Knight of Faith

I recently read a piece entitled "Zen for the West" by American philosopher and essayist William Barrett (1913 - 1992).  In his essay, Barrett refers to Danish philsopher and theologian Soren Kierkegaard, and Kierkegaard's references to the Knight of Faith and the Knight of Resignation.  While my research is quite incomplete, I include this post to encourage others in search of truth to explore his writings, particularly his work Fear and Trembling.  I steal these excerpts directly from Wikipedia to spark your interest.

Questions and Answers

I've been thinking about this particular piece since I read a bit on a gent's Zen blog last week, and then I was inspired to get this up when I read Jesse's piece on Project Love this morning ...  Jesse makes a good point about recognizing those things that are apt to put a person in a 'funk.'  If a person recognizes those things, he may be able to avoid them, but as Jesse discusses ... some things -- like a rainy day -- you just can't avoid and you have to confront.  He's found a way through prayer and music to fight this particular dragon.  Bravo!

Back to the Zen piece I read last week ... This chap found that he could improve the quality of his life by asking himself questions and then setting about to find the answers.  His questions are not the obvious ones.  He asks himself things like, "What would I feel like if I ate a Vegan diet for 30 days?"  The only way to find out is to eat a Vegan diet for 30 days and he does.  If he feels good, he continues.  He asks, "How fast can I run a mile?"  The only way to find out is to run the mile.