[Jejunity]

I disagree. There is nothing wrong with being the protegé of someone whose thoughts you admire; the cult of originality, which is of course narcissism in rather plain disguise, is a modern invention that I have no use for. I also reject the notion that interacting with a great work of art or philosophy (or both, as Kierkegaard's are) is inferior to interacting with the so-called real world. Sometimes, when the world doth protest too much, it may even be preferable.