In his brilliant book, Fear and Trembling, Kierkegaard wrestles with the many paradoxes which acting with faith presents (Kierkegaard, 2012). Faith, Kierkegaard argues, is not something which can be understood and enacted through reason alone. Instead, faith is a leap into the unknown, and continually facing and encountering the unknown provokes fear and anxiety.
Faith is a commitment to live with the unknown and uncertainty, and the paradoxes and absurdities it brings (Kierkegaard, 2012). In other words, the way is more important than the outcome. The word “way” is used as opposed to method, as it requires a constantly evolving perspective, and not a method as such. Uncertainty is challenging and mysterious, and absurd, it defies categorization, but fuels poetry and art.
The way of faith, as outlined by Kierkegaard, has strong roots in Plato and Socrates. In the Plato’s The Republic (2007), Socrates and the meeting of philosophers in Athens discuss Justice. As the group attempts to categorize what Justice is, Socrates demonstrates the paradoxes that lie within each definition which is put forward. When the book ends, Justice still escapes capture, but the paradoxical nature of justice is illuminated, and the perspective enriched. Socrates, through Plato, demonstrates that wrestling with uncertainty rather than attempting to explain it away, ensures that we are never blind to the absurdities and contradictions which life always throw in our path.
Kierkegaard illustrated vividly the cost of embracing uncertainty as a way of life. Fear and anxiety accompany uncertainty as it shines a light on what we do not know. However, embracing uncertainty also means that we are open to what comes next and its transformative effects. This is an underlying point in The Republic, the openness is more important than the certainty. And to be open requires faith in a way of being.
It is natural to seek comfort in certainty, and Kierkegaard acknowledges this at length. However, as Socrates argues, faith in the way of wisdom fuels a passionate curiosity for becoming more than we are now. Kierkegaard saw faith, and a life bound to uncertainty as a passion too, an ability to go beyond methods and reason alone. In human history this passion is captured in poetry, art, and literature; artifacts which give us fresh insights every time we read and look upon them.
Reading
Kierkegaard, S., 2013. Fear and trembling. Simon and Schuster.
Plato, 2007. The Republic. Penguin Classics.
