An Extra
In my work I have now got so near to the present, the instant, that I cannot do without an organ by means
of which I can instantly address myself to the present time; and this I have called:
THE INSTANT
Should anyone who is interested in this matter wish for his own convenience to be well assured of getting what may come out, he can send his subscription to the publisher. But I reserve to myself in every respect the most absolute freedom — in no other way can I do it.
I call it the Instant. Yet it is nothing ephemeral I have in mind, any more than it was anything ephemeral I had in mind before; no, it was and is something eternal: on the side of the ideals against the illusions. But in one sense I must say of my whole previous work, that its time has not yet come; I have stood remote, yea, even very remote from the present time, and only near in the sense that this remoteness was thoroughly calculated and purposeful. Now, on the contrary, I must assure myself in every eventuality of being able to take advantage of the instant.
I do not seek to persuade anyone to subscribe, far rather I beg everyone at least to reflect before doing it. Eternally he will not regret having heeded my talk, but it would be possible that he might come to regret it temporally. I who am called "Either/Or" cannot be at the service of anybody with both-and. I have in my possession a book which doubtless is all but unknown in this land, the title of which I will therefore cite in full: The New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Although I stand in a perfectly free relation to this book, and am not, for example, bound to it by an oath, yet nevertheless this book exercises a great power over me, inspires me with an indescribable horror of both-and.