Deadly disease

Author: (Danish) S?ren Kierkegaard
Translator: Zhang Xianglong et al.
Editor-in-Chief: Niu Hongbao
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 1997-09-01
Features:
Preface
1. Given Kierkegaard's status and influence in the history of world thought, we have planned to publish this series to introduce this extraordinary thinker to Chinese academia and the general public in a more comprehensive way.
2. The series includes representative works from different periods of Kierkegaard's life and will be released progressively.
3. In terms of translation quality, we have strictly adhered to the principle of "faithfulness, expressiveness, and elegance" with each translator, ensuring that no compromise is made for the sake of academic integrity and reader satisfaction. We ask the readers to hold us accountable to this principle.
4. Dr. Liu Xiaofeng, an influential young scholar, has written the preface for this series and provided significant support and valuable suggestions. His recommendations on translating Kierkegaard have been included in the preface. The translators of this series are also doctoral scholars. They have written introductory prefaces for their respective translations from the perspective of Marxist and. We extend our gratitude to them all.
Editor: July 16, 1997
Excerpt:
Thus, a relation that is connected to itself, a self, must either establish itself or be established by another. If the relation to itself has already been established by another, then this relation is indeed the third party. But this relation or this third party remains a relation, and it brings itself into relation with the power that established this entire relation. Man is such a relation that comes forth, a relation established by another, which connects itself to itself and, in this self-connection, connects itself to another. Therefore, there can be two forms of despair in the strict sense. If a person is self-established, there can only be one form of despair: not to be (be) oneself or to negate oneself; but this form of despair cannot exist, i.e., to be or become oneself in despair. The second form, particularly, expresses a complete dependence on the relation to oneself, an expression of the inability to achieve or exist in a state of tranquility and reliance on oneself; [to achieve this state] can only be done by connecting oneself to the power that established the entire relation, thereby achieving self-connection. Indeed, the second form of despair (to be oneself in despair) is not merely a special type of despair but, on the contrary, all forms of despair ultimately trace back to it and dissolve into it.
If the person in despair becomes aware of his despair as he intends, and does not talk about it meaninglessly as if it were something that has happened to him (this is somewhat like a person suffering from dizziness, experiencing delusions about a heavy object or something falling on him, etc.; this heavy object and pressure are not external but only a distorted reflection of an internal state), but instead dedicates all his effort to trying to break free from this despair solely through his own strength, he remains in despair, and due to his unauthorized efforts, he plunges himself into deeper despair. This misrelation in despair is not a simple misrelation but a misrelation within the self-connection and the relation established by another. Therefore, this misrelation in the relation for itself also reflects the self infinitely in the relation to the power that established it.
When despair is completely eradicated, the formula describing the state of the self is as follows: In self-connection and in the will to be oneself, the self completely and thoroughly relies on the power that established it.
B. The Possibility and Reality of Despair
Is despair an advantage or a defect? Purely dialectically, it is both. If one considers only the abstract concept of despair without thinking about the people in despair, it must be regarded as a kind of extraordinary advantage. This possibility of disease is what makes humans superior to animals. Moreover, this superiority distinguishes them more from animals than their upright posture, as it indicates their infinite uprightness and nobility, which is the fact that they are spiritual beings. This possibility of disease is what makes humans superior to animals; the awareness of this disease is what makes Christians superior to natural men, and its cure is the blessing of Christians.