A Passionate Sense of the Possible
If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never.” Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)
Think about this little statement by Kierkegaard, for him, “possibilities” were worth more than “wealth and power”. How many us could say the same thing? Or would we chose money or power as the answer to our lives. Would we rather struggle towards a worthwhile goal or live life easy with little or no passion?
To be honest, it is much easier to answer this question if you have food to eat, comfortable bed, and other creature comforts. If we take it that we have our necessities met, then the previous question holds. Possibilities over money/power?
The part of the quote that rings true to me is the “passionate sense of the potential” – there have been times in my life when I knew that kind of feeling. Where I had felt the fire rise within me to meet challenges – there was not fear, only overwhelming excitement of it all.
As with most things in our lives, this passion ebbs and flow. What you don’t want it to do is completely dry up and become void of that excitement in our lives. To see the next day as only a continuation of the last – losing the passion that is required to have a fulfilling life.
My suggestion, choose passion over comfort and excitement over tedium. Interesting quote and something to think about from time to time.
