Pages

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Kierkegaard's Advice

First of all, the readings we've had this week have definitely been my favorite so far! I thoroughly enjoyed The Death of Ivan Ilyich, and like the reading in The Essential Kierkegaard even more! Some of the stuff is hilarious, and then other sections make me want to through the book across my room and scream "What are you thinking!?"

Right away in the first passage the section about poets literally made me laugh out loud! Then, what he says about marriage and friendship left me dumbfounded. I was always told growing up that it's important to have friends, but here comes Kierkegaard to set everyone straight! One of my favorite passages so far is one page 40: "Most people rush after pleasure so fast that they rush right past it." This means a lot to me because I always find myself wishing for the next stage in my life or even the next fun event so that I miss opportunities to enjoy myself that the time I am in. During high school I couldn't wait to get to college, so I didn't try very hard to spend time with friends.

At the end of the first reading I also love the whole section about purity and the importance for women to guard their purity so that they don't become "weak and lose the substance of her being," as Kierkegaard puts it. Kierkegaard believes that a pure woman is something to be desired, but one who is lose is better off being a man.

I can't wait to read the rest of this week's Kierkegaard readings because everything he has to say is so interesting and applicable to my life!

-Susan

p.s. I commented on Sam Oliver's Greed
Posted by at

2 comments:

  1. Katie McclammaOctober 26, 2011 at 7:43 PM

    The quote from page 40 relates to me too. Sometimes I rush through the week to get to the weekend. I tend to not stop and enjoy what I'm doing at that moment. Kierkegaard definitely influenced me to enjoy the simplest of afternoons.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Meghan JohnstonOctober 26, 2011 at 8:47 PM

    I am loathe to admit that the line on page 40 also applies to me. I spend so much time wishing for the future, that I forget to enjoy the now. But, then there are the times, like today, where I spend an entire afternoon outside talking with a friend about, basically, nothing. Then, I spent half an hour talking to a friend on the phone who I hadn't talked to in years. And yet, I got more enjoyment out of those two slices of time, then I ever do thinking about the future. I think Kierkegaard is definitely on to something here, I should spend more time in the now, and less time imagining my future.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)