Death and Rebirth in Kierkegaard's Sickness Unto Death

           In Kierkegaard's Sickness Unto Death, the author elaborates on the concept of despair, a condition which results in one of the following behaviors: 1) it leads to one's psychological awareness of sin and subsequent repentance, 2) it induces a deeper level of melancholy which proves self perpetuating, or 3) it remains totally unrecognizable to the individual, yet manifests itself in feelings of loneliness and loss of purpose. Most individuals unfortunately fall into this final category and fail to realize that they exist in this deplorable condition, and as result, they go about their daily lives hopelessly lost, seeking fulfillment through various material pursuits. These subjects, according to the Scripture, are already "dead in their sins and transgressions," although they do not know it (Ephesians 2:1). In their attempts to assuage the emptiness in their hearts, people substitute one worldly endeavor after another; however, as each undertaking fails, the subjects become even more desperate, and the cycle repeats itself. In essence, a person unaware that he is living in a state of despair continually struggles to overcome an unknown spiritual longing within him. In worse case scenarios, the subject's desperation assumes the form of a wish-fulfillment through which he rationalizes his need for the condition in order to justify his sense of martyrdom. Here, the patient defends his faithlessness because he perceives it as a means of gaining sympathy from others. Kierkegaard uses celestial imagery to enhance the spiritual implications of this disorder in the following passage: "If it would now happen that God in heaven and all the angels were to offer to help him to be rid of this torment—no, he does not want that, now it is too late. Once he would gladly have given everything to be rid of this agony, but he was kept waiting, and now that's past; he prefers to rage against everything and be the one whom the whole world, all existence, has wronged, the one for whom it is especially important to ensure that he has his agony on hand, so that no one will take it from him—for then he would not be able to convince others and himself that he is right" (103). In contrast, those who become aware of the desperate condition must continue their spiritual struggle toward redemption, despite the temptations along the way; faith is the answer. The subject recognizes his condition and leaves the dilemma "wholly to God" in the belief that through Him all things are possible (69). This act of spiritual dependency denotes the most significant phase of the person's maturation. Thus, the person's psychological progress occurs during the transformation stage or crucial periods, requiring an ethical choice. Making the proper decision during the critical moment is what Kierkegaard calls "the process of becoming." The author elaborates on this notion in the following description: "Yet a self, every moment it exists, is in a process of becoming; for the self potentially is not present actually, it is merely what is to come into existence" (60). Faith stems from one's desire for the impossible, not the possible, as necessity dictates (69).

             Kierkegaard bases the theory of despair upon his concept of relations. The writer suggests that a human being is "a synthesis of the finite and the infinite, of the temporal and the eternal, of freedom and necessity." In a similar fashion, growth of the self depends upon the relation of body and soul, its dual components. The cycle also continues one step beyond because, as the theologian contends, the self only finds fulfillment through its relation with a still higher related order, that being God (59). The author expresses this affinity in the following manner: "Such a derived, established relation is the human self, a relation which relates to itself, and in relating to itself relates to something else." In this respect, these entities serve as subsets of one another (43). Basically, the self exists in its relation between the finite and infinite, and in a constant state of becoming. If man fails to realize the infinite, or lacks even the desire to, he already suffers in a state of despair (60). This condition is a form of separation from God, who alone empowers man with the ability to combine the finite and the infinite (59-60). The sin of despair, whether willful or not, obstructs freedom, the primary component of the self (53). Such freedom enables man to make moral choices based upon spiritual possibilities of faith rather than the necessities of practical living (59).Despair is, in a sense, even worse than death because it is a form of living death that does not cease to exist after the death of one's physical body (47). Like Oedipus who was condemned to eternal suffering and separation from his family, so must the one who despairs suffer in both this life and the next because of his separation from God. No punishment exceeds this. Similarly, Hamlet feared making the wrong choice in discerning whether the spirit of his dead father was real or demonic because the wrong decision would damn him not only in this world but also in the next. Despair, in this way, becomes death of the soul in life. In contrast, the believer must choose to die to worldly preoccupations in order to fulfill the needs of the spirit. The Apostle Paul tells the Corinthians that he "dies daily" to the flesh so that he can live in Christ (First Corinthians 15:31). He also tells the Galatians, "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). Kierkegaard suggests that man's struggle against despair never ends, and he must continually choose to war against its domination. Christ himself teaches that one must "deny himself and take up his cross daily" if he is to follow Him (Luke 9:23). Denial, whether willful or unacknowledged, leads to spiritual emptiness and a sense of futility. Thus, in every man there exists a place for God, but any other attempt to fill this void with affairs of the world leaves the subject discontented and unsatisfied. This vacuum results in alienation, loneliness, and loss of purpose. Existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre describes such as condition as nausea. Kierkegaard affirms that the highest demand placed upon a human is to live in the spirit, and any deviation from this demand results in spiritual isolation (52). Although a person may repress or deny this condition, when his spirit passes on into eternity, he must give an account as to whether he courageously confronted his despair in order to serve God, or let it overwhelm him (58). Kierkegaard stresses that every person must make this ethical choice in order for transformation to occur.

            Kierkegaard also explores the concept of man and sin. Here, the notion of ethical conduct again plays a vital role because God provides the model for man's treatment of others through His love and the sacrifice of His son for all men. Christianity, he notes, is the only religion in which the Creator actively participates in the believer's transformation. A proper relationship between the human and the divine leads to the subject's spiritual fulfillment; however, separation induced by weakness or defiance results in despair, a form of sin. No other religion embodies this concept of sin brought about by a state of broken union with God; consequently, the idea that man is always "before God," coupled with the sin associated with disobedience, compels man to repent, deny, repress, or ignore his estranged condition. In no other religion does the Supreme Being love his people so much that he sacrifices his only son for their atonement and redemption. God reaches down to his subjects to guide them along their spiritual journey. Consequently, the guilt associated with a person's willful rebellion against His divine intent further explains the individual's accompanying emptiness and loss of purpose. Kierkegaard expresses this notion in the following passage: "What makes sin, dialectically, ethically, religiously, what lawyers would call 'aggravated' despair, is the conception of God" (109). From this statement, it paradoxically follows that despair is necessary because of the idea of God, but this is untrue. It is man whose sinful nature refuses to obey his Creator, who loves and forgives him. A similar rationale attempts to justify the existence of sin by suggesting man's estrangement is essential for him to realize his freedom to choose or to rebel. In essence, man's apprehension of the divine and his desire to attain it create a bond between the subject and God, and it is this union that makes man "in the image of God" (Genesis 1:27). Thus, the concept of being before God differentiates Christianity from all other faiths and philosophies (115). Kierkegaard expresses this concept in the following passage: "Christianity teaches that this single human being, and so every single human being, whether husband, wife, servant girl, cabinet minister, merchant, barber, student, etc., this single human being is before God—this single human being who might be proud to have spoken once in his life with the king, this human being who hasn't the least illusion of being on an intimate footing with this or that person, this human being is before God, can talk with God any time he wants, certain of being heard; in short this human being has an invitation to live on the most intimate footing with God" (117).

             Kierkegaard also discusses the concept of accountability in terms of the self. A child grows into adulthood first by the standards of his parents and the State, but so much greater is the transformation that occurs when the self "acquires God as its standard" (111). The author furthermore suggests that without standards, there can be no sin. He cites "the pagan and natural man" as examples. The Apostle Paul tells the Romans, "Sin is not imputed when there is no law (Romans 5:13). Kierkegaard next contends that ignorance is no excuse, however (120). In that same epistle, Paul says, "For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse" (Romans 1:20). In this respect, modern man's insensitivity toward the suffering of others is also inexcusable. Man himself is morally accountable for his ignorance and mistreatment of others. Ethics must supersede his desire for progress or materialism. This position, held by Bonhoeffer, Buber, Einstein, Gandhi, and Schweitzer, indeed is twenty-first century man's moral imperative.

                                     Works Cited for Kierkegaard's The Sickness Unto Death

Kierkegaard, Soren. The Sickness Unto Death. Alastair Hannay, Trans. and Introduction. New                   York: Penguin Books, 1989.