The Present Moment (Introduction), Soren Kierkegaard

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
The Present Moment by Soaring Kirkgard, published in eighteen fifty five,
translated by Lee M. Hollander in nineteen twenty three. This
is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the
public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit

(00:24):
LibriVox dot org. The moment number one. By way of introduction,
Plato says somewhere in his Republic that things will go
well only when those men shall govern the state who
do not desire to govern. The idea is probably that,

(00:48):
assuming the necessary capability, a man's reluctance to govern affords
a good guarantee that he will govern well and efficiently,
whereas a man desirous of governing may very easily either
abuse his power and become a tyrant, or by his

(01:09):
desire to govern, be brought into an unforeseen situation of
dependence on the people he is to rule, so that
his government really becomes an illusion. This observation applies also
to other relations, where much depends on taking things seriously.

(01:31):
Assuming there is ability in a man, it is best
that he show reluctance to meddle with them to be sure.
As the proverb has it, where there is a will,
there is a way. But true seriousness appears only when
a man fully equal to his task is forced against

(01:52):
his will to undertake it against his will, but fully
equal to the task, in this sense, I may say
of myself that I bear a correct relation to the
task in hand to work in the present moment. For
God knows that nothing is more distasteful to me. Authorship. Well,

(02:17):
I confess that I find it pleasant, and I may
as well admit that I have dearly loved to write
in the manner to be sure, which suits me. And
what I have loved to do is precisely the opposite
of working in the present moment. What I have loved

(02:40):
is precisely remoteness from the present moment, that remoteness in which,
like a lover, I may dwell on my thoughts, and,
like an artist in love with his instrument, entertain myself
with language, and lure from it the expressions demanded by
my thoughts. Ah blissful entertainment in an eternity. I should

(03:07):
not weary of this occupation to contend with men. Well,
I do like it in a certain sense, for I
have by nature a temperament so polemic that I feel
in my element only when surrounded by men's mediocrity and meanness,

(03:28):
but only on one condition, namely, that I be permitted
to scorn them in silence, and to satisfy the master
passion of my soul, scorn opportunity for which my career
as an author has often enough given me. I am

(03:49):
therefore a man of whom it may be said truthfully
that he is not in the least desirous to work
in the present moment. Probably I have been called to
do so for that very reason. Now that I am
to work in the present moment, I must alas say

(04:10):
farewell to thee beloved remoteness, where there was no necessity
to hurry, but always plenty of time, where I could
wait for hours and days and weeks for the proper
expression to occur to me, whereas now I must break

(04:31):
with all such regards of tender love. And now that
I am to work in the present moment, I find
that there will be not a few persons whom I
must oblige by paying my respects to all the insignificant
things which mediocrity with great self importance will lecture about,

(04:55):
to all the nonsense which mediocre people by interpreting into
my words their own mediocrity will find in all I
shall write, and to all the lies and culmonies to
which a man is exposed, against whom those two great
powers in society, envy and stupidity, must of necessity conspire.

(05:22):
Why then, do I wish to work in the present moment?
Because I should forever repent of not having done so,
and forever repent of having been discouraged by the consideration
that the generation now living would find a representation of

(05:45):
the essential truths of Christianity interesting and curious reading. At most,
having accomplished which they will calmly remain where they are,
that is, in the illusion that they are Christians, and
that the clergies toying with Christianity really is Christianity. End

(06:16):
of the Present Moment by Soren Kirkergard