55ANTONIA CASEEditor-in-Chief, Womankind magazinePossibility
21
It was a shock to walk past an old dream
the other day, slumped against the foot-
path, dirty, scratched, and somewhat more
diminutive than in my recollections. In my
youth, this (now rusting) blue lump of met-
al was my symbol for grown-up success - it
was the car that I’d drive to my dream job
as a successful career woman. But always
out of reach financially, this car remained a
dream for years, before being long forgotten
as other dreams parked in its view.
Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard
was never fooled by shiny pieces of metal.
If you could wish for one thing in your life,
what would it be? For Kierkegaard, it wasn’t
wealth, power, or even fame, since such
pleasures fade over time, and ultimately dis-
appoint, much like my dream car.
In her work titled Interiors, Danish pho-
tographer Trine Søndergaard photographs a
renaissance castle uninhabited for 50 years.
For Søndergaard, the starkness of the rooms- devoid of people, decoration or alterations
for half a century - was oddly captivating.
The rooms existed in a state of waiting, of
‘what next?’
For Kierkegaard, too, it was this state
that the philosopher dreamed of. “Pleasure
disappoints, possibility never,” he declared.
“If I were to wish for anything,” it would be
for the “passionate sense of the potential”.
By paring back, and making space, we wel-
come possibility. By clearing space in our
lives, we make way for the new.
5ANTONIA CASEEditor-in-Chief, Womankind magazinePossibility
21
It was a shock to walk past an old dream
the other day, slumped against the foot-
path, dirty, scratched, and somewhat more
diminutive than in my recollections. In my
youth, this (now rusting) blue lump of met-
al was my symbol for grown-up success - it
was the car that I’d drive to my dream job
as a successful career woman. But always
out of reach financially, this car remained a
dream for years, before being long forgotten
as other dreams parked in its view.
Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard
was never fooled by shiny pieces of metal.
If you could wish for one thing in your life,
what would it be? For Kierkegaard, it wasn’t
wealth, power, or even fame, since such
pleasures fade over time, and ultimately dis-
appoint, much like my dream car.
In her work titled Interiors, Danish pho-
tographer Trine Søndergaard photographs a
renaissance castle uninhabited for 50 years.
For Søndergaard, the starkness of the rooms
- devoid of people, decoration or alterations
for half a century - was oddly captivating.
The rooms existed in a state of waiting, of
‘what next?’
For Kierkegaard, too, it was this state
that the philosopher dreamed of. “Pleasure
disappoints, possibility never,” he declared.
“If I were to wish for anything,” it would be
for the “passionate sense of the potential”.
By paring back, and making space, we wel-
come possibility. By clearing space in our
lives, we make way for the new.