Will and Leap of Faith

The notion 'leap of faith' is pioneered by Kierkergaard to formulate the essentiality of groundlessness to the belief in the existence of God. The entailed notion of a 'leaper' informs Jaspers' concept of Existentialist Selfhood. Here, Will, as the spontaneous departure from givenness, can be characterized as a 'leap', though, in itself, as an indeterminate one. On that basis, a leap to believing in the existence of God is as much a specification of Will as is that to any mundane physiological motion. Accordingly, contrary to Jaspers' doctrine, religious commitment does not uniquely define Selfhood.