Happiness is when it has been

"Happiness is when it has been." That is to say, as long as it lasted or was in existence change was possible; only after it is gone can one say that it lasted. "Count no man happy while he is living." As long as he is living his happiness can change; only when he is dead and happiness had not left him while he lived, only then is it certain that he was happy. That which merely exists, having undergone no change, is continually confronted by the possibility of change; change may occur at any time; even in the last moment it can happen, and only when life has come to an end can one say: change did not take place - or perhaps it did. Whatever has undergone no change certainly has continuance, but it does not have continuity; insofar as it has continuance, it exists, but insofar as it has not won enduring continuity amid change, it cannot become contemporaneous with iself and is either happily unconscious of this misalignment or is disposed to sorrow.

extract from Works of Love - Søren Kierkegaard

(picture provided by Pixabay ; author: winner01)

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