I took one of those silly Facebook quizzes {OK, I've taken more than one.} where you answer a few questions and get pigeonholed by your answer. It was "Which Great Philosopher Are You?" My result?
Søren Aabye Kierkegaard
Of course, this made me want to go read something about Kierkegaard, and naturally, the first place to look was his entry on Wikipedia. {Yes, yes; it's unreliable for true research. But for most initial inch-deep information, it's just fine.}
Anyway, I read most of the entry, and I can't say that I'm particularly impressed with him as a person. I believe I'm more decisive than he seemed to be, and it seems being a "philosopher" in the 19th century was a good excuse for moping and writing obtuse prose. The description in the Wikipedia article says:
Kierkegaard left the task of discovering the meaning of his works to the reader, because "the task must be made difficult, for only the difficult inspires the noble-hearted".[4]
I want my opinions to be understood without difficulty. And if I have something to say, I don't want to make you read (or make me write) pages upon pages to get the point.
Still, I found part of his writings to fit me well enough, for he is credited with the concept of the "leap of faith." Initially, I added my thoughts about that to this entry, but I've decided to break the two apart, so tomorrow I will cover the topic of "A Leap of Faith" and what that means to me.
Facebook - a useful social networking site, a diversion, and in this case, an inspiration for another {somewhat long-winded} Small Sermon. Tomorrow.
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