Category: Philosophy

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… The preceding monographs have followed,

relatively closely, the lines laid out by the Danish Philosopher, Soren Kierkegaard,

in his master-work, ‘Fear and Trembling’.

Quite apart from his unquestionble literary genius and an eternally playful spirit,

Kierkegaard is interesting for a number of reasons.

His name, for one, which means ‘church-yard’, compare, scottish ‘kirk’ for ‘church’,

and the fact that all his published written works were placed in the public domain

under a series of aliases which comprised a different nom de plume, or pen-name, for each work.

We shall return to literary masks in due course…

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I am no linguist as those who know me well will vehemently attest.

The written word, though, I find incredibly fascinating.

In writing this it strikes me how closely ‘garden’ and ‘yard’ must be related.

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Is ‘man’s estate’ then, merely a matter of feet?

Three!

Give or take…

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If so, it would throw light on that other staple of Hebraic wisdom

which ‘we christians’ have

appropriated, or, depending upon your point of view,

singularly mis-appropriated…

Eden.

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I recently read ‘a novel of Japan’, and in it great play was made of the fact that in the Medieval

Japanese caste system only the samurai, the warriors, were given ‘proper names’.

Those lower in estate were called by their function alone.

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And yet, given the number of ‘Cooks’ and ‘Taylors’

and ‘Fishers’ and ‘Fletchers’ and ‘Coopers’ and

indeed ‘Gardners’ etc. in our own culture

must not something similar have once held sway here?

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Perhaps Soren’s ancestors were grave diggers?

It would explain a lot.

His predilection for literary masks, certainly…

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Slivers of Sǿren

Testaments to Truth

Stuart France

In his relatively short literary career, Danish philosopher, Sǿren Kierkegaard, challenged the religious orthodoxy of his age with a series of exquisitely penned philosophical works which he placed before the reading public under a plethora of different aliases.

All these writings addressed the spiritual concerns of his age and, on a broader note, questioned just what it means to be human. Losing the ability to think for ourselves, and to question the decisions of a ruling elite, for Kierkegaard, was a prelude to surrendering our very freedom as a people.

Recognising alarming parallels with our own times, and taking Kierkegaard’s classic, Fear and Trembling as a start, author and essayist, Stuart France, heads straight to the heart of the Jewish and Christian spiritual traditions with this poetic foray into high ideas…

The quality of story is not strained.

The Western Mystery Tradition may never be the same again!

Available on Amazon UK, Amazon.com and worldwide

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