Danish theologian and philosopher Søren Kierkegaard has been called "the philosopher of the moment." This is correct in so far as the moment is the most important conception in Kierkegaard’s prehension of time. In this article I will try to demonstrate that Emily Dickinson in her poetry uses the moment in almost the same manner and meaning as does Kierkegaard. Perhaps this is not very surprising, since both Kierkegaard and Dickinson are rooted in a Western, Christian tradition. It is more surprising that—in spite of all differences—a similar conception of time recurs in Japanese haiku poetry. Here (in an Eastern, Buddhist context) we meet a poetry form where each poem contains one moment.

In this first part of my paper I will focus on Zen Buddhism and Haiku Poetry. I will begin with a very short introduction to Zen Buddhism.

Around 600 or 700 A.D. a new variant of Buddhism emerged in China, called Ch’an, better known under its Japanese name, Zen. Ch’an or Zen means "meditation".

During the centuries Japanese culture has received many impulses and much inspiration from China, but it has also transformed the Chinese inspiration in a profound original way. Thus Zen Buddhism has its roots in China, but after Japanese priests (who studied Zen in China) brought it to Japan in the 12th century, it has been converted into an excellent example of Japanese culture.

Zen encouraged the seeking of personal enlightenment (satori) through discipline and effort. In Zen, enlightenment is sought by dispelling delusion, and that which deludes people most is language. Consequently in Zen it is important to use as few words as possible, both when you talk and when you write. Instead of a logical argumentation the Zen monks made a point of the intuitive answer. Therefore the use of a koan developed. A koan is a question which the Master asks his disciple. It is impossible to answer a koan in a rational way, so the disciple is forced to find his answer in another way. The Rinzai sect believes that the enlightenment (satori) will occur suddenly like a bolt from the blue.

The Supreme Truth will not be revealed gradually, but the truth will come to the individual in the twinkling of an eye. An absurd answer or a paradox you meditate on, can lead to the great enlightenment in an instantaneous flash of insight or awareness. It’s an either-or situation, it’s everything or nothing.

The influence of Zen spread far beyond the realm of religion. Stone gardens, ink paintings, the tea ceremony, and flower arrangements are all cultural heirs of the Zen spirit. Furthermore, many Zen priests and monks became prominent figures in literature, even though such activity might seem to be contradictory to their conviction that language is the main cause of delusion.

For instance it was Buddhist monks who were responsible for diffusing a knowledge of Chinese poetry throughout Japan. The Zen monks frequently compared poetry to Zen.

The challenge of Zen is to meet each moment with a clear mind and a cleansed spirit. Similarly, the full perception of the present moment (being here and now) is the heartbeat of haiku poetry.

Haiku is a poetic form which developed in Japan in the 17th century. It consists of three lines of 5, 7 and 5 syllables. Many of the first haiku poets were Zen Buddhist monks, and the most famous of all was Basho (1644-1694).

Perhaps you can compare a haiku to a snapshot, since each haiku describes one moment. It is a poetic expression of the philosophy of Zen Buddhism. Zen has contributed both a simple directness and an instantaneous perception to the haiku form.

A good haiku can be seen as a possible answer to the above-mentioned koan, since it contains a paradoxical convergence of the practical and the ideal. In the haiku moment the eternal and the fleeting meet and are captured by the poet without any subjective comment or interpretation. The best known example is Basho’s famous haiku

The old pond:
A frog jumps in
The sound of water

It’s a thunderbolt-like encounter like this that has made haiku "the poetry of Zen". Each word in this short poem, rather than contributing to its meaning, is an experience. And the words put together create in the reader a nirvana-like sense.

I will now pass on to a presentation of the Danish theologian and philosopher Søren Kierkegaard—with special reference to his prehension of time.

The moment is the most important conception in Kierkegaard’s prehension of time. A man can lose himself in the past, in the present, and in the future. But a man can as well choose to assume his own existence in the moment—and then he is. (It deserves notice that in Kierkegaard’s opinion there is a difference between living in the present and living in the moment.)

In one of his most famous works, "The Concept of Anxiety," Kierkegaard maintains that the absolute paradox is that the eternal God has been born into time. Kierkegaard writes:

"Time is, then, infinite succession. The life that is in time and is only of time has no present. In order to define the sensuous life, it is usually said that it is in the moment and only in the moment."

And a little further on:

"If... time and eternity touch each other, then it must be in time, and now we have come to the moment."

"Thus understood, the moment is not properly an atom of time, but an atom of eternity."

Kierkegaard says (with reference to St. Paul) that nothing is as swift as a blink of the eye, and yet it is commensurable with the content of the eternal. This means that the only point where you can meet God and his eternity in the fleeting time is in the moment.

Søren Kierkegaard was not a Buddhist, and he was certainly not a haiku poet.

Nevertheless it is obvious to me that there are some points of resemblance between a Christian, Western philosopher like Kierkegaard and a Buddhist, Eastern line of thought. Perhaps this can also explain why Kierkegaard is widely read in Japan, and why haiku poetry is so popular in the Western World.

They seem to agree that the truth cannot be found bit by bit—and that the truth cannot be expressed in a wordy speculative system of philosophy. Instead of a system, both the Zen Buddhist and Kierkegaard refer to the paradox, and they point to the moment as the only place where the truth will be revealed.

The biggest difference between Kierkegaard and the Zen Buddhist is that Kierkegaard believes that Jesus Christ is the Truth, the eternal God revealed in the moment, while the Zen Buddhist has to seek his own personal answer through meditation.

According to Dickinson it is the imprisonment of our minds in time that limits our ability to understand ultimate truths. Consequently, it is her poetic strategy to achieve "atemporality" in "lyric time." as Sharon Cameron has argued.

You can say that for Dickinson her poems constituted the only possible refuge from temporality. Dickinson had a vision of building a bridge between time and timelessness. She searched for an eternity in this world, and this she found in the lyric moment. Each of her poems live within a moment rescued from the flow of time.

Dickinson’s poems are not haiku, but evidently they have much in common with haiku—the compact style, the keen observations of nature and the conception of time. The main difference—as I see it—is that Dickinson’s poems are longer and have a more personal character than most haiku have.

According to Dickinson, the moment where truth is revealed to man is dangerous. Actually, she warns us that the great enlightenment in an instantaneous flash of insight might result in blindness.

The Truth must dazzle gradually
Or every man be blind—
(Johnson 1129, Franklin 1263)

The divine moments contain a risk:

For each extatic instant
We must an anguish pay
In keen and quivering ratio
To the extasy—
(J 125, Fr 109)

The reason the cost of extasy is so high is not disclosed, but it is surprising to notice that Dickinson like Kierkegaard links the existential experiences of anxiety and despair to the moment.

The difference between Despair
and Fear, is like the One
Between the instant of a Wreck
and when the Wreck has been
(J 305, Fr 576)

Also in another Dickinson poem we hear about the sublime moments:

Did Our Best Moment last—
‘Twould supersede the Heaven—
A few—and they by risk—procure—
So this Sort—are not given—

Except as stimulants—
in Cases of Despair—
Or Stupor—The Reserve—
These Heavenly moments are—

A Grant of the Divine—
That Certain as it Comes—
Withdraws—and leaves the dazzled Soul
In her unfurnished Rooms—
(J 393, Fr 560)

The divine moment supersedes the heaven, because it is heaven on earth. But it withdraws. According to Suzanne Juhasz it has to, "or else it becomes ultimate danger." In Dickinson’s own words, the extreme moments expand our consciousness, "if we survive them." (PF 49)

To sum up: In this article I hope to have demonstrated that a cross-cultural category such as the moment can be useful, when we try to read and interpret Dickinson in a globalized world. My purpose is not to blot out all differences and individual characteristics. But I think it is of importance, if we can find common ground between East and West, where we can meet and understand each other. Like Kierkegaard, Dickinson is not a Buddhist, and she is not a haiku poet; but it is still rewarding to read her also in an Eastern, Buddhist context, because of the similarity of mentality.