#2,790

In 1846, Søren Kierkegaard, one of the fathers of existentialism, argued that the pursuit of knowledge was distracting people from finding meaning, writing ‘people in our time, because of so much knowledge, have forgotten what it means to exist’. He argued that when presented with unlimited choices, we face a dizzying anxiety. ‘Standing on a cliff, a sense of disorientation and confusion clouds you. Not only are you afraid of falling, you also fear succumbing to the impulse of throwing yourself off. Nothing is holding you back. Dread, anxiety and anguish rise to the surface’.

I noted this and posted it in late January of what proved to a rather taxing year. Medics agree that I qualify for 'assisted living' support, which implies residence in a nursing home or comparable institution offering round-the-clock care. On this score I got lucky - the Valentinum retains a hint of earlier elegance and I am both delighted and astonished that the Bavarian social security system allows for generosity of this kind.

On the other hand, almost ten years in my very pretty Schwabing-West apartment, where visitors were rare, was probably enough.