Kierkegaard and Christianity

see what God really wishes me to do; the thing is to find a truth which is true for me, to find the idea for which I can live and die" (5). Kierkegaard says that knowledge is useful in coming to a moral decision, but it is the "inward action" of an individual which "means everything" (5). This inward action should focus not on human understanding, not on human pleasure, not on human knowledge, but on the Kingdom of Heaven. Kierkegaard reminds himself and the reader that the Christian path is a difficult one, that it is supposed to be difficult, and that the easy Christianity of his time weakened rather than strengthened individuals.

In pages 14-36 from A Kierkegaard Anthology, we find a passage from Kierkegaard's journal in which he struggles between romantic and religious passions, and passages from his book Either/Or.

In the journal entries, Kierkegaard shows that he can be passionate about women as well as about God. He writes of Regina and letting "her being penetrate mine" (14). He writes of making his love known to her, then the feeling that he had made a mistake. He wins her over, in any case, but he continues to grapple with romantic love, trying to understand what is happening to him. He goes back and forth in agony over th

. . .
pity for the sufferings even of the highest types (his `final sin') and his resolute re-entry into the fray of seeking to contribute to the enhancement of this life in this world, warts and all. . . . (125). Still, in the brief passage from the midnight song which Schacht includes, there is a clear not of melancholy at least, if not a willed turning-away from the likelihood of failure and suffering. In that passage, Zarathustra says, "My suffering and my pity for suffering---what does it matter? Am I concerned with happiness? I am concerned with my work (125) But it is clear that Zarathustra is himself "all too human," as this passage reveals. Zarathustra wants as much as any man to be happy, and it is only a melancholy self-will which allows him to turn his back on the happiness that others seek openly. Still, it is clear that he seeks a higher happiness in his work and in his desire and effort to transcend the happiness that other, "lesser" human beings settle for. Zarathustra may not succeed, but it will not be for not trying. In pages 126-142 from the Richard Schacht-edited Nietzsche, we find passages from Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Zarathustra is on an odyssey for himself, for his humanity, for the truth, beginning from the
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Richard Schmitt, Morals Nietzsche, God Marxist, Schmitt Schmitt, God Christ, Nevertheless Schacht, Class Schmitt, Kierkegaard Anthology, Class Schmitt's, Alienation Class, capitalist society, , kierkegaard anthology, alienation class, , schacht writes, despair willing, human nature, created capitalism, society capitalist, slave morality, social economic political, society capitalist society, nietzsche zarathustra proclaim, capitalist society schmitt,
Approximate Word count = 6870
Approximate Pages = 27 (250 words per page)

More Essays on Kierkegaard and Christianity