Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard

Fear ultimately is a poor motivator. Only love makes us want and wish for the good.

If we do wrong, we should want to be punished versus entering into the abyss of avoidance and addiction, which just leads to more pain. Punishment is meant as a corrective, to get us back on the right path.

Soren goes deeper into the Reward Disease. When we do and act and don’t get the reward we anticipate, the soil of revenge and retribution can take hold. Autumn teaches us to let go of those leaves, let them fall where they will. And trust that God will recompense.

Soren really starts to zero in on why we do what we do. Is it for the worldly reward, the pride, the power, and the possessions? Or is it to Will the One Thing? The will of God. Regardless of the temporal consequences?

Although Soren himself sought to have “Purity of Heart Is To Will One Thing” it was a struggle. We can be thankful that he wrote through this struggle to find the clarity, peace, and purpose, to will the one thing.

We continue walking through Chapter 3 in Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing. Barriers to Willing One Thing: Variety of Great Moments Are Not One Thing. Prayer is the path in the Office of Confession.

We begin Chapter 3 in “Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing.” Soren brings the Truth and it didn’t always make him popular. He predicted, though, that the Truth of what he wrote would triumph over time.

God uses punishment to slow our steps down so we stop and become silent. And when silent, we hear his voice and end up arriving at hope if we heed.

Having contrition for our sin and the consequences may not truly be Confession. We must be forgiven through the merits of Christ. Soren writes first to himself and then to us about how to proceed on our way to eternity.

Using Soren as a guide, this podcast explores the rise and fall of Nazism and Hitler. And how confession keeps the rocket from exploding.

Soren is eminently quotable. I take on the remaining quotes from the Philosophy Call tweet. Link in last week’s podcast.

Today’s episode takes on some Kierkegaard quotes. Soren is very quotable and it is how most people know of him. These quotes came from Twitter-Philosophy Call https://twitter.com/philosophy_call/status/1546138212556496897?s=21&t=A3JEeanl4A0B6vqoYEqmyA

If we recognized that we are eternal, we’d treat our lives and others’ lives with the seriousness they’d deserve. Soren is emphatic that this eternality is foundational to learning to will one thing: a living relationship with God.

I have made a decision, for now, to do one episode a week. On my end, the purpose is to give me more time to produce a quality episode. On the listener side, it is for you to experience a higher quality episode and for listeners to give each published episode more attention versus having episodes not being listened to when published. So, better quality and stronger attention are the goals. If the...

Old age should result in some wisdom which then can be shared with the younger. That is the theme of this episode.

Soren’s insistence that our most ardent enemy is our own sin; it keeps us from having the purity of heart to will one thing.

If you want to know anything about what Soren (or anyone) wrote about and believed, read him! Not others’ interpretations. There is a secondary place for commentaries and critiques but they are no substitute for the author’s own words.

I talk about the life of Rich Mullins, a Christian musician, who had many struggles. Primary of which was his difficult relationship with his dad, which had a profound effect on who he was. Finding love in God the Father in Christ was his healing, imperfect as it was. Rich Mullins was a vulnerable individual who embraced and struggled with it in his music and life. Soren too had a difficult relati...

In Danish, the term for “Solitary Individual” is Hiin Enkelte. We continue working through the Preface of Soren’s book “Purity of Heart Is To Will One Thing.”

We have all heard the cliche that there is no “I” in team. I however have also heard a quote that there is an “I” in win. Maybe Michael Jordan said that? There is an “I” in team. We don’t lose our individuality when on teams. Yet, our contributions have to be seen as rewarding for the team. The “I” in WIN.

How does the eternal nature of humanity create morality and meaning? Soren helps us understand this. The last two episodes became conjoined and I had to separate them. Weird tech glitch. Moving on.

We get into Soren’s most approachable book.

I finish the book “The Lily of the Field and the Bird of the Air” and tie it to Memorial Day and a reflection of how eternity must make us mindful. Correction: Lincoln spoke after the much longer orator at the Gettysburg Address. https://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/civil/jb_civil_gettysbg_3.html#:~:text=President%20Lincoln%20Delivered%20the%20Gettysburg%20Address&text=The%20speaker%20before%20Linco...

I chat with Madison Myers, an up and coming visual artist who recently graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga. She exemplifies the individual artistic spirit that Soren writes about. Here is https://maddijane1312.wixsite.com/myersmarketing Also discuss this essay, https://www.themarginalian.org/2014/11/26/kierkegaard-individual-crowd-conformity-minority/

Cast our cares upon the Lord, for he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7. And hold onto Joy. Casting & Holding. A double-move.