Passion and Detachment

Abstract

This paper examines Kierkegaard’s figure of the knight of faith in Fear and Trembling (Kierkegaard, 2005). It discusses the significance of a defining passion, and shows how through both fully embracing and also renouncing this passion, it is possible to arrive at a position of faith. This faith is in the possibilities of life and transcends the dichotomies of strength and vulnerability, everydayness and transcendence, detachment and passion. This is informative for therapeutic work with clients who come to therapy having lost a sense of meaning and identity when a defining relationship ends.