“What sheer vanity the earthly and temporal is… Everything, all that I see, is vanity and vicissitude as long as it exists, and finally it is the prey of corruption. Therefore, when the moon rises in its radiance, I will together with that devout man* say to the star, ‘I do not care for you: after all, you are now eclipsed’; and when the sun rises in all its splendor and darkens the moon, I will say to the moon, ‘I do not care for you: after all, you are now eclipsed’; and wwhen the sun goes down, I will say, ‘I thought as much, because all is vanity.’ When I see the brook running along so briskly, I will say: Just keep on running; you will never fill the sea. To the wind I will say, yes, even it it tears trees up by the roots, I will say to it: Just keep on blowing; there is no meaning or thought in you, you symbol of inconstancy. Even if the loveliness of the field, which charmingly captivates the eye, and even if the melodiousness of the birds’ singing, which deliciously falls upon the ear, and even if the peacefulness of the forest, which invitingly refreshes the heart — even if they were to use all their persuasiveness, I will still not allow myself to be persuaded, will not allow myself to be beguiled; I will still call to mind that all of it is deception. Even though through thousands of years the stars remained so fixed and without changing their positions in the sky, I will still not allow myself to be deceived by this reliability; I will call to mind that they at some time will fall down.”
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~Source: Christian Discourses: “Discourses at the Communion on Fridays; I. Luke 22:15″ (1848)
Author: Søren Kierkegaard
