Søren Kierkegaard, Diaries

Søren Kierkegaard is a Danish philosopher who lived from 1813 to 1855. Kierkegaard wrote diary entries to record his philosophical insights and insights. It is not a diary in the traditional sense of the word because not every fragment has a date. He did not write to write down his daily vicissitudes, but he wanted to express his thoughts on all kinds of subjects. Only the notes about his visit to the Danish king could be said to be a typical diary fragment. His diaries contain a striking number of ideas about books or plays. The selection from Kierkegaard’s diaries were published in 1991 by Sybren Polet, a well-known Dutch poet and writer. Kierkegaard’s work has been translated by his wife Cora Polet, who has translated many books from Danish and Swedish. Recent examples of her translation work are the books of the Swedish PO Enquist and Scandinavian thrillers by Henning-Mankell. NB! This article is written from the personal view of the author and may contain information that is not scientifically substantiated and/or in line with the general view.

Compiler Sybren Polet

In this collection of diary fragments, Kierkegaard’s philosophy comes to the reader clearly and comprehensibly, although some passages provoke the reader to wonder what Kierkegaard meant. Sybren Polet starts the diaries with a 14-page introduction and mentions how Kierkegaard liked to view his surroundings indirectly, for example through a mirror. All topics from his philosophical work are reflected in his diary. The diary is written in such a way that it seems as if Kierkegaard expected someone to publish it one day, albeit not in this form. The Dane had an audience in mind. Yet it is not a diary in the true sense of the word, but rather a series of notes with the silent despair of Kierkegaard himself as a common thread.

Polet and Kierkegaard

Sybren Polet read Kierkegaard when he was 18, especially Fear and Trembling. Polet comes from a Reformed family and, like Kierkegaard, struggled with faith. Reading Kierkegaard’s books contributed to Polet becoming an atheist. For Polet, the arguments that it was good for Abraham to want to sacrifice his son were proof that faith leads to extreme and undesirable consequences. That did not stop Polet from enjoying Kierkegaard’s works.

Kierkegaard’s life

Kierkegaard lived off his father’s inheritance. He lived in big houses and moved a few times within Copenhagen. He had a writing desk in every room. In his case it was probably a standing table because at that time people only wrote standing up. Kierkegaard does earn something from the royalties on his books, but that is not enough to support himself. In his diaries he describes at one point that he is blocking a reprint of a book, thereby shooting himself in the fingers financially. Kierkegaard was trained as a theologian but never put into practice the profession of preacher. He considers himself a man without office; in his day, writing was not considered a profession. In his conversation with the king of Denmark, he notes that the king probably does not like the fact that there is someone without an office besides him.

Kierkegaard and existentialism

Kierkegaard is considered one of the patriarchs of existentialism. He uses this term for the first time. For Kierkegaard, man’s existence in relation to God is one of the most important issues in life. Many other existentialists, such as Sartre, were atheists. Man and his existence is the only starting point. He is what he does. Belief in God is a subjective experience of a human being and does not fall within the domain of objective truths for agnostic existentialists.

Indirect communication

Kierkegaard is a man of indirect communication, a term he created himself. This is communication via a medium such as a book or letter. Art and poetry can also be considered indirect communication. Kierkegaard himself looked at his beloved through a mirror. Polet pays a lot of attention to the role of Regine’s muse. Kierkegaard regularly writes about her. Their love story is dramatic; the two love each other very much, but Kierkegaard is afraid of starting a family and being burdened by social obligations. Kierkegaard broke off their engagement when he finished his dissertation for his theology degree and then some time later he becomes very jealous when Regine has another man

Kierkard’s handwriting / Source: Public domain, Wikimedia Commons (PD)

found it. Sybren Polet also points out that Kierkegaard lived on a grand scale. He rushed through his father’s inheritance too quickly because he loved big houses, expensive wines and traveling in a luxurious carriage. The royalties from his books did not cover his expenses. He died at a telling moment, shortly after withdrawing the last of his money from the bank.

Trapped in thoughts

Kierkegaard is captured by his clear insights. His insights do not bring him liberation. Rather it is the opposite; Kierkegaard becomes depressed by his thoughts and insights. He continues to cling to the church institution despite criticizing the church. He opposes the liberation philosophies of the Gnostic Christians or Freemasons. He also opposes philosopher Hegel who wanted to overcome dialectics. Kierkegaard is a plaything of the dialectic and is torn between the extremes. However, this produces striking ideas. His diary is a reflection of the experiences of people seeking Truth. Kierkegaard is a philosopher who did not set up a system like other philosophers. He always keeps his feet on the ground. Kierkegaard is concerned with the existence of man in relation to the divine. Kierkegaard is considered the father of existentialism, although he himself would probably not have agreed with it. He probably would have been excited that people were walking away with his insights. He catches his ,little, secretary, as he calls an employee, stealing his insights and publishing them in article form without mentioning Kierkegaard’s name. He’s quite angry about that. Later he speculates that after his death he will certainly be read and prove to be an important figure for Denmark. He was right about that.

Incomprehension

Kierkegaard repeatedly describes feeling misunderstood. His thoughts, hunches and ideas are so brilliant that not everyone understands them. Somewhere in 1837 he wrote in his diary: I spoke louder than the birds sang but they do not understand me. On the same day he wrote that he sometimes went to the countryside to flee from the misunderstanding he encountered in his hometown of Copenhagen and to ensure that he could avoid misunderstanding there. He ends this diary entry by stating that it is a privilege to be misunderstood. He apparently settles happily into being a loner.

Crazy or genius?

Kierkegaard makes many references to madmen or the mentally ill in his diaries.

At some point he wants to write a book about a madman where the writer himself goes mad while writing.
He has the idea that someone only answers in numbers; How are you? 9.
Later he comes up with a novel about someone who lives with a secret and can go crazy about it. He can reveal this secret while the person himself is healing from his illness. The audience will still believe in the madness. He wonders whether this is something for the person in question to rejoice in.

You would almost say that Kierkegaard associates himself with a madman, just as Jesus says that some truths are foolishness to the world. In other words, someone is declared crazy by their environment, but that does not necessarily have to be the case in God’s eyes. The predicates ‘crazy’ and ‘genius’ are close together; the boundary between these two qualifications is determined by a change in perspective of the observer.

Statue of Kierkegaard in the gardens of the Royal Library in Copenhagen / Source: Hans Jørn Storgaard Andersen, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA-3.0)

Judgements

Kierkegaard is very negative in his judgments of Pythagoras, Goethe, Hegel and other particularly intelligent philosophers. This negative criticism is also the weapon with which he fought himself. In that respect you cannot accuse him of inconsistencies. Kierkegaard calls Goethe a talented defender of banalities, Hegel is a comic man who in his works dismisses everything with a ‘quickie’. It is not that he is serving the church; he also disapproves of all preachers of his time. Only Bishop Mynster can do good in his eyes, at least for a while, later he too is hit by critical arrows from his mind. The Bible says: Judge and you will be judged. Kierkegaard, a theologian graduate, clearly ignored this aphorism.

A deep polemicist

Kierkegaard considered himself a victim of polemical movements. He calls himself ‘deeply polemical’. Dialectic is its prison and language is its walls. Language limits and crystallizes the unfolding thought. Once the thought is written down, it stops unfolding. Dialectic is the world of thesis and antithesis, which in Kierkegaard’s case are so far apart that they meet again at their turning point. He seems to be looking for synthesis, sometimes rushing towards it only to always find reasoning that undermines the achievement of a blissful insight. One hour he was the big pacer at a party, the humorist who made everyone laugh, a little later at home he was overcome by suicidal tendencies. The depths and heights over which his thoughts wandered yielded brilliant insights and phrases. Humor and a death wish go hand in hand in Kierkegaard. He describes someone who publishes a comedy magazine as a person who suppresses his suicidal tendency by temporarily supporting himself by making jokes out of need for money.

The truth seeker

Kierkegaard studied theology and devoted himself to philosophy. That betrays a deep tendency to search for Truth with a capital ‘W’. He loved the big questions in life. The relationship between man and God is an important one for him, or should we perhaps say Man and God? Somewhere Kierkegaard quotes Amor leaving Psyche. Amor says that if you become the mother of a child, he will become a child of the gods if you remain silent, but an ordinary person if you betray the secret. Kierkegaard sees silence as a reflection on divine origins; he who talks becomes man. For Kierkegaard, philosophy is the search for the unconscious undercurrent that drives people to act.

Enjoying misery

Kierkegaard enjoyed his misery in his intellectual prison, he bathed in his negative and depressing thoughts. He loved them and surrounded himself with them. He bathed himself in them and couldn’t let go. My sadness is my castle, is a quote he puts in his diary. He himself writes that language is important to him because he can hide his melancholy in it. His depressions are often a source of inspiration to pour clear insights into word forms. As a reader you sometimes feel ashamed to enjoy the beautiful sentences and sublime thoughts that arise from despair, despair, apathy, negative self-criticism and unattainable desire.