Quote of the Day (8/24/09) (Søren Kierkegaard Week)

Just as a skilled cook says of a dish which already has a good many ingredients mixed into it, "It has to have a little dash of cinnamon" (the rest of us probably could scarcely taste that this little dash of cinnamon was added, but she knows for sure why and how it tastefully blends in with the whole mixture); just as the artist says of the whole painting's color-tone, which is composed of many, many colors, "A little bit of red has to be introduced here and there, at this little point" (and the rest of is probably could scarcely discover the red, the artist having shaded it so well, whereas he knows exactly why it should be introduced): just as with the cook and the artist, so also with providence.

The administration of the world is an enormous household, an immense painting. Yet is the same for him, the Master, God in heaven, as it is for the cook and the artist. He says: "There must be a little dash of cinnamon now; a little bit of red must be introduced." We have no idea why, we can hardly detect it once the little smidge vanishes in the whole, but God knows why.

A little dash of cinnamon! This means: here a man must be sacrificed; he must be added to give the rest a specific taste. . . .

A little dash of cinnamon! Humanly speaking, how painful to be sacrificed in this manner to be a little dash of cinnamon! But on the other hand God knows very well whom he chooses to be used in this manner. . . .
--Søren Kierkegaard