Christ, let me say so with the utmost seriousness, is not an actor; neither is he a merely historical personage since, being the paradox, he is an extremely unhistorical person- age. But precisely this is the difference between poetry and reality: contemporaneousness.-^ The difference between poetry and history is no doubt this, that history is what has really happened, and poetry, what is possible, the action which is supposed to have taken place, the life which has taken form in the poet's imagination. But that which really happened (the past) is not necessarily reality, except in a certain sense, viz., in contrast with poetry. There is still lacking in it the criterion of truth (as inwardness) and of all religion, there is still lacking the criterion: thetruth FOR YOU. That which is past is not a reality — for me, but ^*As my friend, H. M. Jones, points out, the following passage is essentially Aristotelian: "The true difference is that one (history) relates what has happened, the other (poetry) what may happen"; "Poetics," Chap. IX.
Selections from the Writings of Kierkegaard 209 only my time is. That which you are contemporaneous with, that is reality' — for you. Thus every person has the choice to be contemporaneous with the age in which he is living — and also with one other period, with that of Christ's life here on earth; for Christ's life on earth, or Sacred History, stands by itself, outside of history.
History you may read and hear about as a matter of the past. Within its realm you can, if you so care, judge actions by their results. But in Christ's life here on earth there is nothing past. It did not wait for the assistance of any sub- sequent results in its own time, 1800 years ago; neither does it now. Historic Christianity is sheer moonshine and un-Christian muddle-headedness. For those true Christians who in every generation live a life contemporaneous with that of Christ have nothing whatsoever to do with Chris- tians of the preceding generation, but all the more with their contemporary, Christ. His life here on earth attends every generation, and every generation severally, as Sacred History; his life on earth is eternal contemporaneousness. For this reason all learned lecturing about Christianity, which has its haunt and hiding-place in the assumption that Christianity is something which belongs to the past and to the 1800 years of history, this lecturing is the most un- Christian of heresies, as every one would readily recognize if he but tried to imagine the generation contemporeanous with Christ as — lecturing! No, we must ever keep in mind that ever\' generation (of the faithful) is contemporaneous with him. "^ If you cannot master yourself so as to make yourself con- temporaneous with him and thus become a Christian; or if he cannot, as your contemporary', draw you to himself, then you will never be a Christian. You may, if you please, honor, praise, thank, and with all worldly goods reward, him who deludes you into thinking that you are a Chris- tian; nevertheless — he deceives you. You may count your- self happy that you were not contemporaneous with one who dared to assert this; or you may be exasperated to madness by the torment, like that of the "gadfly,-^ of being contem- -•"'Cf. Plato's "Apologia" where Socrates is made to say of himself that he is inflicted on the Athenians like a gadfly on a horse, in order to keep them awake.
210 University of Texas Bulletin poraneous with one who says this to your face: in the first case you are deceived, whereas in the second you have ai least had a chance to hear the truth.
If you cannot bear this contemporaneousness, and not bear to see this sight in reality — if you cannot prevail upon your- self to go out into the street — and behold! it is God in that loathsome procession; and if you cannot bear to think that this will be your condition also if you kneel and worship him: then you are not essentially a Christian. In that case, what you will have to do is to admit the fact un- conditionally to yourself, so that you may, above all, pre- serve humility, and fear and trembling, when contemplat- ing what it means really to be a Christian. For that way you must proceed, in order to learn and to practice how to flee to grace, so that you will not seek it in vain; but do not, for God's sake, go to any one to be "consoled." For to be sure it is written: "blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see,"-" which word the priests have on the tips of their tongues — curiously enough; at times, per- haps, even to defend a worldly finery which, if contem- porary with Christ, would be rather incongruous-— as if these words had not been said solely about those con- temporaries of his who believed. If his exaltation had been evident to the eyes so that every one without any trouble could have beheld it, why then it would be incorrect to say that Christ abased himself and assumed the guise of a ser- vant, and it would be superflous to warn against being of- fended in him; for why in the world should one take offense in an exalted one arrayed in glory? And how in the world will you explain it that Christ fared so ill and that every- body failed to rush up admiringly to behold what was so plain? Ah no, "he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him" (Isaiah 53, 2*); and there was to all appear- ances nothing remarkable about him who in lowly guise, and by performing signs and wonders, constantly presented the possibility of offense, who claimed to be God — in lowly ^«Luke 10, 23.
* Kierkegaard's own note.
Selections from the WHtings of Kierkegaard 211 guise; which therefore expresses: in the first place, what God means by compassion, and by one's self needing to be humble and poor if one wishes to be compassionate; and in the second place, what God means by the misery of man- kind. Which, again, in both instances is extremely differ- ent from what men mean by these things and which every generation, to the end of time, has to learn over again from the beginning, and beginning in every respect at the same point where those who were contemporary with Christ had to start; that is, to practice these things as contemporaries of Christ. Human impatience and unruliness is, of course, of no avail whatsoever. No man will be able to tell you in how far you may succeed in becoming essentially a Chris- tian. But neither will anxiety and fear and despair help one. Sincerity toward God is the first and the last condi- tion, sincerity in confessing to one's self just where one stands, sincerity before God in ever aiming at one's task. However slowly one may proceed, and if it be but crawl- ing— one is, at any rate, in the right position and is not misled and deceived by the trick of changing the nature of Christ who, instead of being God, is thereby made to represent that sentimental compassion which is man's own invention; by which men, instead of being lifted up to heaven by Christianity, are delayed on their way and re- main human and no more.
THE MORAL "And what, then, does all this signify?" It signifies that every one, in silent inwardness before God, is to feel humil- ity before what it means to be in the strictest sense a Chris- tian; is to confess sincerely before God what his position is, so that he may worthily partake of the grace which is of- fered to every one who is not perfect, that is, to every one. And it means no more than that. For the rest let him at- tend to his work and find joy in it, let him love his wife.
212 University of Texas Bulletin rejoicing in her, let him raise his children to be a joy to him, and let him love his fellow-men and enjoy life. God will surely let him know if more is demanded of him, and will also help him to accomplish it; 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 Christ, whereas in the language of love it is Christ that holds fast to him. As was said, then, God will surely let him know if mpre is demanded of h i m. But what is de- manded of every one is that he humble himself in the pres- ence of God under the demands of ideality. And there- fore these demands should be heard, and heard again and again in all their absoluteness. To be a Christian has be- come a matter of no importance whatever — a mummery, something one is anyway, or something one acquires more readily than a trick. In very truth, it is high time that the demands of ideality were heard.
"But if being a Christian is something so terrifying and awesome, how in all the world can a man get it into his head to wish to accept Christianity?" Very simply and, if you so wish, quite according to Luther: only the con- sciousness of sin, if I may express myself so, can force one — from the other side, grace exerts the attraction — can force one into this terror. And in the same instant the Chris- tian ideal is transformed, and is sheer mildness, grace, love, and pity. Looking at it any other way, however, Chris- tianity is, and shall ever be, the greatest absurdity, or else the greatest terror. Approach is had only through the con- sciousness of sin, and to desire to enter by any other way amounts to a crime of lese-majeste against Christianity.
But sin, or the fact that you and I, individually, are sin- ners, has at present either been done away with, or else the demands have been lowered in an unjustifiable manner, both in life — the domestic, the civic, as well as the ecclesi- astic— and in science which has invented the new doc- trine of sin in general. As an equivalant, one has hit upon the device of helping men into Christianity, and keep- ing them in it, by the aid of a knowledge of world-historic events, of that mild teaching, the exalted and profound Selections from the Writings of Kierkegaard 213 spirit of it, about Christ as a friend, etc., etc. — all of which Luther would have called stuff and nonsense and which is really blasphemy, aiming as it does at fraternizing impu- dently with God and with Christ.
Only the consciousness of being a sinner can inspire one with absolute respect for Christianity. And just because Christianity demands absolute respect it must and shall, to any other way of looking at it, seem absurdity or terror; 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 it, and at the same time give the vision which, being absolute re- spect, enables one to see the mildness and love and compas- sion of Christianity.
The poor in spirit who acknowledge themselves to be sinners, they do not need to know the least thing about the difficulties which appear when one is neither simple nor humble-minded. But when this humble consciousness of one's self, i. e., the individual's, being a sinner is lacking — aye, even though one possessed all human ingenuity and wisdom, and had all accomplishments possible to man: it will profit him little. Christianity will in the same degree rise terrifying before him and transform itself into absurd- ity or terror; until he learns, either to renounce it, or else, by the help of what is nothing less than scientific propaedeu- tics, apologetics, etc., that is, through the torments of a contrite heart, to enter into Christianity by the narrow path, through the consciousness of sin.
THE PRESENT MOMENT^ BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION (No. I, 1) Plato says somewhere in his "Republic" that things will go well only when those men shall govern the state who do not desire to govern. The idea is probably that, assuming the necessary capability, a man's reluctance to govern af- fords a good guarantee that he will govern well and effi- ciently; whereas a man desirous of governing may very easily either abuse his power and become a tyrant, or by his desire to govern be brought into an unforeseen situation of dependence on the people he is to rule, so that his govern- ment really becomes an illusion.
This observation applies also to other relations where much depends on taking things seriously: assuming there is ability in a man, it is best that he show reluctance to meddle with them. To be sure, as the proverb has it: "where there is a will there is a way"; but true seriousness appears only when a man fully equal to his task is forced, against his will, to undertake it — against his will, but fully equal to the task.
In this sense I may say of myself that I bear a correct relation to the task in hand: to work in the present mo- ment; for God knows that nothing is more distasteful to me.
Authorship — well, I confess that I find it pleasant; and I may as well admit that I have dearly loved to write — in the manner, to be sure, which suits me. And what I have loved to do is precisely the opposite of working in the present moment. What I have loved is precisely remote- ness from the present moment — that remoteness in which, like a lover, I may dwell on my thoughts and, like an artist in love with his instrument, entertain myself with language and lure from it the expressions demanded by my thoughts ^ Selections.
Selections from the Writings of Kierkegaard 215 — ah blissful entertainment! In an eternity I should not weary of this occupation.
To contend with men — well, I do like it in a certain sense; for I have by nature a temperament so polemic that I feel in my element only when surrounded by men's mediocrity and meanness. But only on one condition, viz., that I be permitted to scorn them in silence and to satisfy the master passion of my soul: scorn — opportunity for which my ca- reer as an author has often enough given me.
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 reason.
Now that I am to work in the present moment I must, alas! say farewell to thee, beloved remoteness, where there was no necessity to hurry, but always plenty of time, where I could wait for hours and days and weeks for the proper expression to occur to me; whereas now I must break with all such regards of tender love. -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 about; to all the nonsense which mediocre people, by interpreting into my words their own mediocrity, will find in all I shall write; and to all the lies and calumnies to which a man is exposed against whom those two great powers in society: envy and stupidity, must of necessity conspire.
Why, then, do I wish to work in the present moment? Because I should forever repent of not having done so, and forever repent of having beeil discouraged by the consid- eration that the generation now living would find a repre- sentation of the essential truths of Christianity interesting and curious reading, at most; having accomplished which they will calmly remain where they are; that is, in the illusion that they are Christians and that the clergy's toy- ing with Christianity really is Christianity.
^The following sentence is not clear in the original.
216 University of Texas Bulletin A PANEGYRIC ON THE HUMAN RACE OR - PROOF THAT THE NEW TESTAMENT IS NO LONGER TRUE (No. II, 5) In the New Testament the Savior of the World, our Lord Jesus Christ, represents the matter in this way: "Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.^" — now, however, just to confine ourselves to Denmark, the way is as broad as a road can possibly be; in fact, the broad- est in Denmark, for it is the road we all travel. At the same time it is in all respects a comfortable way, and the gate as wide as it is possible for a gate to be; for certainly a gate cannot be wider than to let all men pass through en masse: therefore, the New Testament is no longer true.
All credit is due to the human race! For thou, oh Savior of the World, thou didst entertain too low an estimaite of the human race, so that thou didst not foresee the exalted plan which, in its perfectibility, it may reach by steadily continued endeavor!
To such an extent, then, is the New Testament no longer true: the way is the broadest possible, the gate the widest possible, and we are all Christians. In fact, I may venture still further — I am enthusiastic about it, for you see I am writing a panegyric on the human race — I venture to as- sert that the average Jew living among us is, to a certain degree, a Christian just as well as we others: to such an extent are we all Christians, and to such an extent is the New Testament no longer true.
And, since the point is to find out all which may be ad- duced to extol the human race, one ought — while having a care not to mention anything which is not true — one ought to watch that nothing, nothing escape one which in this connection may serve as a proof or even as a suggestion. So I venture still further — without wishing to be too posi- tive, as I lack definite information on this subject and "Matthew 7, 14.
Selections from the Writings of Kierkegaard 217 would like, therefore, to refer the matter to specialists in this line to decide —: whether there are not present among our domestic animals, or at any rate the nobler ones, such as the horse, the dog, and the cow, indications of a Christian spirit. It is not improbable. Consider what it means to live in a Christian state, among a Christian people, where everything is Christian and everybody is a Christian and where one, turn where one may, sees nothing but Christians and Christianity, 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 importance, according to the opinion both of vet- erinarians and of clergjnnen — an influence on their pro- geny. We have all read of Jacob's ruse, how in order to obtain spotted lambs he put party-colored twigs into the watering troughs, so that the ewes saw nothing but mottled things and then brought forth spotted lambs. Hence it is not improbable — although I do not wish to be positive, since I do not belong to the profession, but would rather have this passed on by a committee composed of both clergjTnen and veterinarians — I say, it is not improbable that the result will finally be that the domestic animals living in a Christian nation will produce a Christian progeny. The thought almost takes away my breath. To be sure, in that case the New Testament will to the greatest possible extent have ceased to be true.
Ah, Thou Savior of the World, when Thou saidst with great concern: "When the Son of man cometh, shall He find Faith on the earth?"* — and when Thou didst bow Thy head in death, then didst Thou least of all think that Thy expectations were to be exceeded to such a degree, and that the human race would in such a pretty and touching way render the New Testament no longer true, and Th^' sig- nificance almost doubtful; for such nice creatures certainly also needed a Savior I^ *Luke 18, 8.
■'The last line of this piece of bloody irony is not clear in the orig- inal (S. V. XIII, 128). It will make better sense if one substitutes "da" for the first "de."
218 University of Texas Bulletin IF WE ARE REALLY CHRISTIANS — THEN WHAT IS GOD? (No. II, 8) If it is not so — that all we mean bj^ being "Christians" is a delusion — that all this machinery, with a State Church and thousands of spiritual-worldly councillors of chancery, etc., is a stupendous delusion which will not be of the least help to us in the life everlasting but, on the contrary, will be turned into an accusation against us — if this is not so; for if it is, then let us, for the sake of life everlasting, get rid of it, the sooner the better — if it is not so, and if what we understand by being a Christian really is to be a Christian: then what is God in Heaven?
He is the most ridiculous being that ever existed. His Word is the most ridiculous book which has ever appeared; for to move heaven and earth, as He does in his Word, and to threaten with hell and everlasting damnation — in order to obtain as His result what we understand by being Chris- tians (and our assumption was that we a r e true Chris- tians)— well, now, has anything so ridiculous ever been seen before? Imagine that a fellow with a loaded pistol in his hand held up a person and said to him, "I shall shoot you"; or imagine, what is still more terrible, that he said, "I shall seize you and torture you to death in the most hor- rible manner, if" — now watch, here's the point — "if you do not render your life here on earth as profitable and as en- joyable as you can": would not that be utterly ridiculous? For to obtain that effect it certainly is not necessary to threaten one with a loaded pistol and the most painful tor- ture; in fact, 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 can. And the same is true when, by fear of eternal punishment (terrible threat!), and by hope of eternal salvation, He wishes to bring about — well, to make us what we a r e (for what we call Christian is, as we have seen, really being Chris- tian), to make us — well, to make us what we are; that is, make men live as they please; for to abstain from com- mitting crimes is nothing but common prudence!
Selections from the Writings of Kierkegaard 219 The most terrible blasphemy is the one of which "Chris- tianity" is guilty, which is, to transform the God of the Spirit into — a ridiculous piece of nonsense. And the stu- pidest kind of worship, more stupid than any idolatry ever was among the heathen, and more stupid than to worship as a god some stone, or an ox, or an insect — more stupid than anything, is to adore as god — a fool!
DIAGNOSIS (No. IV, 1) I Every physician will admit that by the correct diagnosis of a malady more than half the fight against it is won; also, that if a correct diagnosis has not been made, all skill and all care and attention will be of little avail.
The same is true with regard to religion.
We are agreed to let stand the claim that in "Christen- dom" we are Christians, every one of us; and then we have laid and, perhaps, will lay, emphasis now on this, now on that, side of the teachings of the Scriptures.
But the truth is: we are not only not Christians — no, we are not even the heathen to whom Christianity may be taught without misgivings, and what is worse, we are prevented through a delusion, an enormous delusion (viz. "Christendom," the Christian state, a Christian country, a Christian world) from becoming Christians.
And then the suggestion is made to one to continue un- touched and unchanged this delusion and, rather, to fur- nish a new presentation of the teachings of Christ.*^ This has been suggested; and, in a certain sense, it is altogether fitting. Just because one lives in a delusion (not to speak even of being interested in keeping up the delusion), one is bound to desire that which will feed the ^This suggestion had actually been made to Kierkegaard in the course of his attacks on Martensen.
220 University of Texas Bulletin malady — a common enough observation this — the sick man desiring precisely those things which feed his malady.
Imagine a hospital. The patients are dying off like so many flies. The methods are changed, now this way, now that: of no avail! What may be the cause? The cause lies in the building — the whole building is tainted. The patients are put down as having died, the one of this, the other of that, disease, but strictly speaking this is not true; for they all died from the taint which is in the building.
The same is true in religion. That religious conditions are wretched, and that people in respect of their religion are in a wretched condition, nothing is more certain. So one ventures the opinion that if we could but have a new hymn-book; and another, if we could but have a new serv- ice-book; and a third, if we could but have a musical serv- ice, etc., etc. — that then matters would mend.