Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • Soren Kierkegaard

    Uploaded by

    Seamus von Mangold
    10 views8 pages
    unhappiest

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PDF or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Report this Document
    unhappiest

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    Download as pdf
    10 views8 pages

    Soren Kierkegaard

    Uploaded by

    Seamus von Mangold
    unhappiest

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    Download as pdf
    of 8
    THE UNHAPPIEST MAN ‘An enthusiastic address before the SrPanAnEKnossnion Peroration presented at the Friday meeting which is distinguished not by a spleadid monument, nor by its melancholy surroundings, but by a brief {nseription: The Unhappiest Man’ Someone must have ‘opened the grave, but bad found no trace of » body. Which is the more astonishing, that no body was found, or that the grave was opened? It is indeed strange that any- tone should have taken the trouble to see whether there was a body there or not. Sometimes when you reed a name in ‘an epitaph, you wonder what manner of lfe was his who bore it, and you wish you might step down into the grave to converse with hin, But this inscription is o signifeant! ‘A book may haves title which makes you wish to read the book, but a tile ean be so richly suggestive of thought, so personally appealing, as to leave you with no desire to read the book, This inscription i indeed so sigiflcantharrowing fr comforting according to one’s mood—for everyone who Ihas in quietness cecretly cherished the thought that he was ‘the uahappiest of men, But I can imagine a man, whose sou! has never known such thoughts, to whom it would be ‘matter of curiosity to find out whether there actully was «2 body in this grave. And lo, the tomb was empty! Is he perhaps risen from the dead? Has he perhaps wished to ‘mock the poet's word: = + Tn the grave thore is peace, Ts slant dwell from grief knows release? ‘Did he find no rest, not even in the grave; does he pechaps ‘wander restlestly about im the world? Hs he forsaken his welling-pace, his home, leaving only his address behind! r has he not yet been found, he the unhappiest man, who is not even pursued by the furies until be finds the’ door of the sunetuary and the seat of the humble suppliant, but ‘who is kept alive by sorrow and by sorrow pursued to the gravel? If itis true that he has not yet been found, then, dear Symparanekromenci, lat us begin upon a pilgrimage, not S omewhere in England there is suid to be a grave a8 tue “eirmna” fs crusaders to seek the sacred tomb in the happy east, but to find this melancholy grave in the unbappy west. At that emply tomb we shall seek for him, the ‘unhapplest man, certain to find him; for asthe faithful long to see the sored tomb, so do the unhappy feel themselves drawn toward that empty tomb in the west, each filled with the thought ‘that itis destined for him, (Or is not such an inquiry worthy of our attention, we Whose activities, in conformity with the sucred tradition of ur society, are essays devoted to the aphorstcal and the accidental, we who do not merely thinke and speak aphoris: tially but live aphorstically, we who live aphorismenot and segregat,s ike aphorisms in lf, without community of men, without sharing their griefs and thelr joys, wo who sre not consonantal sounds in the alarums of life, but soll. tary birds inthe stillness of might, gathering together only ‘cccasionally, to be ediied by considering the wretchedness of life, the length of the day, and the endless permanence of time; we, dear Symparanckromenet, who have no faith in the game of happiness or the Tuck of fools, who believe in nothing save misfortune Behold how the unhappy crowd forward in countless ‘multitudes! Many are they who believe themselves called, but few are the chosen. A distinction mast be made between them-a word, and the crowd vanishes; excluded are they, the uninvited guests, who think death to be the greatest ‘misfortune, who became unhappy because they fear dest; for wo, detr Symparanekromendi, we, like the Roman sol. les, fear not death; we know of greater insfortunes, and frst and last and above all-Ife, If indeed there were some ‘human being who could not die, if the story told of the Wandering Jew be true, then how could we hesitate to SEs: ip the eaappit of men? Then we ond ale ‘explain why the tomb was empty, in order to signify, sameby tht the nbeppast man wes the oe wh coud ‘0t dis, could not slip down into a grave, The case would thea be decided, the answer easy: forthe unhappiest man. was the one who could not die, the happy, he who could, bbappy he who died in his old age, happier, whoever died ‘a bis youth, happiest he who died at birth, happiest of all HE UNMAPPIEST MAN a9 Ea ate es Serie Sen Son een aia ree ara Ree wlan eh peed we mie dee ola ate vee NS sacl ee nln rflen yap apy eae ep met he See eee eee eres eee for the unhappiest of all. My voice sounds forth through agonal ap peel rene ahs eect fen Sc eee ees tee oe en i et hee ent Tete Sefices ha ee ere ena aes ahs cee acgy les omni soho oy Sen in ren epee oe oe oem ooo ee Sees Sura sie Ma les tl ont See sees seen pe mone ret is boundless and infinitely inventive. Let us divide the ‘unhappy into groups, and admit only ane spokesman for ‘each group; for this we shall not deny, thet is not some particular individual whois the unbappiest, but ita clas, ‘bot therefore, we shall not hesitate to assign the represer®- ative ofthis class the name: the uahappiest, nor hesitate fo sign him the tomb, In each of Hegel’ systematic writings there is a section which treats of the unbappy consciouess¢ One ap- proaches the reading of such inquiries with an iumer rest- lessmess, with a trembling of the heart, with a fear lest one Team too muck, or too lite. The uahappy eonteiourness is 8 term which, when casually introduced, almost makes the blood run cold, and the nerves to quiver; and then to see it so exprestly emphasized, like the mysterious sentence in 4 story of Clemens Brentano's, teria aux more est”=it is ‘exough to make one tremble like a alaner. Ab, happy he ‘who has nothing more to do with i than to wrte a para- ‘raph on the subject, happier sul, he who ean write the net. The unhappy pertan is one who bas his ideal, the content of his life, the fullness of his consciournes, the es- fence of his boing, in some manner outside of himself. He is always absent, never present to hinseli, Bt itis evident ‘that it s possible to be absent from one's self ether In the past or inthe future. This, then, at once eiroumscres th entire temitory ofthe unhappy conselourness, For this vid limitation we are grateful to Hegel; and now, since we are ‘not merely philosophers bekolding the klngdom from afar, ‘we shall as native inhabitants give our attention in detal to the various types which are Implied herein. The unhappy ‘person is consequently absent. But one is absent when liv lng either in the past or in the future. The form of expres: sion must here be carefully noted; for tt i lear, as philol ogy also teaches us, that there isa tense which expresses presence in the past, and a tense which expresses presence Jn the future; but the same science also teaches us that hae Is a tense which is plur quam perfectum, in which ‘there no present, a5 well as futurum ezactum of a0 snalogous character. Now there are some individuals who live in hope, and others who live in memory. These are in- deed in a sense unhappy individuals, in so far, namely, as they live solely in hope or fm memory, if orlinaly only he Is happy who is present to himself. However, oe cannot ina srct sense be called an unhappy individoal, who is present in hope or in memory. That which rust here be emphasized is that he is present to irself in one or ta other ofthese forms of eontsiouness, We stall lo Se fram this that a singe bow, bei evr so heavy, cannot posbly rake aman the unhappiet of all. For on blow ean ether deprive hin of hope, thereby leaving him presext in mem 2, or of memory, ths leaving hin present in hope. We flow go on to get a more detailed description of the ure Iappy tdividal lest wo sall consider the man of hope, When be as a hoping individual (and ins fr ofcourse, wshappy) i not present to himself in his hope, then he become in the Suicter sense unhappy. An individual who hopes for an cteral life i, indeed, in a certain sense unhappy, sine be Ins venouneed the preent, Dut not yet inthe st sense, Bectute eis himalf present in this hope, and does not come into condict with the indvidval moments ofthe faite life, Buti he dees not become present to himself inthis ope, but lies his hope and then hopes again and again loses, and so on, he 8 absent from himself, not only with respect to fhe present, but alo with respect the future, this gives us one type of the unhappy consoiounes. Ia the ‘ase of tho man of memory the case Is parallel fhe ean fod bine present inthe past, he notin the strict sense tunopoy; but fhe cannot, but fs constantly absent from himself in the past, then we have another type of ue Dappinss, Memory is emphatilly the real elemeat ofthe unapr® sis natral, Because the put has the rerarlable chase: ters that it is pst, the future, that iis yet to come, Whence one may sy ttt ina certain szse the future i neater the presont than i tho past. In order thatthe man af hope may beable to fad bln the Futur, ie future ‘must ave realty, os sather, ft must have zeit fr hin: fm order thatthe man of memory may fnd himself in the pas, th past mst haved realty for bt. But when the ‘man of hope wosld have a future which can have no reality for him, or the man of meraory would remember a past which bas had no reality, then we have the essentially ‘unbappy individuals. It might soem a3 if the fist supposh- tion were impossible, or sheer lunsey; however, itis not ‘0; for though the hoping indivitiodl does not hnpe for Something which has no reality for him, he may aeverthe- less hope for something which he himelf Inows cannot be realized, For when an individual loer his hope, and then {stad of taking refuge in memory, continues to hope, then wwe have such a type. When an individual who loses his ‘memory, oF who has nothing to remember, wil aot become boping individual, but continues to be a man of mem- ory, then we have ote type of wahapplness, If that an in- ‘ividyal buried himself in antiquity, ofa the Middle Ages, or in aay other period of time so that this had an authentic reality for him, or if he lost hinself in hie own childhood for youth, so that these things had an authentic reality for him, then he would not in a strict sense be an unhappy Individual. On the other hand, if Timagine a man who hist self had bad no childhood, this age having pasted him by without attaining essential sigifcance for him, but who ‘now, perhaps by becoming a teacher of youth, discovered al the beauty that there isin childhood, and who would ow remember his own ekikdhood, constantly staring back ati then I should have an excellent illustration of this pe of tnhappiness. Too late he would have discovered the sigifcance of that which was past for him but which he still desied to remember in its signifiesnce, If T fmasiaed 4 man who Thad lived without reel appreciation af the pleasures or foy of life, end who now om his deathbed gets his eyes opened to these things, if T imagined that bo did ‘ot dio (which would be the most fortunate thing) but lived on, though without living hi life over aguin—tuch a ‘man would have to be considered in our quest for the une Jbappiest man, ‘The unhappiness of hope is never so palnful ae the un- ‘happiness of memory. Tho man of hope always has a more tolerable disappointment to bear, It follows that the un. rue UNMAPPIEST MAN 20g, happiest man will bave to be sought among the unhappy individuals of meaty. Let us proceed, Let us imagine a combination of the two stricter types of unhappiness already described, The uo- happy man of hope could not find himself present in his hope, just as the unhappy man of memory could not find ‘sinself prevent ia his memary. There can be but one com- bination of these two types, and this happens when it 15 memory Which prevents the uahappy individual from find- ‘ng himself in his hope, and hope which prevents him fom ‘nding himself in is memory. When this happens, i , on the one hang, dve to the fast that he constantly hopes some- thing that should be remembered; his hope constantly dis- appolnts him and, in disappointing hin, reveals to him that it is not because the realization of his hope is postponed, but because itis already past and gone, has already been experienced, or should have heen experienced, and thus has passed over into memory. On the other hand, it ls due to the fct that he always remembers thet for which be ought to hope; for the future be has already anticipated in thought, in thought already experienced ft, and this expe- rience he now semenives, instead of hoping for it, Con- sequently, what he hopes for ler behind him, what he remembers lies before him. His life is not so much lived regressive as it mufezs a two-fold reversal, He will soon notice bis misfortune even if he is not able to understand ‘the zeason for it. To make sure, however, that he really shall have opportunity to feel it, misunderstanding pots in fits appearance to mock him at each moment in a curious way, Tn the ordinary course of thiegs, he enjoys the reputa- ton of being in full posseason of hie five senses, and yet he knows that if he were to expltin to a single person just hhow Its with him, he would be deslared mad. This is quite ‘enough to drive a man mad, and yet he does not became s0, and this is precisely his misfortune, His misfortune is ‘that he has come into the world taa soon, and therefore he always comes too late. He is constantly quite near his oul, and in the same moment he is far aay from it; he ‘nds that what now makes him unbappy because he has i, aay rug “nivaen” for because he js this way, is just whst fow years ago ‘would have mado him happy if he kad had it then, wile thon he was unhappy beceuse he dia thine it. Hi hfe Is empty, lke thet of Ancacus, of whom itis customary to ‘ay Ut nothing is known about him except that he gave rise to the proverb: “There's many aslip"ewiet dhe cup #53, the lip"=as i this was not moze than enough.* His lie is rests and without content; he doesnot live in the presen, the does not live in the future, for the Foture has already been experienced; he doesnot live inthe past, for the past Jha not yet come. So like Latona, be ie driven about fn the Hyperborean darkness, or to the bright sls of the equator, and cannot bring to bisth though he seems constantly on the verge. Alone by himstlf he stands in. the wide world He as no confemporary tine to support him; he has no past to long for, since his past has not yet come; he has ro future to hope for, since his future is eeady past. ‘Alone, be has the whole world over against him as the alter ‘wih owich he Gnd himtelf in cont; for the rest of the world is to him only one person, and this person, this Inseparible, importunate frend, Is Misunderstanding, Ho ‘cannot become ola, for be has never been young; he eannat become young, for he is already old, In one sense of the ‘word he cannot di, far he has not really lived; in another sense be cannot live, fr be fs aleady dend. He cannot love, for love i n the present, and he has na present, no fata, snd no past; and yet he has a sympathetic nature, and he hates the world omy because he loves it. We has no par sion, not because he is destitute of it, but beceuse sical tmeously he has the opposite passion, He has no tine for anything, not because his time is ken up with something tlie, but because he has no time at al. He is izapotent, not Decause be has no eneruy, but beoanse his own encray sakes hie impotent, ‘And now our hearts are indced sufficiently stcled, our ears stopped, even ff not closed. We have listened to the ‘cool voice of deliberation; lt us now hear the eloquence Of pasionbret, pithy, as all pasion {3 ‘There stands « young women. She complains that bar tue UNMAPPIEST MAN 235 over bs been faiths. This we cannot take into con- sideration, But she loved higa, and him alone, in all the ‘world, She loved him with all her heert, and with all her Soul, and with all hex mind~then let her remember and ative. 1s this areal being, ris tam image, a living person who dies, or 2 conpso who lives? 8 Nlabe.!© She lost all at 2 single blow; she Jost that to which she gave life, she lost ‘that which gave her Ife, Look vp ta ber, dear Symparanck- omerol, she stands lite higher then the world, on a ‘burial mound, like « monument. No hope allures ber, no fature moves her, no prospect tempts her, no hope excites hhor-hopeless she stands, petdSed in memory; fora single ‘moment she was unbappy, ja that same moment she be- ‘came happy, and netiing ean take her happiness from her; the world changes, but she knows no change; and tine ows on, but for her there is no future time See yonder, what a beautifal unioal The one generation clasps hands with the next! Is ft unto blessing, wnte loyal fellowship, unto the joy of the dazce? It is the outeast Tbouse of Oodipus, and the curse is transmitted from one ‘generation to the next, unt it erushes the last of the race Antigone. Yet she is provided for; the sorrow of e family ‘is enough for ona buman Ife, She has tumed her back on |hope, she has exchanged its instability for the Taitfulness ‘of memory. Be happy, dear Antigone! We with you @ Jong ‘ie, sigmiicant esa deep sigh, May no forgetfulness deprive you of aught, may the daly bittemess of grief be yours in fullest measure! A powerful gare appeass, but he is not alone, he has friends, how comes be hore then? Tt is Job, the patriarch of griefand his frends. He lost al, but not a a single blow; for the Lora took, and the Loed taak, and the Lord took, Friends taught him to feel the bitterness of hls los; for the Lord gave, and the Lord gave, and the Lord also gave him 8 foolish wile Into the bargai.tt He lost al; for what he retained lies outside the scope of aur Interest, Respect him, ear Symparanelzomnen0, for his gray hairs and his unhap- piness. He lost ll; but be tad porsessed tt. “His hair iy gray, bis head bent Jow, his countenance 208 ray ‘erramn” downeast, his soul troubled. It s the father of the prod son. Like Job he lst his most precious possession. Yet it was not the Lord wo took it, but the enemy. He didnot lose it, but hes losing i; fg not taken away from hi, but it vanishes, He does not sit by the hearth in sackcloth snd ashes; he has eft his home, forsaken everything to seek the lost. He reachos after him, but his arms do not clasp him; hoe cree out, but his eres do not overtake him. And yet Ibe hopes even through tears; he sees him from sfar, a5 through a mist; be overtakes him, if only in ceath. His Ihope makes him old, and nothing binds him to the world ‘except the hope for Which he lives. His feet are wear, his eyes dim, his body years for ret, bi hope lives, Hs hair {8 white, his body decrepit, his feet stumblo, his heart breaks, his hope lives. Raise him up, dear Syroparanek- romend, be was unhappy, ‘Who is this pale figare, unsubstanial as the shadow of the dead? His name has been forgotten, many canturies have passed sinoe his day, Hee was a youth, he had entho- slazn. He sought martyrdom. In fmagination be saw him selfnafled tothe ecoss, and the heavens open; but the reality ‘was too heavy for him; enthusiasm vanished, he detied his “Master and himself. He wished to lif a world, but he broke down under the strain; his soul was not erushed or ann ‘niated, but it was broken, and his spit was enervated, is soul pelsied, Congratulate him, dear Syusparineamero for he was unkappy. And yet did he not become happy? He became what he wished, 2 marty, even if his martyr. dom was not, as he had wished, to be nailed to the eros, not to be thrown to wild beasts, but to be burned alive, to be slowly consumed by a slow fre. ‘A young woman sts here of thoughtful mien, Her lover was fithless-but this we cannot take into consideration, ‘Young womap, observe the serions countenances of thie 20- ciety it has heard of move terrible malsfortunes, its daring sool demands something greater sil-Yes, but I loved him ard hin only nal the werld; [loved him with all my soul, snd with all ny boar, and with all my mind —You merely repost what we have already heard helore, do not weary ‘nr impatient longing; you ean remember, aud gueve,~No, THE UNMARPIneT MAN 207 Teannot grieve, for he was perhaps not a deceiver, he was periaps not fides Wh, thes, ein. you not’ grove? Come nearer, elect among Woren; forgive the strict censor ‘who sought for & moment to exclude you. You exanot sot row. Then why not hope?-No, I canat hope; for he was 8 dale.-Well, my sh, ulartand you, You stand igh the ranks of the unhappy; behold her, dear Symparanel- romeno, she stands almost atthe pinnacle of unhappiness But you must divide yourself, you mutt hope by day and ave by nigh, or glove by day and hope by night. Bo prowd; for ppinet no real ground for pide, but coly unhappiness. You are not indeed the unhappiest of alls ut itis your opinion, dear Symparaneleromenct, is it not, that ‘we ought to offer her an honorable access? The tomb we ‘cannot afer her, but the place aajcning stl be bers For there he stands, the ambassador from the kingdom of sighs, the chosen favorite of the realm of suffering, the apostle of grief, the slent fiend of pala, the unhappy lover ff memory, in his meterien eofeunded by tho light of hope, in his hope deceived by the shadows of memory? His head bangs heavy, his knees are weak; and yot he socks ‘no support sve in himself. He i Sct and yet how powet~ ful; his eyes seem nat to have wept, but to have drunk many tear and yet here isa fre in them strong enoush to destroy a worl, but not one splinter ofthe geet within his breast. He is bent, and yet his youth presages a Tong ‘fe s line sale at/a world that misunderstands hit. Stand up, dear Symparanckzometot, bow before him, Yo witneses of grit, in this most solemn hour! 1 ball thee, seat unknown, whose name I do not know: I bal thee ‘with thy tile of honor: The Unbippiest Maal Weloomed here to your home by the eomarsaity of the unhappy, rected here atthe entrance tothe low and bumble de! ng, which is yet prouder anal tho palaces of the world Lo the stone i oled avay, the grav's shale awaits you with ts rereshng colnese Bat perhaps your time has nat Yet come, perhaps the way i long before you; but we prom- Ise you to gather hero often to envy you your good fortune. ‘Accept then our wish, « good wish: May uo one under- ‘tan you say elle envy you; may no fiend bind him- 208 ram “nrtmen” self to you, may no woman love you; spay no secret sym ppatly suspect your lonely pein, may no eye pierce your distunt grief; may no ear trace your secret sigh! But pet~ ‘haps your proud soul spurs such sympathetic wishes, and

    You might also like