Niels Lyhne by Jens Peter Jacobsen

Author:Jens Peter Jacobsen [Jacobsen, Jens Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Tags: Fiction, Literary, General, Classics, Fantasy, Psychological
ISBN: 9780143039815
Google: 6EsiAQAAIAAJ
Publisher: Penguin Books
Published: 2006-07-25T05:00:00+00:00

They walked on in silence. The melody, or rather the notes from the piano, followed them down the quiet street.

“Did you hear,” said Hjerrild, “did you hear the excitement in that old Hebraic cry of victory? And those two Jewish city names! Jerusalem, it was not merely symbolic: the whole city—Copenhagen, Denmark. It was us, the Christian people among the people.”

“There is no God, and the human being is His prophet!” said Niels bitterly, but also with despair.

“Yes, that’s right!” ridiculed Hjerrild. A little later he added: “But atheism is so boundlessly pedestrian, and its goal, in the long run, is nothing less than a disillusioned humanity. Belief in a ruling, judgmental God, that is the last great illusion of humanity, and what then, when that is gone? Then people will be wiser; but richer, happier? I can’t see it.”

“But don’t you see,” exclaimed Niels, “that the day humanity can freely cry: there is no God, on that day a new heaven and a new earth will be created as if by magic. Only then will heaven become free, infinite space instead of a threatening, watchful eye. Only then will the earth belong to us and we to the earth, when the dim world of salvation and damnation out there has burst like a bubble. The earth will be our proper fatherland, the home of our heart where we do not dwell as foreign guests for a paltry time but for all our days. And what intensity it will give life when everything must be contained in life and nothing is placed outside of it. That enormous stream of love, which now rises up toward that God who is believed in, will bend back over the earth when heaven is empty, with loving steps toward all the beautiful, human traits and talents with which we have empowered and adorned God in order to make God worthy of our love. Goodness, justice, wisdom, who can name them all? Don’t you realize what nobility would spread over humanity if people could live their lives freely and meet their deaths without fear of hell or hope of heaven, but fearing themselves and with hope for themselves? How our conscience would grow, and what stability it would bring if passive remorse and humility could no longer atone for anything, and no forgiveness was possible except to use goodness to redeem the evil you so evilly committed.”

“You must have an amazing faith in humanity; atheism will make greater demands on people than Christianity does.”

“Of course.”

“Of course; but where will you find all the strong individuals you will need to put together your atheistic humanity?”

“Little by little, atheism itself will teach them; not this generation or the next one or the next one after that—they will not be able to bear atheism, I realize that, but in every generation there will always be a few who will honestly fight for a life in it and a death in it, and over the course of time they

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