Definitions HQ

Seriousness (n.) about ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠love, says Constantin, lands a man not among the depraved but reduced ad absurdum, rendered beatific by nonsense — he has made a fool of himself.

Seriousness (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not sweating and turning red in the face — the perspirer is merely too stupid to laugh — any more than the asinine stare is religiousness.

Seriousness (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠first and last self-assurance: he who relies on another's testimony to prove he is serious is not serious.

Seriousness (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not a simplex but a compositum: true seriousness is the unity of jest and seriousness — as in Socrates, the most serious man in Greece, whose seriousness was hidden in jest.

Seriousness (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠earned, in the world's eyes, by forgetting the only serious matter — maintaining your relation to God by becoming nothing.

Seriousness (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the only mood that fits sin; drag sin into aesthetics and it turns frivolous or melancholy, into metaphysics and it turns indifferent.

Seriousness (n.) when ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠busy and money-making can be disconsolateness in disguise, the light of the spirit gone out; better to have lost one's senses.

Seriousness (n.) that ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠cannot humble itself is not genuinely serious.

Seriousness (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠counteracting one's own effort in the act — like the pressure on the plough that sets the depth of the furrow; direct effort is a slurring-over, quicker and more thankful, because it is worldliness.

Seriousness (n.) redefined ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠as busying oneself with interpretation is the one thing the almighty king could not forgive: he might pardon disobedience, or a petition for relief, but not altering what counts as seriousness.