F. R. — Evidence of Future Trajectory
Franz Rosenzweig still challenges the West eighty-plus years after his death. But as a teen-aged student, his often pithy diary comments suggested the later direction of his thinking and word-speaking. Consider for example November 17, 1906:
Words are tombstones.
Words are bridges over chasms. One usually walks across without looking down. If one looks down he is liable to feel giddy.
Words are also boards laid over a shaft, concealing it.
To be a philosopher is to open tombs, look into abysses, climb down shafts.
Word-speaking, word-pictures — such as we find in his Star of Redemption later.
[from Nahum N. Glatzer (presenter), Franz Rosenzweig, His Life and Thought, Indianapolis: Hackett, 1998]
Categories: Light Musings, Quotations