Angest er Frihedens Svimmelhed, en Svimmelhed, der kommer, naar Friheden vil gaae over i sin Mulighed, og idet den da seer ned i sit eget Svælg, saa styrter den.
Absolutely correct, who didn’t know that! Just kidding, here’s the translation:
"Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom, a dizziness that comes when freedom wants to pass into its possibility, and as it then looks down into its own throat, it falls.”
Both quotes are from Kierkegaard, “Begrebet Angest” or “Concept of Anxiety”. Now, translations are always interesting. I grew up in northern Germany, and we the “Plattdütsch”, our native language which I never studied but know quite a few words of, has much in common with Danish. As does the “Hochdeutsch”, modern German.
*Etymology? Seriously?”
Yes, and no. I first heard the English quote, and then looked it up, noticing that the original is “Angest” instead of anxiety. There is no good translation for anxiety. The known German “Angst” is fear. So it caught my eye. In Danish, “angst” is generally used as adjective, not as noun as in German. Kierkegaard did was many philosophers do, taking a word and establishing his own definition: He formed the noun “Angest” into the baseless, existential fear that is anxiety.
Translation matters. Context matters.
I always found it easier to read German philosophers in English. Because they’ve already been translated, and within every translation is interpretation. The translation from Danish to English above is not original. There were parts missing, so I looked into it, and tried it step by step and with several programs, and this is what makes most sense to me, with the little background of language similarity that I know, that I can add intuitively.
Freedom of translation.
Which can change everything. The choices we make have many consequences, and the more freedom we have, the more choices there are to make. KG is absolutely right about that. He talks a lot about being lost in the “finite” and the “infinite”, both being equally harmful, although the “finite” is the one that we won’t even notice, or just after a long time. The earthly pleasures, being lost in whatever numbs the mind, whatever refrains us from making the real decisions, the individual decisions.
What’s an individual after all?
It’s not only the one that makes decisions. We all make them, every day, in every moment. It’s the one that is aware of their decisions, doesn’t take them lightly, yet does make them. The one that acts on them. The one that is committed to their decisions, taking responsibility for them. It’s not about breaking out, going against everything that’s “normal”. Many decisions can be normal, made by many people, and yet individual.
Individual mass decisions.
Everyone breathes. Few people choose to breathe, and how to breathe. Those who do take the individual choice on breathing have quite the epiphany about it. Any yet, there are many people who rather keep it as it is – an instinct. It’s easier than to take responsibility for yet another aspect of life. Food as already become a philosophical playground with all them vegans and ketos, let my breathing alone!
Way too much.
We can choose from so many diets that most people just don’t choose anymore. They let themselves be led by instincts, and the instincts be led by tradition and advertising and mom. And it’s okay, because food isn’t that meaningful, there are more important decisions to make.
Are there?
I don’t think so. I believe that when we’re able to make conscious decisions about the mundane, the normal life situations, the low-key parts of life, it will be so much easier to make decisions on a higher level. That doesn’t mean that every single second has to be filled with conscious decisions. They can fall back into behavior patterns after they have been made. For example, I don’t think about eating vegan anymore, it’s not a conscious decision I make every day. I did it once in my life, then I learned how to live it, now it’s integrated into my life and like an instinct.
A leap of faith.
The possibilities might seem endless. And yes, Kierkegaard used the leap of faith in a different context, but I do think it applies here very well, too. We can’t take all the possibilities into consideration. We can contemplate them, rank them, consider the top 5 and make the decision, taking a leap of faith that our process is good enough to create an overall positive outcome.
And take responsibility either way.
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