Soren Kierkegaard

morningsheencounteredmeonthepathbythelakethathadnowbecome
myusualroute.AndthenextdayIalsowentmycustomaryway.Shewasn’t
there.Still,forsafety’ssakeIchangedmyroutefromthenon,walkingalong
Farimagsvej, and finally I gave up having any fixed route for my walk
home.”Thisappearedtoworkreasonablywell.“Butwhathappened?After
some time had passed she encountered me at eight o’clock in the morning
on the avenue outside Østerport, the way I walk into Copenhagen every
morning. The next day she wasn’t there, however. I continued to walk my
regular route into town, which I cannot easily alter. She has often encoun-
tered me there, sometimes also on the ramparts, along which I walk on my
way into town. Perhaps these are coincidences—perhaps. I cannot under-
stand why she would want to walk that route at that hour of the day. But
since I notice everything, I noticed that she was especially likely to walk
that route when there was an east wind. So, of course, it might be because
she cannot bear the east wind on Langelinie—though she also came when
there was a west wind.”
Regine remained mysterious; she would come walking along, appearing
out of nowhere,like a goddess, turning up atlocations that seemed entirely
coincidental,butscarcelywere.Shewouldfailtoshowupforawhile,then
reappear—evenherchoiceofwinddirectionsinterferedwithKierkegaard’s
inferences. “Then my birthday came. I generally tend to go somewhere on
my birthday, but I wasn’t feeling entirely well. So I remained at home and
walkedintotownas usualinthemorninginorder tospeakwiththedoctor
because I had considered celebrating my birthday with something new that
I had never tasted before, castor oil. She encountered me right outside my
door, on the sidewalk just at the beginning of the avenue. As has happened
so often recently, I cannot keep from smiling when I chance to see her—
ah,howimportantshehasbecometome!—Shesmiledbackandthennod-
ded in greeting. I went one step past, removed my hat, and walked on.”
The description is very visual, with anelevatedvantage point from which
we can survey the entire scene: how the birthday genius with the sluggish
bowels smiles at his beloved (though no longer girlish) Regine, who smiles
to him in return. Then one step forward, hat off, and onward, away.
On the following Sunday, May 9, Kierkegaard went to church services
at the Castle Church, where Paulli was to preach. Regine was also there
and took her seat near where Kierkegaard was standing. Paulli, who had
earned his doctorate in theology the year before and had therefore been
granted the right to decide whether he would preach on the text of the
Gospel or the epistle for that Sunday, chose to preach on the epistle, which
for thatSunday happenedto beJames 1:17ff., thepassage aboutevery good
and perfect gift coming from above, on which Kierkegaard himself had