Tim's Thought Piece

Tim's Thought Piece

“All I have is my life, which I promptly stake every time a difficulty appears. Then it is easy to dance, for the thought of death is a good dancing partner, my dancing partner. Every human being is too heavy for me, and therefore I plead, I swear by the gods: Let no one invite me, for I do not dance” (p. 8)

      Kierkegaard ends his preface with this profound, yet confusing statement. Initially, this passage feels disjointed and out of place in the sporadic preface. However, when one takes this passage in the context of the philosophy Kierkegaard later fleshes out, its meaning becomes more apparent.

      Kierkegaard begins the passage in the mindset of someone living in untruth. He is not connected to any truth outside the temporal and is thus attached to his body (life). He realizes that he is staking everything he knows (his life) during any struggle in his existence. During these struggles, he begins to understand that he has the potential to be more than his “life”. Death is the primary fear of any human being living in untruth, for it takes away the only thing they have. But Kierkegaard has begun the process of coming to truth and is no longer connected to his life. Death is no longer something he is running from, but something he wants to examine and understand, for it can help in bringing him to greater understanding of truth.

      In the last sentence, Kierkegaard has further understood the separation from humans living in truth and untruth. Those living in untruth have become “too heavy” for him. They are weighed down by their sin and have not begun to accept the teacher who has descended to them. He then begs that none of these people of untruth come and ask him to teach them. He does not “dance”, meaning that he does teach others and bring them the necessary condition for a change. As a human being in truth, he knows that he is not a capable teacher for those in untruth, and thus hopes no one asks to dance, or to teach them.

       The use of the dancing metaphor is particularly effective because dancing is an act involving two people. These two people watch each other and work off of each other’s movements. But the movement to truth, while requiring a teacher, can not take place between two humans. One can not move form untruth to truth by watching someone else and following them. Instead, they must dance with themselves and allow the teacher (god) guide them.

      Kierkegaard frequently cites Socrates and the Greeks, and the dancing metaphor he uses makes connections to Plato’s cave. Both involve a movement away from the temporal world and one’s body. There is also a realization of higher truth that is possible and attainable. But Kierkegaard, unlike Plato, sees this movement as an internal action and can not be guided by a human teacher. This process of realizing truth is also possible for all humans for Kierkegaard, for the potential for truth is in all human beings. Plato’s truth is more of an elite, selective ascent. Thus, through the dancing metaphor and the rest of philosophy, Kierkegaard creates a Christianized form of Socratic philosophy, making the attainment of truth universal and internal.