Kierkegaard und melancholie

8/7/2019 Kierkegaard und melancholie

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Verstrynge, Karl. Over the Bridge of Sighs into Eternity: On Sren Kierkegaards Prominent Role in the History

of Melancholy.EREA4.1(printemps 2006): 90-6

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Over the Bridge of Sighs into Eternity.1On Sren Kierkegaards Prominent Role in the History of Melancholy

by Karl Verstrynge

Just as a woman who is unhappy at home spends a lot of time looking out the window,so the soul of a melancholic [Tungsindig] person keeps on the lookout for diversions.Another form of melancholy [Tungsind] is the kind which keeps its eyes shut in order tohave darkness all around. (Pap. VIII1 A 239; NB2:125)

It isnt as easy as one would think to bring up the theme of melancholy and to claim somethingdefinitive about it. However one approaches it, melancholy always strongly resists any attemptto catch it in a definition. Whoever glances at its development throughout the ages will easilynotice that the phenomenon arises in different forms and shapes which often cannot beharmonized or which are even squarely opposed to one another. Raymond Klibansky and hiscolleagues Erwin Panofsky and Fritz Saxl, who wrote one of the most quoted works on thehistory of melancholy (Saturn and Melancholy),2 state that we cannot depict melancholy as aninvariable phenomenon (39). They are of the opinion that one should much rather speak of afigure that regenerates itself continually, whereby some characteristics turn up only todisappear again later. The obstinate resistance of melancholy to being defined is so big thatother commentators even wonder whether it can be the object of a theoretical investigation atall. In their view, it belongs to the core of melancholy to withdraw from an organizing andanalysing grip (Heidbrink 25). The popular characterisation of melancholy as sadness withoutcause is in this respect revealing.

It is undoubtedly because of its ambiguous character that melancholy pops up in mostdifferent and diverse fields. Not only is it brought up as an object of study in medicine,psychiatry, psychology and psycho-analysis, but also artists, writers, philosophers andtheologians have embarked on the theme. In general we could connect a double appreciationwith the phenomenon of melancholy. On the one hand it appears as a pathological given and it

is part of an individual history of disease, while on the other hand it also appears as a culturalphenomenon referring to what it means to be human. In the former case one deals withmelancholy as an aberration that should be suppressed with all possible therapeutic, psychiatricand psycho-chemical means, in the latter case melancholy is showing its existential roots thatcannot possibly be eradicated.

The way in which the Danish philosopher Sren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) has dealt withmelancholy clearly puts him in the camp of those who situate melancholy in the heart of humanexistence. For the Dane, melancholy is by no means a medical issue that can be remedied witha proper treatment. It much rather refers to the deeper meaning of our human condition. Withsome caution, the theme of melancholy can be said to be a fundamental theme in his writings.So it is often the case that commentators mention his name in one breath with melancholy. Butthat regular recurrence of the theme does not alter, however, the fact that melancholy also

spreads its ambivalence over Kierkegaards interpretation. Also in his interpretation thephenomenon is not pinned down on one all-embracing description. In his oeuvre melancholyshows its many faces and throughout the various works its rich history becomes apparent. Thefact that different traditions of melancholy become visible in his work and that Kierkegaard

1. The full quotation in Kierkegaards journal goes as follows: This is the road we all must walk over the bridge ofsighs into eternity(Pap. I A 334; CC19). For an extensive elaboration of the theme of this article, I refer to my Dehysterie van de geest. Zwaarmoedigheid in het pseudonieme oeuvre van S. Kierkegaard (Leuven: Uitgeverij Peeters,2003 (French translation in preparation) and to Harvey Fergusons Melancholy and the Critique of Modernity. SrenKierkegaards Religious Psychology.

2. This impressive work, first published in 1964, discusses in a rigorous manner about 22 centuries of history ofmelancholy, from its origin in early classical antiquity until the 17th century.


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gives a hint of the way in which we can look at melancholy in a contemporary context, giveshim a unique place in twenty-five centuries of history of melancholy.

In this paper I intend to cast some light on the intriguing concept of melancholy inKierkegaards work. After a short introduction to Kierkegaards work and thought, I will dwell

upon an important difference he makes in his treatment of melancholy and then finally throwmore light on what I think to be Kierkegaards special contribution to the development of theconcept of melancholy.

Kierkegaard and melancholy: a first exploration

It suffices to take up one of the numerous introductions to the life and work of Kierkegaard, tonotice the interwovennes of his character with the theme of melancholy. A lot of commentatorsdepict Denmarks most eminent philosopher as a depressed thinker. This is not surprising, sinceit is Kierkegaard himself who acknowledges that he continuously lived under the yoke of despairand heavy-mindedness. So he writes about his melancholy as his intimate confidante (Pap.III A 114; Not7:28) and his faithful mistress (Pap. III A 114; Not7:28), holding herresponsible for the several failures in his life: his despairing youth, the split with his fianceRegine Schlegel, his incapacity to lead a conventional life, his untimely old age, and even hisconviction of never having really lived (see Pap. VII1 A 104; NB:12, Pap. VIII1 A 27; NB:141,Pap. VIII1 A 239; NB2:125, Pap. IX A 217; NB6:65, Pap. X5 A 149; Not15:4, Pap. X1 A 234;NB10:153, and POV, 79 ff.). But in spite of his numerous complaints, Kierkegaard also grantsmelancholy an explicit positive appreciation. As a severe melancholic (Pap. X3 A 310) heascribes his melancholic nature an indescribable benefit (Pap. X2 A 411). Not only didmelancholy provide him with the solitariness he judged necessary for the realization of his work,but when looking back upon his work as an author, he considered his melancholy even as thedriving force that helped to elaborate and to hold out the fundamental idea of his oeuvre.

This twofold appraisal of melancholy disapproval on the one hand and appreciationon the other is not only present in Kierkegaards diary entries. Casting a glance at the role ofmelancholy in his philosophical works also points in the direction of this ambiguity. To get someidea of the place and role of melancholy in the totality of his oeuvre, it is crucial to point out thereligious foundation of Kierkegaards philosophy.

On many occasions, the father of existentialism states sometimes explicitly, atother times in guarded terms that he only had one end in view with his oeuvre. It was hisfirst concern to confront his contemporaries with Christianity in its pure and essential form.According to Kierkegaard, a majority are unaware of living in an age of disintegration[Oplsningens Tid] (POV, 119) and have no proper understanding of the religious corruptionthat is prevalent in their time. Although they count themselves among the Christian sort orconsider themselves as a part of Christendom, they do not realize that they have lost sight ofthe true, inner meaning of Christian faith. Through the tangle of pseudonymous works, edifyingdiscourses and autobiographical writings, Kierkegaards readers can find that religious goal as a

basic thread in his writings. All crucial categories that support and push along his activities asan author are directly or indirectly related with that religious preoccupation. So, the famousKierkegaardian concepts of irony, anxiety and despair are interrelated in that they all referto a fundamental characteristic of existence and are as such connected to an adequate orinadequate religious commitment. The different writings that have been set up around theseconcepts respectively The Concept of Irony(1841), The Concept of Anxiety(1844) and TheSickness unto Death(1849) can hence be read as stages on the way to the religious goal ofKierkegaards work. All other works equally serve the same maieutic goal: to warn the reader ofthe existential abyss in his or her life and to awaken him or her towards a higher and moreauthentic (religious) attitude to life.

Now, in search of the meaning of the concept of melancholy in Kierkegaards work, onesoon finds out that it comes up in different places and in various meanings. The concept is

present to such a degree that one can range it simply among the above listed key notions of


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Kierkegaards philosophy. We can easily tie the theme of melancholy to some importantcharacteristics of his thought, and therefore it is all the more surprising that he neverelaborated the concept systematically. In this respect, some mention The Concept ofMelancholy as the missing work in Kierkegaards writings (see McCarthy 152). Still it is notevident to attach to melancholy a well-defined position in the Danish philosophers work. The

different contexts in which it comes up render it difficult to situate melancholy in the whole ofhis oeuvre. Sometimes it appears in a work that is to be found at the very outset ofKierkegaards career as a writer, at other times we trace it in the strictly religious writings of hislater work. It is only for those who render account of the diversity of writings and contexts inwhich the concept functions that something filters through of the variety of meanings thatmelancholy has in Kierkegaards writings.

The many faces of melancholy in Kierkegaards thought do not prevent us from findingsome constant features. The Christian-religious main theme of Kierkegaards work alreadyoffers a firm grip for a thorough interpretation. Indeed, the different meanings of melancholy allcontain a reference to the possible attitudes to life a man can have on the way to religiousperfection. Hence it seems obvious that, when all is said and done, Kierkegaard will discussmelancholy mainly as something that should be conquered if one wants to reach an authenticChristian way of life.

Melancholy vs. Heavy-mindedness

As was already alluded to above, many general introductions to philosophy considerKierkegaard as the father of existentialism. Although he never uses the word existentialismhimself, it is undeniable that with his thought the Dane has laid the foundations for laterexistential philosophy as we can trace it in the works of Jean-Paul Sartre and Karl Jaspers, andalso partly in the thought of Martin Heidegger. With their philosophies they all want to point atthe concrete and unique way of a human beings existence. Unlike his successors however,Kierkegaard finds the key for an authentic experience in (Christian) religion, i.e. in theexperience of the religious person who finds himself placed as a single individual before God.

Accentuating subjectivity means for Kierkegaard that one should be striving for the fulfilment ofones existential task by having faith in divine authority. To exist means to take into accountthat the concrete and individual existence only gains sense and meaning via the strength of abelief in something that can no longer be explained from a rational point of view, but is theobject of passion and faith.

Like all crucial themes in Kierkegaards work, the theme of melancholy should be put inthis larger, religious perspective. Putting it in broad terms, melancholy should be seen as adisturbing element in the individuals self-development: it troubles the process of religiousawakening. This claim, however, is rather vague and asks for differentiation. In order to clarifythis assertion, I should start with the general remark that Kierkegaard discusses melancholy asa kind of closeness or being locked up in oneself, which also amounts to the interpretationof melancholy as a way of secluding us from the world around us. With this interpretation

Kierkegaard puts himself in a modern tradition of interpreters who saw in melancholy a kind ofdisturbed relation with reality. From a modern point of view, melancholy cuts a person off froma normal relation with the surrounding world and throws him or her completely back upon him-/herself. Still, melancholy understood as an ambiguous relation to the outside world, is not amerely modern issue. From its very inception on, this problematic connection to reality hasbeen present in the heart of melancholy. Thus, in the ancient Greek conception, the black bilewas the only bodily fluid that did not refer to a real substance, but could only be observedthrough side effects. And also after Antiquity the unreal character of melancholy wasmaintained. In the Christian perspective of the Middle Ages the melancholic temperament fellinto disgrace just because it averted the faithful from the omnipresent divine reality andbecause it was a threat to the daily habits of religious community life. Theologians and spiritualauthorities linked melancholy to idleness or the sin of sloth and turned it into a deadly sin

since it was detrimental to an undivided attention to God and the community of Christians.


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That a melancholic closes herself off from the surrounding world is also for Kierkegaardan insurmountable fact. Still, melancholic persons differ from one another. So the way in whichone closes oneself off or in which one is closed off from the world determines for him theintensity of melancholy. Whoever reads Kierkegaards work carefully will notice that thephilosopher basically distinguishes between two main types of melancholy. On the one hand he

makes reference to a conscious type of melancholy (or one that is connected to consciousness),on the other hand he refers to a type that manifests itself without the interference ofconsciousness. In the latter case, melancholy comes about rather unintentionally andindependently of the will, while in the former case the melancholic person is someone whoknowingly and deliberately withdraws from the dynamics of reality. Kierkegaard also seems touse two different names for these two types, viz. melancholy (Melancholi) for the unreflexiveor unconscious one and what one could translate as heavy-mindedness (Tungsind) forthe reflexive or conscious one. Seems, because he is not explicitly accounting for thisterminological difference. His consistent use of both terms in most of his writings, however,gives us no reason to think that he is alternating between both concepts merely for stylisticpurposes (see McCarthy 153). It is thus striking that Kierkegaard reserves the concept ofmelancholy (Melancoli) for youthful characters that have not yet reached full maturity, or for

mythical and often literary figures to which real consciousness cannot be attributed. Theirmelancholic disposition is rather linked to their constitution, to what they are instead of to whatthey do. In the case of heavy-mindedness (Tungsind) on the other hand, Kierkegaardexpresses a similar sensitivity, but on a higher more reflective level. Kierkegaard appliesthis concept to figures for which a normal relation with reality is made impossible because of anabnormality on the level of consciousness.

For a good understanding of Kierkegaards difference between melancholy andheavy-mindedness, it might be helpful to throw the light of history on it. In doing so, we soonnotice a parallel of both terms, respectively to the ancient Greek understanding of melancholyand the typical modern manifestation. In the classical conception, as is well-known, melancholyrefers to the four bodily fluids or humours. Along with the black bile, being one of the fourfundamental elements of the human organism, melancholy gained a central place in the human

condition. Insofar as the black bile was essential to the physical constitution, melancholy, too,could be counted as part of what it meant to be a human being. The way in which the blackbile was mixed with the other bodily fluids determined the well-being of the melancholic person.It gave rise to a healthy inclination and even to genius in case of an optimal mixture with otherbodily fluids, or it was the reason for disease and aberrant behaviour in case of an unbalancedmixture. In any case, melancholy functioned in the first place as a constitutional fact andreferred to a physical function. Much later, partly because of the Scholastics and their spiritualinterpretation of melancholy as tristitia, this Greek perspective changed thoroughly. While theGreeks used melancholy to refer literally to the (non-existing) bodily substance of melainachol or black bile, in modernity we find names that refer more to feelings, to moods or to aspiritual given, in short to a conscious relation to ones melancholic inclination. Concepts like theaforementioned English heavy-mindedness, the German Schwermut, the French morosit

and the Danish Tungsind have obscured the reference to the classical doctrine of the bodilyfluids. It was no accident that the rise of melancholy as a mood of life took place in a periodwhen self-reflection and individuality slowly gained the upper hand over the symbiosis ofhuman being and creation that was dominant until then. It became even popular to adopt amelancholic nature. Figures like Miltons Penseroso and Shakespeares dramatic characters think of Hamlet or Keats Ode on Melancholy are the literary expression par excellence of areal cult of melancholy, varying from omnipresent spleen and the popular English malady tothe fashionable joy of grief and the douce mlancolie. From a popular and romanticviewpoint melancholy pointed at the subjective experience of a great satisfaction in life, since itprovided the melancholic with an exceptional state of mind and thus enabled him or her to riseabove mediocrity. In its existential roots on the other hand it was attached to an increased self-experience, typical of the rise of modernity.


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It is striking that Kierkegaard especially focuses on the theme of heavy-mindedness(Tungsind) and deals with that of melancholy (Melancholi) only to a lesser degree. Anexplanation, however, is not far away. Kierkegaard lived in an age when heavy-mindedness wasfashionable, and he seems to take advantage of the theme. What is more, heavy-mindedness isa central topic, since the theme of consciousness and the development of consciousness in the

individual are the very core of his philosophy. It goes without saying that he pays attention tophenomena that are related to the problem of consciousness or that are a hindrance to itsproper development.

Over the Bridge of Sighs into Eternity

Now, what makes Kierkegaards view on melancholy so special, and in what sense does histhought play a prominent role in the history of melancholy? A more detailed look at some of thepassages that deal explicitly with the theme might provide us with a satisfactory answer. Fromhis very first writings on, Kierkegaard gives us a clear idea of what he means by heavy-mindedness. Although he admits that there is something unexplainable in heavy-mindedness[Tungsind] (EO 2, 189; SKS 3, 183), he nevertheless ventures to analyze its causes in a few

pages. In the second part of his well-known and pseudonymously published manuscriptEither/Or[Enten/Eller], at that time his most successful book, he notes: [one falsely] assumes,as do many physicians, that depression inheres in the physical, and, strangely enough,physicians nevertheless are unable to eliminate it (EO 2, 190; SKS 3, 184). According toKierkegaard, heavy-mindedness is in no way a matter of the body, and therefore it cannot becured with the aid of doctors or medicines: Only the spirit can eliminate it, for it inheres in thespirit (EO 2, 190; SKS 3, 184). In its relation to spirit, he quite determinedly explains the causefor heavy-mindedness as follows:

What, then, is heavy-mindedness [Tungsind]? It is hysteria of the spirit. There comes a moment in apersons life when immediacy is ripe, so to speak, and when the spirit requires a higher form, when itwants to lay hold of itself as spirit. As immediate spirit, a person is bound up with all the earthly life, andnow spirit wants to gather itself together out of this dispersion, so to speak, and to transfigure itself initself If this does not happen, if the movement is halted, if it is repressed, then heavy-mindedness

[Tungsind] sets in (EO 2, 188-89; SKS 3, 183).

In other words, for Kierkegaard heavy-mindedness occurs when the tendency of the individualto something higher is disturbed and when the personal development of ones spirit comes to astandstill. It is not so much something tangible or assignable that is the immediatecause for heavy-mindedness. It is rather the total experience of existence weighing upon one.Moreover, Kierkegaard is of the opinion that anyone who suffers from heavy-mindedness bearsresponsibility for that him- or herself: only through his own fault does a person becomedepressed [tungsindig] (EO 2, 185; SKS 3, 180). How one experiences existence, whatmeaning one attaches to life or how one develops in ones existence is a personal matter thatmay never merely be passed onto externalities. Only for those who succeed in finding theirmeaning in this life do all the [so called] causes that produce heavy-mindedness [Tungsind] inlife vanish such as not feeling at home in the world, coming too early or too late in the world,

not finding ones place in life (EO 2, 190; SKS 3, 184).But what can it mean to find one's meaning in this life? With this question we touch

upon the very heart of Kierkegaards thought. I already indicated that for Kierkegaard to existmeans to gather oneself together out of an immediate harmony with the surrounding world andto try to give life meaning and significance by having faith in a higher, religious power. In otherwords, one has to turn away from all earthly dispersion in order to reach a higher spiritualstage. However, this does not mean that one effaces oneself and the surrounding world inorder to gain an undisturbed contemplation of a divine reality. Such a kind of renunciationwould again lead to a melancholic isolation and cutting oneself off from reality. It isKierkegaards conviction that an existing human being should raise life above the necessities ofthe world we live in by having faith in a higher possibility without however losing sight of thehere and now. In that perspective one should not reduce the meaning of life to the limitations

and restrictions from which one suffers, or to the qualities one has. It has much rather to do


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with the way one takes up ones possibilities in a commitment to the surrounding world.Precisely in the awareness that the meaning of life cannot be reduced even though notunrelated to who or what one is, ,lies the expression of true self-knowledge and of what itmeans to find oneself.

In Kierkegaards opinion, melancholic, i.e. heavy-minded persons do not succeed inmaintaining that delicate balance between the necessity and possibility of ones life, betweenfinitude and infinitude. Although they sense that a higher meaning is reserved for their spirit,they are not able to undergo that metamorphosis. They dont feel at home in this world, butthey cant see that the real problem is not situated outside but inside themselves. The heavy-minded person is not suffering from the world but he is essentially suffering from the repressionof his higher spiritual meaning. In the early publication Either/OrKierkegaard formulates it quiteextremely when he writes that only those who bow in true humility before the eternal powercan overcome heavy-mindedness, even though the same individual may suffer many sorrowsand troubles in his life (EO 2, 189; SKS 3, 184). Still, this is the perspective that one finds inhis later works.3 With his conviction he wants to make a plea for a religious attitude to lifewhereby one knows how to balance between the temporal and the eternal in man, andwhereby one is capable of arming oneself against the existential decay of a heavy-minded life.

In conclusion, one could say that in Kierkegaards work, the concept of melancholybears reference to the many historical faces of melancholy. The Danish philosopher is close tothe classical Greek understanding of melancholy as something constitutional every time heconnects it with characters that have no or little connection to consciousness. But being a childof his times, Kierkegaard more often settles into a typically modern context by associatingmelancholy with heavy-mindedness and analyzing it as a wilful isolation from actuality. In thisrespect, and in full agreement with the goal of his work, a religious motive is always connectedto the theme. Above all, melancholy especially as heavy-mindedness prevents the spiritfrom reaching its higher destination and keeps the individual from observing his or herreligiosity. The religious interpretation of melancholy as it appeared in the Middle Ages Ibriefly referred to it earlier is equally present in that approach. So it is not surprising that theyoung Kierkegaard unreservedly joins an ancient doctrine of the Church that classifiesmelancholy among the cardinal sins (EO 2, 185; SKS 3, 180). Likewise, he elsewhereemphasizes that the ancient moralists show a deep insight into human nature in regardingtristitia among the septem vitia principalia [the seven cardinal sins] (Pap. II A 484; EE 117).Whoever wants to find himself and to exist authentically has to cross the bridge of sighsever present in daily life that much is certain. But that bridge does not take us past this lifeinto a vague hereafter. The religious striving that Kierkegaard has in mind, takes into accountthe actuality of daily life and points at the (relative) importance of the finite world. And even ifheavy-mindedness, in a positive sense, is a sign that ones spirit is so to speak ripe for a steptowards a higher stage, the heavy-minded person nonetheless has to take that step if he doesnot want to spin around in himself forever.

Approximately one hundred years later, the famous German psychiatrist and neurologist

Hubertus Tellenbach offered a similar analysis of melancholy and its impact on the experienceof life. In his essay entitled Practice in Transcendence, he strikingly bears a strikingresemblance to Kierkegaards position when he claims that a melancholic person finds oneselfexclusively in the finite and ignores the practice of transcending finitude, [a practice] withoutwhich existence is incapable of any transformation (Feldmann 147). Tellenbach leaves asidewhether religion is the best way to practice in transcendence. But that Kierkegaard remains a

3. Here lies also the basic difference between the concepts of melancholy and heavy-mindednesss and Kierkegaardscentral concept of despair. Melancholic persons miss out on the orientation towards a transcendent given. A person indespair on the other hand can very well be religious and relate to a higher reality albeit always in an improper way.Despair seems to accompany man throughout his aim for an authentic existence, whereas melancholy seems to bereserved for a particular (enclosed) state of mind.


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rich source of inspiration when it comes to claiming something meaningful about melancholytoday, is beyond questioning.

Works by Kierkegaard

CC - Sren Kierkegaard Skrifter. Journalerne AA, BB, CC og DD (bind 17). Kbenhavn:S. Kierkegaard Forskningscenteret og G.E.C. Gads Forlag, 2000.

EE Sren Kierkegaard Skrifter. Journalerne EE, FF, GG, HH, JJ og KK (bind 18). Kbenhavn:S. Kierkegaard Forskningscenteret og G.E.C. Gads Forlag, 2001.

EO 2 Either/Or (Kierkegaards Writings, vol. II). H. V. Hong & E. H. Hong, transl. & eds.Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987.

Not. Sren Kierkegaard Skrifter. Notesbger 1-15 (bind 19). Kbenhavn: S. KierkegaardForskningscenteret og G.E.C. Gads Forlag, 2001.

Pap. Sren Kierkegaards Papirer (bind I-XI,3). P. A. Heiberg, V. Kuhr & E. Torsting, eds.Kbenhavn: Gyldendalske Boghandel, 1909-48.

POV The Point of View (Kierkegaards Writings, vol. XXII). H. V. Hong & E. H. Hong, transl. &eds. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998.

SKS 3 Sren Kierkegaard Skrifter (bind 3). Kbenhavn: S. Kierkegaard Forskningscenteret ogG.E.C. Gads Forlag, 1997.

Other Works Cited4

Feldmann, Harald. Melancholie. Ziektebeelden, Leuven: Uitgeverij Peeters, 1993, 125-49

Ferguson, Harvey. Melancholy and the Critique of Modernity. Sren Kierkegaards Religious

Psychology. London: Routledge, 2005.Heidbrink, Ludwig. Melancholie und Moderne. Mnchen: Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 1994.

Klibansky, Raymond, Panofsky, Erwin & Saxl, Fritz. Saturn und Melancholie. Frankfurt am Main:Suhrkamp, 1990.

McCarthy, Vincent. Melancholy and Religious Melancholy in Kierkegaard. Kierkegaardiana(X), Kbenhavn: Reitzel, 1977, 152-65.

4. All translations of quotes are mine, K.V.

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Kierkegaard und melancholie