fresh air1 it needs persecution and--the protection of ,god4 ,the state does only mischief in averting persecution and surely is not the medium through which ,god's protection can be conducted4 ,whatever you do1 save ,christianity from the state1 for with its protection it overlies ,christianity like a fat woman overlying her child with her carcass1 beside teaching ,christianity the most abominable bad habits--as1 e4g41 to use the police force and to call that ,christianity4 ,,iii ,a person is growing thinner every day and is wasting away4 ,what may the trouble be8 ,for surely he is not suffering want6 ,no1 sure enough1 says the doctor1 that is not the trouble4 ,the trouble is precisely with his eating1 with his eating in season and out of season1 with his eating without being hungry1 with his using stimulants to produce an appetite1 and in this manner ruining his digestion1 so that he is wasting away as if he suffered want4 ,the same is true in religion4 ,the worst of all is to satisfy a craving which has not as yet made its appearance1 to anticipate it1 or--worse still--by the help of stimulants to produce something which looks like a craving1 which then is promptly satisfied4 ,ah1 the shame of it6 ,and yet this is exactly what is being done in religion where people are in very truth fooled out of the real meaning of life and helped to waste their lives4 ,that is in very truth1 the effect of this whole machinery of a state church and a thousand royal officials who1 under the pretense of being spiritual guides for the people1 trick them out of the highest thing in life1 which is1 the solicitude about one's self1 and the need which would surely of itself find a teacher or minister after its own mind2 whereas now the need--and it is just the growth of this sense1 of a need which gives life its highest significance--whereas now this need does not arise at all1 but on the contrary is forestalled by being satisfied long before it can arise4 ,and this is the way1 they claim1 this is the way to continue the work which the ,savior of ,mankind did begin--stunting the human race as they do4 ,and why is this so8 ,because there happen to be a thousand and one royal officials who have to support their families by furnishing what is called--spiritual guidance for men's souls6 ,,the ,,christianity ,,of ,,the ,,new ,,testament2 ,,the ,,chrisitanity ,,of ,,christendom 7,no4 ,v1 #d7 ,the intention of ,christianity was3 to change everything4 ,the result1 the ,christianity of ,christendom is3 everything1 literally everything1 remained as it had been1 with just the difference that to everything was affixed the attribute ,christian--and for the rest 7strike up1 fiddlers67 we live in ,heathendom--so merrily1 so merrily the dance goes around2 or1 rather1 we live in a ,heathendom made more refined by the help of ,life ,everlasting and by help of the thought that1 after all1 it is all ,christian6 ,try it1 point to what you will1 and you shall see that ,i am right in my assertion4 ,if what ,christianity demanded was chastity1 then away with brothels6 ,but the change is that the brothels have remained just as they did in ,heathendom1 and the proportion of prostitutes remained the same1 too2 to be sure1 they became ,christian brothels6 ,a brothel-keeper is a ,christian brothel-keeper1 he is a ,christian as well as we others4 ,exclude him from church membership8 ,why1 for goodness sake1 the clergyman will say1 what would things come to if we excluded a single paying member8 ,the brothel-keeper dies and gets a funeral oration with a panegyric in proportion to the amount he pays4 ,and after having earned his money in a manner which1 from a ,christian point of view1 is as filthy and base as can be 7for1 from a ,christian point of view it would be more honorable if he had stolen it7 the clergyman returns home4 ,he is in a hurry1 for he is to go to church in order to deliver an oration or1 as ,bishop ,martensen would say1 bear witness4 ,but if ,christianity demanded honesty and uprightness1 and doing away with this swindle1 the change which really came about was this3 the swindling has remained just as in ,heathendom1 every one 7every ,christian7 is a thief in his own line2 only1 the swindling has taken1 on the predicate ,christian4 ,so we now have ,christian swindling--and the clergyman bestows his blessing on this ,christian community1 this ,christian state1 in which one cheats just as one did in ,heathendom1 at the same time that one pays the clergyman1 that is1 the biggest swindler of them all1 and thus cheats one's self into ,christianity4 ,and if ,christianity demanded seriousness in life and doing away with the praise and approbation of vanity--why1 everything has remained as before1 with just this difference that it has assumed the predicate ,christian4 ,thus the trumpery business with decorations1 titles1 and rank1 etc4 has become ,christian--and the clergyman 7that most indecent of all indecencies1 that most ridiculous of all ridiculous hodgepodges71 he is as pleased as ,punch to be decorated himself--with the cross4 ,the cross8 ,why1 certainly2 for in the ,christianity of ,christendom has not the cross become something like a child's hobby-horse and tin-trumpet8 ,and so with everything4 ,there is implanted in man no stronger instinct1 after that of self-preservation1 than the instinct of reproduction2 for which reason ,christianity seeks to reduce its strength1 teaching that it is better not to marry2 but if they cannot contain1 let them marry2 for it is better to marry than to burn4 ,but in ,christendom the propagation of the race has become the serious business of life and of ,christianity2 and the clergyman--that quint-essence of nonsense done up in long clothes--the clergyman1 the teacher of ,christianity1 of the ,christianity of the ,new ,testament1 has his income adjusted to the fact that the human race is active in propagating the race1 and gets a little something for each child6 ,as ,i said1 look about you and you will find that everything is as ,i told you3 the change from ,heathendom consists in everything remaining unchanged but having assumed the predicate ,christian4 ,,modern ,,religious ,,guarantees 7,no4 ,v1 #h7 ,in times long1 long past people looked at matters in this fashion3 it was demanded of him who would be a teacher of ,christianity that his life should be a guarantee for the teachings he proclaimed4 ,this idea was abandoned long ago1 the world having become wiser and more serious4 ,it has learned to set little store by these illiberal and sickly notions of personal responsibility1 having learned to look for purely objective ends4 ,the demand is made now of the teacher that his life should guarantee that what he has to say is entertaining and dramatic stuff1 amusing1 and purely objective4 ,some examples4 ,suppose you wanted to speak about ,christianity1 that is1 the ,christianity of the ,new ,testament which expresses preference for the single state--and suppose you yourself are unmarried3 why1 my dear man6 you ought not to speak on this subject1 because your congregation might think that you meant what you said and become disquieted1 or it might feel insulted that you thus1 very improperly1 mixed in your own affairs4 ,no1 dear sir1 it will take a little longer before you are entitled to speak seriously on this matter so as really to satisfy the congregation4 ,wait till you have buried your first wife and are well along with your second wife3 then it will be time for you to stand before your congregation to preach and bear witness that ,christianity prefers the single state--then you will satisfy them altogether2 for your life will furnish the guarantee that it is all tomfoolery and great fun1 or that what you say is--interesting4 ,indeed1 how interesting6 ,for just as1 to make it interesting1 the husband must be unfaithful to his wife and the wife to her husband1 likewise truth becomes interesting1 intensely interesting1 only when one lets one's self be carried away by one's feelings1 be fascinated by them--but of course does the precise opposite and thus in an underhand manner is re-assured in persisting in one's ways4 ,do you wish to speak about ,christianity's teaching contempt for titles and decorations and all the follies of fame--and should you happen to be neither a person of rank nor anything of the kind3 ,why1 my dear sir6 ,you ought not to undertake to speak on this subject4 ,why1 your congregation might think you were in earnest1 or feel insulted by such a lack of tact in forcing your personality on their notice4 ,no1 indeed1 you ought to wait till you have a lot of decorations1 the more the merrier2 you ought to wait till you drag along with a rigmarole of titles1 so many that you hardly know yourself what you are called3 then is your time come to stand before your congregation to preach and bear witness--and you will undoubtedly satisfy them2 for your life will then furnish the guarantee that it is but a dramatic divertissement1 an interesting forenoon entertainment4 ,is it your intention to preach ,christianity in poverty1 and insist that only thus it is taught in truth--and you happen to be very literally a poor devil3 ,why1 my dear sir6 ,you ought not to venture to speak on this subject4 ,why1 your congregation might think you were in earnest1 they might become afraid and lose their good humor1 and they might be very unpleasantly affected by thus having poverty-thrust in on them4 ,no indeed1 first get yourself some fat living1 and when you have had it so long that your promotion to one still fatter is to be expected3 then is your time come to stand before your congregation and to preach and bear witness--and you will satisfy them2 for your life then furnishes the guarantee that it is just a joke1 such as serious men like to indulge in1 now and then1 in theatre or in church1 as a sort of recreation to gather new strength--for making money4 ,and that is the way they honor ,god in the churches6 ,and then these silk and velvet orators weep1 they sob1 their voice is drowned in tears6 ,ah1 if it be true 7and it is1 since ,god ,himself has said so71 if it be true that ,he counts the tears of the afflicted and puts them into ,his bottle1#g then woe to these orators1 if ,god has counted also their ,sunday tears and put them into ,his bottle6 ,and woe to us all if ,god really heeds these ,sunday tears--especially those of the speakers1 but also those of the listeners6 ,for a ,sunday preacher would indeed be right if he said--and1 oratorically1 this would have a splendid effect1 especially if accompanied by his own tears and suppressed sobs--he would be right if he said to his audience3 ,i shall count all the futile tears you have shed in church1 and with them ,i shall step accusingly before you on the ,day of ,judgment--indeed1 he is right2 only please not to forget that1 after all1 the speaker's own dramatic tears are by far more dreadful than the thoughtless tears of his listeners4 ,,what ,,says ,,the ,,fire-,,marshal 7,no4 ,,vi1 #e7 ,that a man who in some fashion or other has what one calls a cause1 something he seriously purposes to accomplish--and there are other persons who make it their business to counteract1 and antagonize1 and hurt him--that he must take measures against these his enemies1 this will be evident to every one4 ,but that there is a well-intentioned kindness by far more dangerous1 perhaps1 and one that seems calculated to prevent the serious accomplishment of his mission1 this will not at once be clear to every one4 ,when a person suddenly falls ill1 kindly-intentioned folk will straightway rush to his help1 and one will suggest this1 another that--and if all those about him had a chance to have their way it would certainly result in the sick man's death2 seeing that even one person's well-meaning advice may be dangerous enough4 ,and even if nothing is done1 and the advice of neither the assembled and well-meaning crowd nor of any one person is taken1 yet their busy and flurried presence may be harmful1 nevertheless1 inasmuch as they are in the way of the physician4 ,likewise at a fire4 ,scarcely has the alarm of fire been sounded but a great crowd of people will rush to the spot1 good and kindly and sympathetic1 helpful people1 the one with a bucket1 the other with a basin1 still another with a hand-squirt--all of them goodly1 kindly1 sympathetic1 helpful persons who want to do all they can to extinguish the fire4 ,but what says the fire-marshal8 ,the fire-marshal1 he says--well1 at other times the fire-marshal is a very pleasant and refined man2 but at a fire he does use coarse language--he says or1 rather1 he roars out3 ,oh1 go to hell with your buckets and hand-squirts6 ,and then1 when these well-meaning people feel insulted1 perhaps1 and think it highly improper to be treated in this fashion1 and would like at least to be treated respectfully--what says the fire-marshal then8 ,well1 at other times the fire-marshal is a very pleasant and refined gentleman who will show every one the respect due him2 but at a fire he is somewhat different--he says3 ,where the devil is the police8 ,and when the policemen arrive he says to them3 ,rid me of these damn people with their buckets and hand-squirts2 and if they won't clear out1 then club them on their heads1 so that we get rid of them and--can get at the fire6 ,that is to say1 in the case of a fire the whole way of looking at things is a very different one from that of quiet every-day life4 ,the qualities which in quiet every-day life render one well-liked1 viz41 good-nature and kindly well-meaning1 all this is repaid1 in the case of a fire1 with abusive language and finally with a crack on the head4 ,and this is just as it should be4 ,for a conflagration is a serious business2 and wherever we have to deal with a serious business this well-intentioned kindness won't do at all4 ,indeed1 any serious business enforces a very different mode of behavior which is3 either-or4 ,either you are able really to do something1 and really have something to do here2 or else1 if that be not the case1 then the serious business demands precisely that you take yourself away4 ,and if you will not comprehend that1 the fire-marshal proposes to have the police hammer it into your head2 which may do you a great deal of good1 as it may help to render you a little serious1 as is befitting so serious a business as a fire4 ,but what is true in the case of a fire holds true also in matters of the spirit4 ,wherever a cause is to be promoted1 or an enterprise to be seen through1 or an idea to be served--you may be sure that when he who really is the man to do it1 the right man1 he who1 in a higher sense has and ought to have command1 he who is in earnest and can make the matter the serious business it really is--you may be sure that when he arrives at the spot1 so to say1 he will find there a nice company of easy-going1 addle-pated twaddlers who pretending to be engaged in serious business1 dabble in wishing to serve this cause1 to further that enterprise1 to promote that idea--a company of addle-pated fools who will of course consider one's unwillingness to make common cause with them 7which unwillingness precisely proves one's seriousness7--will of course consider that a sure proof of the man's lack of seriousness4 ,i say1 when the right man arrives he will find this2 but ,i might also look at it in this fashion3 the very question as to whether he is the right man is most properly decided by his attitude to that crowd of fools4 ,if he thinks they may help him1 and that he will add to his strength by joining them1 then he is eo ipso not the right man4 ,the right man will understand at once1 as did the fire-marshal1 that the crowd must be got out of the way2 in fact1 that their presence and puttering around is the most dangerous ally the fire could have4 ,only1 that in matters of the spirit it is not as in the case of the conflagration1 where the fire-marshal needs but to say to the police3 rid me of these people6 ,thus in matters of the spirit1 and likewise in matters of religion4 ,history has frequently been compared to what the chemists call a process4 ,the figure is quite suggestive1 providing it is correctly understood4 ,for instance1 in the process of filtration water is run through a filter and by this process loses its impurities4 ,in a totally different sense history is a process4 ,the idea is given utterance--and then enters into the process of history4 ,but unfortunately this process 7how ridiculous a supposition67 consists not in purifying the idea1 which never is purer than at its inception2 oh no1 it consists in gradually and increasingly botching1 bungling1 and making a mess of1 the idea1 in using up the idea1 in--indeed1 is not this the opposite of filtering8--adding the impurer elements which it originally lacked3 until at last1 by the enthusiastic and mutually appreciative efforts of successive generations1 the idea has absolutely disappeared and the very opposite of the original idea is now called the idea1 which is then asserted to have arisen through a historic process by which the idea is purified and elevated4 ,when finally the right man arrives1 he who in the highest sense is called to the task--for all we know1 chosen early and slowly educated for this business--which is1 to throw light on the matter1 to set fire to this jungle which is a refuge for all kinds of foolish talk and delusions and rascally tricks--when he comes he will always find a nice company of addle-pated fools and twaddlers who1 surely enough1 do think that1 perhaps1 things are wrong and that something must be done about it2 or who have taken the position1 and talk a good deal about it1 that it is preposterous to be self-important and talk about it4 ,now if he1 the right man1 is deceived but a single instant and thinks that it is this company who are to aid him1 then it is clear he is not the right man4 ,if he is deceived and has dealings with that company1 then providence will at once take its hand off him1 as not fit4 ,but the right man will see at a glance1 as the fire-marshal does1 that the crowd who in the kindness of their hearts mean to help in extinguishing a conflagration by buckets and hand-squirts--the right man will see that the same crowd who here1 when there is a question1 not of extinguishing a fire1 but rather of setting something on fire1 will in the kindness of their hearts wish to help1 with a sulphur match sans fire or a wet spill--he will see that this crowd must be got rid of1 that he must not have the least thing in common with this crowd1 that he will be6 obliged to use the coarsest possible language against them--he who perhaps at other times is anything but coarse4 ,but the thing of supreme importance is to be rid of the crowd2 for the effect of the crowd is to hamstring the whole cause by robbing it of its seriousness while heartfelt sympathy is pretended4 ,of course the crowd will then rage against him1 against his incredible arrogance and so forth4 ,this ought not to count with him1 whether for or against4 ,in all truly serious business the law of3 either--or1 prevails4 ,either1 ,i am the man whose serious business this is1 ,i am called to it1 and am willing to take a decisive risk2 or1 if this be not the case1 then the seriousness of the business demands that ,i do not meddle with it at all4 ,nothing is more detestable and mean1 and nothing discloses and effects a deeper demoralization1 than this lackadaisical wishing to enter somewhat into matters which demand an aut--aut1 aut ,csar aut nihil1#h this taking just a little part in something1 to be so wretchedly lukewarm1 to twaddle about the business1 and then by twaddling to usurp through a lie the attitude of being better than they who wish not to have anything whatever to do with the whole business--to usurp through a lie the attitude of being better1 and thus to render doubly difficult the task of him whose business it really is4 ,,confirmation ,,and ,,wedding ,,ceremony2 ,,christian--,,comedy--,,or ,,worse ,,still 7,no4 ,,vii1 #f7 ,pricks of conscience 7insofar as they may be assumed in this connection7--pricks of conscience seem to have convinced ,christendom that it was1 after all1 going too far1 and that it would not do--this beastly farce of becoming a ,christian by the simple method of letting a royal official give the infant a sprinkle of water over his head1 which is the occasion for a family gathering with a banquet to celebrate the day4 ,this won't do1 was the opinion of ,christendom1 for the opportunity ought to be given the baptized individual to indorse personally his baptismal vows4 ,for this purpose the rite of confirmation was devised--a splendid invention1 providing we take two things for granted3 in the first place1 that the idea of divine worship is to make ,god ridiculous2 and in the second place1 that its purpose is to give occasion for family celebrations1 parties1 a jolly evening1 a banquet which is different from other banquets in that it--ah1 exquisite--in that it1 at the same time has a religious significance4 ,the tender child1 thus ,christendom1 can of course not assume the baptismal vow personally1 for this requires a real personality4 ,consequently there was chosen--is this a stroke of genius or just ingenious8--there was chosen the age of #ad or #ae year's1 the schoolboy age4 ,this real personality--that is all right1 if you please--he is equal to the task of personally assuming responsibility for the baptismal vow taken in behalf of the infant4 ,a boy of fifteen6 ,now1 if it were a matter of #aj dollars1 his father would probably say3 ,no1 my boy1 ,i can't let you have all that money1 you are still too green for that4 ,but for a matter touching his eternal salvation where the point is to assume1 with all the seriousness one's personality is capable of1 and as a personality1 responsibility for what certainly could not in any profounder sense be called serious--when a child is bound by a vow3 for that the age of fifteen is excellently fitting4 ,excellently fitting4 ,oh yes if1 as was remarked above1 divine worship serves a double purpose1 viz41 to render ,god ridiculous in a very adroit manner--if you may call it so--and to furnish the occasion for graceful family celebrations4 ,in that case it is indeed excellently fitting1 as everything is on that occasion2 as is1 likewise1 the customary biblical lesson for the day which1 you will remember1 begins3 ,then the same day at evening1 when the doors were shut#i--;and this text is particularly suitable to a ,confirmation ,sunday4 ,one is truly edified when hearing a clergyman read it on a ,confirmation ,sunday4 ,as is easily perceived1 then1 the confirmation ceremony is still worse nonsense than the baptism of infants1 just because confirmation pretends to supply what was lacking at the baptism1 viz41 a real personality capable of making a vow in a matter touching one's eternal salvation4 ,in another sense this nonsense is1 to be sure1 ingenious enough1 as serving the self-interest of the clergy who understand full well that if the decision concerning a man's religion were reserved until he had reached maturity 7which were the only ,christian1 as well as the only sensible1 way71 many might possess character enough to refuse to become ,christians by an act of hypocrisy4 ,for this reason the clergyman seeks to gain control of men in their infancy and their youth1 so that they would find it difficult1 upon reaching a more mature age1 to break a sacred vow dating1 to be sure1 from one's boyhood1 but which would1 perhaps1 still be a serious enough matter to many a one4 ,hence the clergy take hold of the infants1 the youths1 and receive sacred promises and the like from them4 ,and what that man of ,god1 the clergyman1 does1 why1 that is1 of course1 a ,god-fearing action4 ,else1 analogy might1 perhaps1 demand that to the ordinance forbidding the sale of spirituous liquors to minors there should be added one forbidding the taking of solemn vows concerning one's eternal salvation from--boys2 which ordinance would look toward preventing the clergy1 who themselves are perjurers1 from working--in order to salve their own consciences--from working toward the greatest conceivable shipwreck which is1 to make all society become perjured2 for letting boys of fifteen bind themselves in a matter touching their eternal salvation is a measure which is precisely calculated to have that effect4 ,the ceremony of confirmation is1 then1 in itself a worse piece of nonsense than the baptism of infants4 ,but in order to miss nothing which might1 in any conceivable manner1 contribute to render confirmation the exact opposite of what it purports to be1 this ceremony has been connected with all manner of worldly and civil affairs1 so that the significance of confirmation lies chiefly in the--certificate of character which the minister makes out2 without which certificate no boy or girl will be able to get on at all in life4#aj ,the whole thing is a comedy2 and perhaps something might be done to add greater dramatic illusion to the solemnity2 as e4g41 passing an ordinance forbidding any one to be confirmed in a jacket1 as not becoming a real personality2 likewise1 a regulation ordering male candidates for confirmation to wear a beard during the ceremony1 which beard might1 of course1 be taken off for the family celebration in the evening1 or be used in fun and merrymaking4 ,i am not now attacking the community--they are led astray2 they cannot be blamed for liking this kind of divine worship1 seeing that they are left to their own devices and deceived by their clergyman who has sworn an oath on the ,new ,testament4 ,but woe to these clergymen1 woe to them1 these sworn liars6 ,i know there have been mockers at religion1 and ,i know how much they would have given to be able to do what ,i do2 but they were not able to1 because ,god was not with them4 ,it is different with me4 ,originally as well disposed to the clergy as few have been1 and very ready to help them4 ,i have undergone a change of heart in the opposite direction1 owing to their attitude4 ,and the ,almighty is with me1 and ,he knows how the whip is to be handled so that the blows take effect1 and that laughter must be that whip1 handled with fear and trembling--therefore am ,i used4 ,,the ,,wedding ,,ceremony ,true worship of ,god consists1 very simply1 in doing ,god's will4 ,but that kind of divine service has never suited man's wishes4 ,that which occupies man's mind at all times1 that which gives rise to science#aa and makes science spread into many1 many sciences1 and into interminable detail2 that of which1 and for which1 thousands of clergymen and professors live1 that which forms the contents of the history of ,christendom1 by the study of which the clergyman or the professor is to be trained--is to get a different kind of worship arranged1 the main point of which would be3 to do what one pleases1 but in such fashion that the name of ,god and the invocation of ,god be brought into connection therewith2 by which arrangement man imagines himself safeguarded against ungodliness--whereas1 alas6 just this procedure is the most unqualified ungodliness4 ,for example3 a man has the intention to make his living by killing people4 ,to be sure1 he knows from the ,word of ,god that this is not permissible1 that ,god's will is3 thou shalt not kill6 ,all right1 thinks he1 but this way of serving ,god will not serve my purposes--at the same time ,i don't care to be among the ungodly ones1 either4 ,so what does he do but get hold of some priest who in ,god's name blesses his dagger4 ,ah1 c'est bien autre chose6 ,in the ,scriptures the single state is recommended4 ,but1 says man1 that kind of worship really does not serve my purposes--and surely1 you can't say that ,i am an ungodly person2 and such an important step as marriage 7which nota bene ,god counsels against1 ,his opinion being1 in fact1 that the important thing is not to take this important step7--should ,i take such an important step without making sure of ,god's blessing8 ,bravo6 ,that is what we have the priest for1 that man of ,god1 he will bestow the blessing on this important step 7nota bene concerning which the most important thing was not to take it at all7 and so it will be acceptable to ,god--and so ,i have my own way2 and my own way becomes the way of worshipping ,god2 and the priest has his own way and gets his ten dollars1 which are not earned in such a simple way as1 for example1 by brushing people's clothes1 or by serving out beer and brandy--oh no6 ,was he not active on behalf of ,god8 ,to earn ten dollars in this fashion is3 serving ,god4 ,bravissimo6 ,what depth of nonsense and abomination6 ,if something is not pleasing to ,god1 does it perhaps become pleasing to ,him by having--why1 that is aggravating the mischief6--by having a clergyman along who--why1 that is aggravating the mischief still more6--who gets ten dollars for declaring it pleasant to ,god8 ,let us consider the marriage ceremony still further6 ,in ,his word ,god recommends the single state4 ,now suppose two young people want to be married4 ,to be sure1 they ought certainly to know1 themselves1 what ,christianity is1 seeing that they call themselves ,christians2 but never mind that now4 ,the lovers then apply to--the clergyman2 and the clergyman is1 we remember1 pledged by his oath on the ,new ,testament 7which nota bene recommends the single state74 ,now1 if he is not a liar and a perjurer who makes his money in the very shabbiest fashion1 he would be bound to take the following course3 at most he could1 with human compassion for this human condition of being in love1 say to them3 ,dear children1 ,i am the one to whom you should turn last of all2 to turn to me on this occasion is1 indeed1 as strange as if one should turn to the chief of police and ask him how best to steal4 ,my duty is to employ all means to restrain you4 ,at most1 ,i can say1 with the words of the ,apostle 7for they are not the words of ,our ,lord71 ,i can say to you3 well1 if it must be1 and you cannot contain1 why1 then find some way of getting together2 for fit is better to marry than to burn4'#ab ,i know very well that you will be likely to shudder when ,i speak in this manner about what you think is the most beautiful thing in life2 but ,i must do my duty4 ,and it is therefore ,i said to you that to me you should have applied last of all4 ,it is different in ,christendom4 ,the priest--oh dear me6--if there are but two to clap together1 why certainly6 ,indeed1 if the persons concerned turned to a midwife they would perhaps not be as sure to be confirmed in their conviction that their intention is pleasing to ,god4 ,and so they are married2 i4e4 man has his own way1 and this having his own way strategically serves at the same time as divine worship1 ,god's name being connected with it4 ,they are married--by the priest6 ,ah1 for having the clergyman along is just what reassures one--the man who1 to be sure1 is pledged by his oath to preach the ,new ,testament1 but who for a consideration of ten dollars is the pleasantest company one could desire--that man he guarantees that this act is true worship of ,god4 ,in a ,christian sense one ought to say3 precisely the fact that a priest is in it1 precisely that is the worst thing about the whole business4 ,if you want to be married you ought1 rather1 be married by a smith2 for then--if it were admissible to speak in this fashion--then it might possibly escape ,god's attention2 whereas1 if there is a priest along it can certainly not escape ,his attention4 ,precisely the fact of the clergyman's being there makes it as criminal an affair as possible--call to mind what was said to a man who in a storm at sea invoked the gods3 ,by all means do not let the gods notice that you are aboard6 ,thus one might say here also3 ,by all means try to avoid calling in a priest4 ,the others1 the smith and the lovers1 have not pledged themselves by an oath on the ,new ,testament1 so matters are not as bad--if it be admissible to speak in this fashion--as when the priest assists with his--holy presence4 ,,an ,,eternity ,,to ,,repent ,,in6 7,no4 ,,viii1 #c7 ,let me relate a story4 ,i did not read it in a book of devotion but in what is generally called light reading4 ,yet ,i do not hesitate to make use of it1 and indicate its source only lest any one be disturbed if he should happen to be acquainted with it1 or find out at some later time where it is from--lest he be disturbed that ,i had been silent about this4 ,once upon a time there lived somewhere in the ,east a poor old couple4 ,utterly poor they were1 and anxiety about the future naturally grew when they thought of old age approaching4 ,they did not1 indeed1 constantly assail heaven with their prayers1 they were too ,god-fearing to do that2 but still they were ever praying to ,god for help4 ,then one morning it happened that the old woman found an exceeding large jewel on the hearth-stone1 which she forthwith showed to her husband1 who recognized its value and easily perceived that now their poverty was at an end4 ,what a bright future for these old people1 and what gladness6 ,but frugal and pious as they were they decided not to sell the jewel just yet1 since they had enough wherewithal to live still one more day4 ,but on the morrow they would sell it1 and then a new life was to begin for them4 ,in the following night the woman dreamed that she was transported to ,paradise4 ,an angel showed her about the splendors which only an ,oriental imagination can devise4 ,he showed her a hall in which there stood long rows of arm-chairs gemmed all over with precious stones and pearls4 ,these1 so the angel explained1 were the seats of the pious4 ,and last of all he pointed out to her the one destined for herself4 ,when regarding it more closely she discovered that a very large jewel was lacking in the back of the chair1 and she asked the angel how that might be4 ,he--ah1 watch now1 for here is the point6 ,the angel answered3 ,that was the jewel which you found on your hearth-stone4 ,it was given you ahead of time1 and it cannot be put in again4 ,in the morning the woman told her husband this dream4 ,and she was of the opinion that it was better1 perhaps1 to endure in poverty the few years still left to them to live1 rather than to be without that jewel in all eternity4 ,and her pious husband was of the same opinion4 ,so in the evening they laid the jewel on the hearth-stone and prayed to ,god to take it away again4 ,and next morning it had disappeared1 for certain2 and what had become of it the old folks well knew3 it was in its right place again4 ,this man was in truth happily married1 and his wife a sensible woman4 ,but even if it were true1 as is maintained so often1 that it is men's wives who cause them to lose sight of eternal values3 even if all men remained unmarried1 there would still be in every one of us an impulse1 more ingenious and more pressing and more unremitting than a woman1 which will cause him to use a wrong measure and to think a couple of years1 or ten years1 or forty years1 so enormous a length of time that even eternity were quite brief in comparison2 instead of these years being as nothing when compared with the infinite duration of eternity4 ,therefore1 heed this well6 ,you may by worldly wisdom escape perhaps what it has pleased ,god to unite with the condition of one's being a ,christian1 that is1 sufferings and tribulations2 you may1 and to your own destruction1 by cleverly avoiding the difficulties1 perhaps1 gain what ,god has forever made incompatible with being a ,christian1 that is1 the enjoyment of pleasures and all earthly goods2 you may1 fooled by your own worldly wisdom1 perhaps1 finally perish altogether1 in the illusion that you are on the right way because you have gained happiness in this world3 and then--you will have an eternity to repent in6 ,an eternity to repent in2 to repent that you did not employ your time in doing what might be remembered in all eternity2 that is1 in truth to love ,god1 with the consequence that you suffer the persecution of men in this life4 ,therefore1 do not deceive yourself1 and of all deceivers fear most yourself6 ,even if it were possible for one1 with regard to eternity1 to take something ahead of time1 you would still deceive yourself just by having something ahead of time--and then an eternity to repent in6 ,a ,,dose ,,of ,,disgust ,,with ,,life 7,no4 ,,ix1 #c7 ,just as man--as is natural--desires that which tends to nourish and revive his love of life1 likewise he who wishes to live with eternity in mind needs a constant dose of disgust with life lest he become foolishly enamored of this world and1 still more1 in order that he may learn thoroughly to be disgusted and bored and sickened with the folly and lies of this wretched world4 ,here is a dose of it3 ,god ,incarnate is betrayed1 mocked1 deserted by absolutely all men2 not a single one1 literally not a single one1 remains faithful to him--and then1 afterwards1 afterwards1--oh yes1 afterwards1 there were millions of men who on their knees made pilgrimage to the places where many hundred years ago ,his feet1 perhaps1 trod the ground2 afterwards1 afterwards--oh yes1 afterwards1 millions worshipped a splinter of the cross on which ,he was crucified6 ,and so it was always when men were contemporary with the great2 but afterwards1 afterwards--oh yes1 afterwards6 ,must one then not loathe being human8 ,and again1 must one not loathe being human8 ,for these millions who on their knees made pilgrimage to ,his grave1 this throng of people which no power on earth was able to overcome3 but one thing were necessary1 ,christ's return--and all these millions would quickly regain their feet to run their way1 so that the whole throng were as if blown away2 or would1 in a mass1 and erect enough1 rush upon ,christ in order to kill him4 ,that which ,christ and the ,apostles and every martyr desires1 and desires as the only thing3 that we should follow in ,his footsteps1 just that is the thing which mankind does not like or does not find pleasure in4 ,no1 take away the danger--so that it is but play1 and then the battallions of the human race will 7ah1 disgusting67 will perform astonishing feats in aping ,him2 and then instead of an imitation of ,christ we get 7ah1 disgusting671 we get that sacred buffoonery--under guidance and command 7ah1 disgusting67 of sworn clergymen who do service as sergeants1 lieutenants1 etc4--ordained men who therefore have the ,holy ,spirit's special assistance in this serious business4 ,footnote #a3 ,selections4 ,footnote #b3 ,the following sentence is not clear in the original4 ,footnote #c3 ,matthew #g1 #ad4 ,footnote #d3 ,luke #ah1 #h4 ,footnote #e3 ,the last line of this piece of bloody irony is not clear in the original 7,s4 ,v4 ,,xiii1 #abh74 ,it will make better sense if one substitutes da for the first de4 ,footnote #f3 ,this suggestion had actually been made to ,kierkegaard in the course of his attacks on ,martensen4 ,footnote #g3 ,allusion to ,psalm #ef1 #i2 also1 to a passage in one of ,bishop ,mynster's sermons 7,s4 ,v474 ,footnote #h3 ,either-or2 either ,csar or nothing 7,cesare ,borgia's slogan74 ,footnote #i3 ,john #bj1 #ai--where the disciples were assembled for fear of the ,jews1 came ,jesus and stood in the midst1 and saith unto them4 ,peace be unto you4 ,footnote #aj3 ,this was1 until very recently1 the universal rule in ,protestant ,scandinavia and ,germany4 ,footnote #aa3 ,it is to be borne in mind that ,danish videnskab1 like ,german ,wissenschaft1 embraces the humanities and theology as well4 ,footnote #ab3 ,i ,cor4 #g1 #i4