“Just as in earthly life lovers long for the moment when they are able to breathe forth their love for each other, to let their souls blend in a soft whisper, so the mystic longs for the moment when in prayer he can, as it were, creep into God.”
- May 5, 1813 – November 11, 1855
- Danish
- Philosopher, Theologian, Poet, Father of Existentialism
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Quote
“Just as in earthly life lovers long for the moment when they are able to breathe forth their love for each other, to let their souls blend in a soft whisper, so the mystic longs for the moment when in prayer he can, as it were, creep into God.”
Explanation
This quote draws a powerful and intimate analogy between romantic love and mystical union, illustrating Kierkegaard’s view of prayer as the deepest expression of longing for God. Just as lovers yearn for closeness and vulnerability, the mystic desires a spiritual intimacy so profound that it transcends words and merges souls. The phrase “creep into God” conveys not just closeness, but a total surrender and immersion, a longing to be hidden in the divine presence with tenderness and awe.
Kierkegaard often explored the nature of faith and inwardness through the language of love, longing, and passion. He saw prayer not as a ritual or formula, but as a mystical act of union, where the individual soul reaches out in its most honest and vulnerable form. This prayer is not about asking or receiving, but about being with God, about dissolving the barriers of ego and form to experience divine nearness as lovers experience one another’s breath.
In a modern context, where prayer is often viewed functionally or skeptically, Kierkegaard’s vision restores its poetic and transformative dimension. It reminds us that true prayer is not just communication—it is communion, a mystical blending of the finite with the infinite, the temporal with the eternal. As lovers seek to lose themselves in each other, so too does the soul, at its deepest, long not for answers, but for God Himself.
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