KIERKEGAARD AND MONTAIGNE ....

Though Kierkegaard  insisted on the distinctive  individuality of each existing self ,  he remained curiously ambiguous about his own true self .  Perhaps most readers do not take seriously enough  Kierkegaard sense of humor . In  EITHER/OR  he relates that he had been taken  up into the seventh heaven  where the assembled  gods gave  him the privilege of making any  wish , which they would fulfill .

 For a  moment I was at a loss . Then I addressed  myself to  the gods  as follows ; " Most honorable  contemporaries , I  choose this one thing , that I always have the laugh  on my side ." Not one of the  gods said  a word ; on the contrary , they all began to  laugh . From that  I  concluded that my wish was granted , and found that the  gods knew how  to express themselves  with taste ; for it would  hardly have been suitable  for them to have  answered gravely ; " Thy wish is granted ."

Kierkegaard wit is easier to grasp than his message .  Montaigne , also a  thinker of  Existentialism , had explained  the problem ; " If my mind could  gain a  foothold , I would not write essays , I  would make decisions , but it is always in apprenticeship and on trial ."

  Yet  we need not be troubled by our inability to sum up  and make Kierkegaard's  message  intelligible . There can never be a system for existence , because  existence is always  incomplete  and developing .

Kierkegaard says , and again I'm quoting from : Either/or ,  "What wonder , then , that the world goes from bad to worse , and that its evils increase more and more , as boredom increases , and boredom is the root  of all evil . The history of this can be traced from the very beginning of the world . The gods were bored , and so they created man , Adam was bored because he was alone , and so Eve was created . Thus boredom entered the world , and increased in proportion to the the increase of population . Adam was bored alone ; then Adam and Eve were bored together , then Adam and Eve and Cain and Able were bored en famille ; then the population of the world increased , and the peoples were bored en masse .

But man is misled if he thinks he can relieve boredom by what he sees when watching the affairs of the world , or even the elections of his own little society . The only relief is to stay home , where the existing individual bores himself into  inventiveness .





D.J.B.  helped research and analyse the philosophers  and I'm grateful ,  as to you my good readers my usual thanks for your time and patience , salamat.