The Sickness Unto Death

I figured I would start my first post with an explanation of what the title of my blog means. The title comes from a book written by Soren Kierkegaard of the same name. Soren Kierkegaard was a Danish philosopher from the 19th century. He is considered by some to be one of the fathers of existentialism. While I dont ascribe to this philosophical belief system I still respect him a great deal. One of the great things Soren intended to do was make his wittings have deep meaning. He did not offer up his ideas on a silver platter for the reader to consume. He worked towards his philosophy like a math teacher works towards a mathematical function. For one to truly understand what Soren was saying, one must work through his ideas and through the process. This is evident in the ideas he presented.

My favorite topic, from Kierkegaard, is The Sickness Unto Death. While sounding like some sort of plague or horrible disease that one can not get rid of, it actualy presents a message of hope to everyone who is lost in despair. The Sickness Unto Death is not any of the illnesses we worry about day to do. The Sickness is not our lack of money or our lack of friends or anything of that sort. The true Sickness Unto Death is sin, or despair as Soren speaks of it. To me, that gives great comfort. We are plagued by all of these "Sicknesses" on a daily basis. We are angry because someone cuts us off in traffic, we get the flu, or even lose our job! But what do these things really matter? These are not the sickness unto death. These are not the things that bring true death. The death of ones soul is the true death. The sickness that causes this death is one of greater consequence then any other.

I dont pretend to live a perfect life or have perfect ideas, I just write in the search of finding a closer harmony with that perfect idea.

"The biggest danger, that of losing oneself, can pass off in the world as quietly as if it were nothing; every other loss, an arm, a leg, five dollars, a wife, etc. is bound to be noticed." - Soren Kierkegaard