In search of the SELF

Currently I am running a philosophy class for a small group under the University of the 3^rd Age. Attached is my outline for next week. I would be pleased to receive any feedback on my notes for discussion, listed below. Kindly note they are about Kierkegaard and are not necessarily my own views.

 

Soren Kierkegaard, who was a social critic, has profoundly influenced western philosophical thought. He authored a prolific volume of work under his own name and various synonyms, designed to passionately engage his readers into living a more meaningful existence from his perspective. His ideas were very much centred on the here and now so he warned against procrastination. This extends to all of one’s life so that we need to desist from thinking about the idea that everything will be made right at the grave.

 

For Kierkegaard the truth is in action. In procrastination he warns about the risk of a diminished YOU, as it relates to the self. Think of it as self-denial or erosion of the self over time. It can also arise when we become overly obsessed with some aspects of our existence so that the self is lost to this obsession. It is not a textbook like narrative, but rather a thoughtful yet dense perspective that challenges you to think along varying themes.       

 

One of his central themes is the idea, as we mature, we all experience anxiety. That is the dizzying feeling of freedom which always brings with it an anxiety as to how to cope in this world as individuals. He calls this anxiety an angst. This angst can be thought of as both beneficial as in supporting more empathetic individuals but harmful, when in the extreme, it plunges us into deep despair. He calls this type of despair a sickness. Again there is the warning against procrastination as Kierkegaard encourages us to think we cannot handle these matters on our own.  We need a form of unconditional commitment to a cause which has relationship with the self. That has relevance to counsellors as we can discuss.

He introduces to us the idea of the various stages of life and how individuals react and the coping measures that might be employed.  

Firstly there are those who bury themselves into some activity to the extent it nullifies their consciousness so that nothing else matters except that singular purpose. A danger we identify with is where elite athletes, cut off from the outside world, are consumed only by a singular purpose. 

The second category is those who are self-aware but whose anxiety plunges them into deep despair, to seek relief in a substitution such as drugs. 

Kierkegaard’s idea is to aim for the balanced third approach. That is where we realise that anxiety is a part of our self-consciousness in support of empathetic humans. How we cope is to anchor our existence to a heathy balanced sense of self.

He defines the self as a synthesis of the categories of being.     

For in a general sense all of this is tied up with relationships. Firstly, there is the inner relationship we have with ourselves as per our awareness. Therein is the required sense of balance of the self to avoid obsessions and or self-denial.  

But how does that all work and how might we get out of balance according to Kierkegaard?

 

Freedom and Necessity 

Whilst we are free there are many things that are necessary for our existence. So that Kierkegaard is saying in effect there is always the risk of completely absorbing oneself in either always seeking freedom or claiming everything is a necessity.

We need to know our limitations.

Hence an obsession with one or the other abandons the responsibility of being a self?

 

Temporal and Eternal

Here Kierkegaard talks about the merger of the time frame we inhabit as per our existence, compared to eternity.  

Kierkegaard aims to fill this time frame free from sickness in his synthesis. There will be some aspects of your future life that can be free, as they relate to your personal sense of self.

But the same risks of obsession to one or the other apply

 

Finite and the Infinite

To lose oneself in the infinite is to live as though life is an endless series of different pathways, with nothing enduring nor any commitment ever made.

To lose oneself in the finite (as in the here and now) and never to consider future possibilities attaches the same risk. 

So Kierkegaard is saying there is always the risk to be completely absorbed in either the finite or infinite. One then abandons the responsibility of being a self?

 

But our psyche is greater than that as he then talks about the external commitment.

This is the so called unconditional external commitment to a cause that provides meaning which I will also talk about in more detail next.

Note that is a secular interpretation in lieu of Kierkegaard’s spiritual connection he describes as a leap in faith. But either way it works well for those of either a religious faith or for secular philosophers as in an unconditional commitment to a cause.   

The salient underpinnings to all of this is not to procrastinate as we risk denying our self or to suppress that freedom inherent in our existence that can lead us into not making moral choices. You might like to think of this as self-denial. This is particularly relevant to a group position where peer pressure may negate or impede an individual’s sense of personal freedom to make ethical choices or decisions. I list a number of situations where this is apparent.