If you respect yourself and worry about your soul you know you
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must live a stricter and more retired life than even a virgin in a
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maiden's bower. It is true that there are those who need to be
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forced and tamedand who would tumble about like wild beasts in
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lustful frenzy if they were left free. It is true and you can see it
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now, quite close at your neighbour's house. But you have to show
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that you are not one of that kind, by talking about it with anguish
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and fear. And talk you must with awe about the holy things, the
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great eternal truths, so that they won't be forgotten. If you can't
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understand their horrors, nor can you see their greatness.
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Now let's consider the distress and agony of the paradox of faith:
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The tragic hero acts to gain fame and glory for himself. The knight
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of faith gives up his individuality to become the common man,
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becomeˇ°Everymanˇ±. It all depends on the will. If you think it's
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easy enough to be a single man, sufficient to yourself, you can be
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sure you are not a knight of faith.
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Wild birds and wandering geniuses are not the true knights. These
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know how blessed it is to belong to the common.
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The true knight also knows how pleasant and wholesome it is to be
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an individual who, so to speak, translates himself into a clean, neat
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and flawless edition , readable to each and everyone. He knows that
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it is refreshing to be understandable to everybody, as well as he
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also understands the common truths, and both of them rejoice in
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their shared confidence of the common. He rests assure that it's
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pleasant to be born as a separate individual who is at home in the
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common, the kind and lasting place on Earth, which will receive
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him with open arms, when he finally wishes to rest there. But he
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also knows that far beyond this there is a lonely, narrow and steep
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path, winding its way through the wilderness. He knows what it
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would be like to be born outside the common world and to have to
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travel alone without meeting a single soul. He knows quite well
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where he is and what his relation to other people is like.
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From a human point of view he is insane and can't
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communicate with anybody. To put it mildly: he is as mad as a
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hatter. If he isn't regarded as such he is a hypocrite and the further
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he travels along the way the worse hypocrisy.
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The knights of faith know how engulfing it is to give themselves
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up for the sake of the common. Courage is needed, but there is
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also a feeling of confidence since it is for common man. He knows
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what a glorious thing it is to be understood by every truthful noble
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man, and by doing so be nobler in the mind himself. All this he
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knows and feels as if committed to this faith. He would like to
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think that this would be his mission of life...
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Reflections upon the Distress and Agony of Faith
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| Crimson Moonlight |
