 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
Christianity from an Existential Perspective..
|
 |
The Sickness
I intend to wade into the "faith vs. Works" debates quite soon, but
before that a proper understanding of this sickness we are being
redeemed from is necessary. For all religions offer not only a cure to
man's ills but a presupposed conception of why people need salvation. A
popular theory in today's post-postmodern world is that all men have a
differing sickness (or perhaps no sickness at all), and accordingly
formulate or pick their own philosophy or religion that best fits their
needs. Religions are thus not objective in a universal sense, but only
objective for those who need it. As sympathetic as I am with some parts
of this idea, Christianity strays from it in one important sense: this
sickness is a universal phenomenon.
Now, Christians will often
ascribe this sickness as either moral ("We have all broken God's
commandments") or innately spiritual ("We are all spiritually dead from
Adams original sin"). I'm going to try and take a different path that
borrows from both ideas:
Firstly, this sickness must be in our self. A self means what we are,
quite literally what makes us "us". The word soul or spirit could also
be used here to describe this substance which gives us personal
identity (whether or not it is independent or dependent on the brain).
Being a human being makes it inherent that we possess a self, but that
does not mean that this self is necessarily affirmed or actualized in
the person. Indeed, most thinkers observe most of humanity as living
awry of the ideal, and describe what a human must do to be
"self-affirmed".
Kierkegaard has a fundamental contribution to
make here. He thinks of the self as a synthesis between
temporality/eternality, possibility/necessity, and finitude/infinitude.
When an imbalance occurs within this synthesis, the self is in despair.
Space constraints restrict me from even briefly elaborating on that,
but the point is that this sickness occurs from focusing on one aspect
of the synthesis in neglect of the other (the concept of God is
intertwined in the balance of the two). This despair is also universal
according to Kierkegaard.
A couple of ways that people neglect
one side of the synthesis is in the life philosophies of hedonism and
materialism. A focus on pleasure, happiness, wealth, honour, luxury and
all of that is self-defeating. A pursuit of physical pleasure only
restricts the well-being of the soul, which Kierkegaard fancifully
expressed when he said: "Most men pursue pleasure with such breathless
haste that they hurry past it." Jesus exposed the inadequacy of
focusing on temporal possessions by saying "For what is a man
advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself" (Luke 9:25,
also check out Luke 8:14 and Luke 12:15). Nevertheless, we are often
infixiated with the attainment of temporary pleasure and amassing of
material possessions.
Another sign of despair is the obsession
with the opposite value, that of possibility, eternity, and infinity. A
life lived in possibility is one without actuality, and a life without
actuality is one where the life is lived in prudence and without risk.
Without the "courage to be", if you will. Kierkegaard had this to say
about venturing:
The
world thinks it is dangerous to venture in this way, and why? Because
one might lose; the prudent thing is not to venture. And yet by not
venturing and which, whatever you lost, you will in any case never lose
in this way, so easily, so completely, as though it were nothing -
oneself. For if I have ventured wrongly, very well, life then helps me
with its penalty. But if I haven't ventured at all, who helps me then?
And when, into the bargain, by not venturing at all in the highest
sense (and to venture in the highest sense is precisely to become aware
of oneself) I cravenly gain all earthly advantages, and lose myself!
So
we have a world in which everybody is living in despair, with a
spiritual sickness that has resulted from the anxiety of freedom and an
imbalance within the self's synthesis. The question must be asked: How
can God punish us for this, and why are we morally responsible for not
living as authentically as possible? The jump from despair to sin for
Kierkegaard is made with the self's knowledge of a God. Sin becomes
"before God, or with the conception of God, in despair not wanting to
be oneself, or wanting in despair to be oneself". Sin is knowing that
recourse to this sickness can be found in the words of Jesus, but not
accepting it. This is why Jesus said that those who have not heard his
words have a cloak for their sin (John 15:22-25). I believe Kierkegaard
has a solid definition of sin, and will be useful in interpreting
Jesus' solution to the sickness later on.
This has in no way
meant to be thorough or conclusive, but only a first step in completing
the diagnosis of the modern ages spiritual sickness. For further
reading see "The Sickness unto death" by Kierkegaard, The Gospels
(especially matthew and luke), and "The Courage to Be" by Paul Tillich. |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
