Søren Kierkegaard has been brought to my attention over the last 6 months or so. Søren was a Danish Philosopher who has been acknowledged as being the father of Existentialism. As I sit here wondering where to start I know that the direction, I desire, leads you the reader to understanding that through existentialism we can find truth (Christ) and Salvation.
The world views existentialism in this manner:
“A philosophical theory or approach that emphasizes the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible agent determining their own development through acts of the will…”
Being a part of a world that has many seekers of truth, we have to pose the question - what is truth? And through posing this question we ask, what is the meaning of life? I do not think that we can have these as two separate entities, for once someone finds truth they understand the purpose of one’s life.
Existentialism may be a new term to many but, if we look at many other religions in the world we can find that all of them seek to find some sort of enlightenment in the world/ themselves. The problem that is posed when this happens is - what is true enlightenment? One man may feel enlightened to take over the world, or to do something harmful, but we would automatically assume that this person is evil. So let’s take the person who tries to find it through something less harmful, knowledge. If someone were to pursue enlightenment with knowledge, what do they gain after their death, or what if they get Alzheimer? So we cannot say that finding ones existence is based in knowledge, or in their own physical action. So where do we go from here?
Some turn to religion, but how would we say which religion is fulfilling to one’s own path? Some will opt in saying that it depends where you are born, or maybe what your parents believed, but even here we can find flaws. Some religions still rely on head knowledge from a man or many men, or some believe that through action you receive a purpose for existence, and then others believe in a continual cycle until you can get it right. The problem with all of these is that there is a continual reliance on the individual to fulfill some kind of act. There are even some who take the easy road of believing that there is something bigger and in control and they will live their life and see what happens.
What saddens me in all of this is that each person who falls down this path lives a life that is searching for existence in themselves, and yet they can’t find purpose. If we live a life that solely is based on the years we live here and then nothing occurs afterwards, human kind would had been demolished by itself a long time ago. And yet this is what we today call existentialism. Søren Kierkegaard actually viewed it this way,
“What I really lack is to be clear in my mind what I am to do, not what I am to know, except in so far as certain knowledge must precede every action. The thing is to understand myself, to 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. ... I certainly do not deny that I still recognize an imperative of knowledge and that through it one can work upon men, but it must be taken up into my life, and that is what I now recognize as the most important thing.”
You see Søren saw the value in life and how it was based on the foundation in/on God. Søren Kierkegaard was under the understanding that life had more meaning and wanted to seek out what the Lord had planned for him. Søren’s battle was against the church, and its conformity of religion and how it was resorting back to its Catholic methodology instead of following the reformed movement in which it came from.
I say all this to encourage any person who is trying to find reasoning in their life. I ask kindly and with a loving heart for you to turn to prayer and ask for the Lord to reveal himself (and when I say ask, I mean in a verbal manner – and in the way a child would beg its mother for attention). Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28
When looking for your existence in this life there are many option but we often tend to be distracted by things that seem nice or exciting and yet we often end up empty. My heart for writing this is that I want people to know that they are not the only ones who have struggled and are searching for something. People everyday turn to things to either distract them from the pain that they have or to seek something to fill a hole in their heart. I ask that you call to the Lord and seek Him and see what happens.
We are given this promise in John 6:40, “For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” This is what I desire for you. When I speak of the Lord I speak of the Lord that is talked about in the Holy Bible (no other book/books) – I speak of Jesus Christ who lived and walked this planet, died and was raised on the third day and ascended to God the Father – I speak of the God that grants everlasting life for believing in Him and what His son accomplished.
Prayer:
Lord I call to you, I verbally call to you! I plead with you to show yourself in my life, that whatever doubt that may come from the enemy will be gone, whatever past regret that makes me feel like I am not good enough is a lie and I know now that you love me that you take me as I am. I cry out as David did in Psalm 40,
1) I waited patiently for the LORD;
he turned to me and heard my cry.
2) He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
AMEN.
