the knight of faith

kierkegaard, in fear and trembling (1843), described two kinds of people who have seen through the game.

the first he called the knight of infinite resignation. this is the person who has looked at the absurd, the silent universe, the certainty of death, the collapse of every script — and got bitter about it. detached. cynical. above-it-all. they understand the joke and they refuse to laugh. there is a kind of dignity in this stance and there is also a kind of poison.

the second he called the knight of faith. this is the person who saw exactly the same thing — the same absurd, the same silence, the same death — and still chose the meal. chose the love. chose the bad joke that made everyone in the room laugh. the knight of faith looks, from the outside, completely unremarkable. an accountant. a teacher. someone enjoying their breakfast. but they are carrying the entire weight of having seen through the game in their back pocket the whole time. they are not naive. they are not in denial. they are choosing.

the difference between resignation and faith, for kierkegaard, is that resignation gives up on the finite world. faith doesn't. faith gets the world back, knowing it can't possibly be reclaimed on rational grounds. by faith i make no renunciation. on the contrary, by faith i acquire everything.

this project is for the second kind.

the knight of faith looks completely unremarkable from the outside. they are carrying the entire weight in their back pocket.