The world may change, but many of the rules and principles on which our lives and happiness are based remain constant. Three words of wisdom from Søren Kierkegaard that are as applicable today as they were 200 years ago.
If we compare our current times with the 19th century, at first glance we will probably notice more differences than similarities. Political boundaries have shifted. The average level of education has increased. Communication takes place more often via technical devices than in physical meetings. Winters are warmer.
We certainly place different demands on our lives than our ancestors, have to respond to different demands and deal with different issues in our everyday lives. But alongside all the differences, there is much that unites us. With people from the 19th century – and with those from the second and before.
For example, as human individuals we cannot exist in isolation from others and must find and maintain our place in a social structure. We have to live with questions that we cannot answer and with goals and desires that we will never achieve. We win, lose, are happy and sad and we improvise our way through our short lives. For this reason, we continue to find value, relevance and relevance in many of the teachings and ideas formulated by our ancestors.
In a blog entry for Psychology Today, the American therapist Blake Griffin Edwards shared some of the central ideas of the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, who lived from 1813 to 1855 and is considered an early representative of existentialism. According to the therapist, these approaches are old, but by no means outdated when it comes to developing a healthy attitude towards one’s life and self.
3 ideas that are more than 200 years old and can enrich your life
The better we know ourselves, the more authentically and healthily we can live
In Kierkegaard’s work we find repeated evidence that the philosopher believed that self-reflection and introspection could help us live a contented, authentic and fulfilled life. For example, in his work “The Illness Until Death” he treats, among other things, despair as a result of a lack of self-knowledge and self-confidence and an inability to achieve one’s own, individual goals.
There are certainly many people today, and there were 200 years ago, who do not necessarily need to take an hour or more every week to think about themselves and bring their lives into harmony with themselves. They wake up in the morning, complete their tasks, enjoy their free time and are satisfied. If that doesn’t work, self-reflection is still considered the first step in finding an approach to constructive change – and is, in one way or another, part of almost every modern psychotherapy.
Uncertainty and contradictions are part of life
Thanks in particular to advances in biology, we understand better and better how great our need for clarity and security is. We feel more comfortable when we believe in something and convince ourselves of something than when we admit that we don’t know something. It’s easier for us to classify something as good or bad than to accept that it can be both at the same time. But if we always insist on unambiguity and clarity, we deprive ourselves of the opportunity to experience the world and our fellow human beings in their complexity. We block the paths between extremes, the compromises that can help us achieve more liberated harmony and balance.
In his philosophy and poetics, Kierkegaard called for people to learn to live with uncertainty and contradiction. For him as a supporter of Christianity, the concept of “God” was less the answer than the non-answer, as the following quote suggests: “Faith begins where thinking ends.”
Taking responsibility for your own decisions is liberating
Kierkegaard believed that people do themselves a disservice when they explain and excuse their actions, decisions, mistakes and failures based on external circumstances and necessities. According to him, we could grow, learn and win more by taking responsibility and focusing on what we can and have been able to influence.
Of course, in most cases there are reasons for our behavior that, above all, make it clear that our freedom and scope for action are limited. Misunderstandings, diseases, learned patterns, genes. Today we know many more factors that influence our decisions than Kierkegaard knew. Nevertheless, to this day the more constructive approach to life is the one that the Danish philosopher already considered sensible: taking responsibility, accepting the consequences and considering in the future to what extent we would like to react differently in the next similar situation. Maybe this way we can even create something that people 200 years from now will find remarkable.
Source used: psychologytoday.com