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BE THAT SELF WHICH ONE TRULY IS

   The fundamental question, “Who am I?” has been studied since the time of the ancient Greeks. Socrates (470–399 BCE) believed the main purpose of philosophy is to increase happiness through analysing and understanding oneself, famously saying: “The unexamined life is not worth living. ”

   Søren Kierkegaard’s book The Sickness Unto Death (1849) offers self-analysis as a means to understanding the problem of “despair”,which he considered to stem not from depression, but rather from the alienation of the self. Kierkegaard described several levels of despair.

   The lowest, and most common, stems from ignorance: a person has the wrong idea about what “self” is, and is unaware of the existence or nature of his potential self. Such ignorance is close to bliss, and so inconsequential(不重要的) that Kierkegaard was not even sure it could be counted as despair.

   Real desperation arises, he suggested, with growing self-awareness, and the deeper levels of despair stem from an acute consciousness of the self, coupled with a profound dislike of it.When something goes wrong, such as failing an exam to qualify as a doctor, a person may seem to be despairing over something that has been lost.

   But on closer inspection, according to Kierkegaard, it becomes obvious that the man is not really despairing of the thing (failing an exam) but of himself. The self that failed to achieve a goal has become intolerable(无法忍受的). The man wanted to become a different self (a doctor), but he is now stuck with a failed self and in despair.

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Abandoning the real self

   Kierkegaard took the example of a man who wanted to become an emperor, and pointed out that ironically, even if this man did somehow achieve his aim, he would have effectively abandoned his old self.In both his desire and accomplishment, he wants to “be rid of” his self.

   This disavowal(否认) of the self is painful: despair is overwhelming when a man wants to shun(逃避) himself – when he “does not possess himself; he is not himself”.However, Kierkegaard did offer a solution.He concluded that a man can find peace and inner harmony by finding the courage to be his true self, rather than wanting to be someone else.

   “To will to be that self which one truly is, is indeed the opposite of despair,” he said.He believed that despair evaporates when we stop denying who we really are and attempt to uncover and accept our true nature.Kierkegaard’s emphasis on individual responsibility, and the need to find one’s true essence and purpose in life, is frequently regarded as the beginning of existentialist(存在主义) philosophy.

   His ideas led directly to R.D. Laing’s use of existential therapy, and have influenced the humanistic(人本主义的) therapies practised by clinical psychologists such as Carl Rogers.

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   Napoleon’s overreaching(过度的) ambition for power, as depicted in this painting of him as a student, led him to lose sight of his true self and all-too-human limitations, and ultimately to despair.

MORE TO KNOW…

APPROACH

Existentialism

BEFORE

5th century BCE Socrates states the key to happiness is discovering the “true self”.

AFTER

1879 Wilhelm Wundt uses self-analysis as an approach to psychological research.

1913 John B. Watson denounces self-analysis in psychology, stating that “introspection(自省) forms no essential part of its methods”.

1951 Carl Rogers publishes Client-centered Therapy, and in 1961 On Becoming a Person.

1960 R.D. Laing’s The Divided Self redefines “madness”, offering existential analysis of inner conflict as therapy.

1996 Rollo May bases his book, The Meaning of Anxiety, on Kierkegaard’s The Concept of Anxiety.

SØREN KIERKEGAARD

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   Søren Kierkegaard was born to an affluent Danish family, and raised as a strict Lutheran. He studied theology(神学) and philosophy at Copenhagen University. When he came into a sizeable inheritance, he decided to devote his life to philosophy, but ultimately this left him dissatisfied.

   “What I really need to do,” he said, “is to get clear about what I am to do, not what I must know.”In 1840, he became engaged to Regine Olsen, but broke off the engagement, saying that he was unsuited to marriage.His general state of melancholy had a profound effect on his life.

   A solitary figure, his main recreational activities included walking the streets to chat with strangers, and taking long carriage rides alone into the countryside.Kierkegaard collapsed in the street on 2 October 1855, and died on 11 November in Friedrich’s Hospital, Copenhagen.

Key works

1843 Fear and Trembling

1843 Either/Or

1844 The Concept of Anxiety

1849 The Sickness Unto Death