[Denmark] Søren Kierkegaard: Selected Kierkegaard Diaries, selected and edited by [Denmark] Peter P. Rohde, translated by Yan Kejia and Yao Beiqin, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences Press, 1996
Kierkegaard is one of the philosophers of irrationalist currents whom I admire rather more. What I admire in him chiefly are his “three stages of life” and his view of religion (it seems that a thinker’s attitude toward religion is what most determines how much I like him; only after that comes his attitude toward science). Of course, admiring a thinker’s ideas does not in the least mean agreeing with them. I take a reserved attitude overall toward the excerpts below that I found interesting; the words in bold are the phrases I thought worth special attention.
4 Many people draw their conclusions about life the way elementary school pupils do: they copy the answers from an arithmetic textbook to fool the teacher, while not having the mind to work out the results themselves.
14 People almost never make use of the freedom they already possess, such as freedom of thought; instead, they go asking for freedom of speech.
15
Everyone takes revenge on this world. My revenge is to bring the pain and trouble that have accumulated deep within me into the world of others. All of this is contained in my laughter. If I see someone plunged into suffering, I will show him sympathy, try my best to comfort him, listen quietly to his story, and make him believe that I am a fortunate man. If I can continue to do this until the day I die, then I will already have taken revenge on the world.
24
……This is like when I went to see a doctor not long ago and complained that I was feeling unwell. He replied: “It’s probably because you’ve been drinking too much coffee and walking too little.” Three weeks later I told him again, “I really do feel unwell, but that can’t be because I drink coffee, since I’ve never drunk coffee; nor can it be because I don’t exercise enough, since I walk every day.” He replied: “Well, then it must be because you haven’t been drinking coffee, and walking too much.” In other words, I am equally unwell, only if I drink coffee, it is because I drank coffee; if I do not drink coffee, it is caused by my not drinking coffee. We human beings are much the same. All our existence in the world is a kind of malaise, and for some the cause is that they try too hard; for others, that they do not try hard enough;……
46
That the soul is immortal is the best proof of God’s existence; in fact, this is an impression a person acquires in childhood. In other words, it is not the many scholarly and self-important proofs, but a proof that can be summed up as follows: this is absolutely true, because that is what my father told me.
98
Nowadays, many family tutors in Germany, lecturers in private schools, and editors have all set about introducing philosophy to the public. They explain in detail its status, and all their bloodless newspaper reports about the current state of philosophy are like those monotonous cries of sleepy billiard-table makers: dix a ons (original text), all of which deeply disgusts me. Yet what is very strange is this: although philosophy is constantly progressing, among that great horde of philosophers there is not a single one of game philosophy; they are all makers of philosophy. I do not see anyone rushing forward to shout: “Don’t call the shot! I missed; we’ve been in quarant (original text) too long; the game will soon be over; all mysteries will be laid bare.” If only the German experts could at least explain the mystery of continuing the game, even if no one is playing this game!……
100
In short, one must say that modern philosophy, even in its grandest manifestations, has essentially only provided an introduction to the possibility of philosophical thinking. Hegel undoubtedly brought to an end—yet only brought to an end—the line of philosophical development leading, through Kant, toward the process of cognition. Through Hegel, on a deeper level and in a more profound form, we reached the conclusion that earlier philosophy had simply taken as its point of departure, namely that thought always already contains reality; but all thinking then departs from this immediate point of departure—or, to say it differently, from the satisfaction with conclusions reached mutually—and enters into essentially anthropological meditation, which is precisely the field that philosophers have not yet entered.
105
It seems to me that whenever I think of Hegel’s understanding of Christianity, I cannot help but laugh out loud, because in fact this understanding itself is something utterly incomprehensible. I have said, and still hold to this truth: Hegel was a professor of philosophy, not a thinker; moreover, he was probably an extremely insignificant figure with no experience of life, though I certainly do not deny that he was a most unusual professor.
157 Socrates in the Christian world:
Socrates failed to prove the immortality of the soul. He merely said: This matter has especially occupied my heart and mind, to such an extent that I shall arrange my life as though the immortality of the soul were a fact—even if it were proven false, I would not regret my choice. Because it is the only thing I care about.
If someone were to say, and accordingly act upon it: I do not know whether Christianity is truly and without falsehood, but I shall regard it as true and arrange my life accordingly, taking it as the support of my life—even if it were proven false, I would not regret my choice. Because it is the only thing I care about. Then that would be of immense help to Christianity.
184 The value of life: A person does not turn to Christianity until he becomes very unhappy. Or rather, until he is able to deeply grasp the sorrow of life and, with a flood of emotion, say: life is truly of no value to me.
And only at that point does his life acquire extremely high value.
185
The characteristic of Christianity is that it exists around us. This is why no poet and no orator can describe it, because they are too good at using imagination. And precisely for this reason (for such a false reason), people love and respect poets and orators, because from afar they regard Christianity as a lovely thing.
Only the dialectician can describe it, because he ceaselessly dispels all illusions and sows it in our present existence here and now. Thus, a dialectician will not be liked, because from up close, Christianity is hideous and offensive.
190
On forgiveness: ……To come to feel the need for Christianity requires one to be of a certain age; if it is forced on the young, it will only drive him mad. In the nature of youth there is something naturally indispensable, one could say something arranged by God’s intentional design. Youth essentially belongs to the category of the “spirit,” whereas Christianity belongs to the category of the soul. To force a young person strictly into the category of the “soul” would be tantamount to putting him to death. This is by no means Christianity’s original intention.
193
When human science refuses to admit that there is something it cannot understand—or, in short, something it clearly understands it cannot understand—then everything instead becomes perplexing and unintelligible. The duty of human understanding lies in understanding that there are some things it cannot understand. And in understanding just what those things are.
201……Faith supports reason, not the other way around.……Hens do not lay eggs—nor even unfertilized eggs—and no matter how “reason” mate with each other, they will not produce faith either. Faith has another origin.……Nothing is higher than for me to say: I believe, I believe. That is an absolutely saturated state. Just as a lover says, “She is my dearest beloved,” that is enough; there is no need to say that he loves her more than others love what they love, nor is there any need to say why he loves her and so on.
January 23, 2006
Latest Comments
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Li
2006-01-23 23:58:22
[Reply]
Did you buy the book or borrow it?
I
ass=”replyTime”>2006-01-24 17:56:12
[Reply]
A book can’t be read unless it is bought……I picked up a used copy at 40% off—more precisely, a surplus copy that cost me 3 yuan~~
Translated from the Chinese original with AI assistance. The original text is authoritative.
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