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The Iconoclast

‹‹ Martin Buber and the Holocaust: Some Reconsiderations

The Language of Decline ››

Wednesday, 31 October 2012

The Unfolding Self

by Rebecca Bynum (November 2012)

Nothing is so important to a man as his own state, nothing is so formidable to him as eternity; and thus it is not natural that there should be men indifferent to the loss of their existence…
– Blaise Pascal Pensées #194 (emphasis added)

[T]he torment of despair is precisely the inability to die…he cannot consume himself, cannot be rid of himself, cannot become nothing. This is the heightened formula for despair, the rising fever in the sickness of the self.
– Søren Kierkegaard, The Sickness Unto Death

It seems to me there is present in modern humanity a growing ambivalence towards living. Suicide is now the primary cause of injury-related death in the United States and this urge to embrace death is steadily rising. Parallel to this, there seems to be a growing tendency to want to remake ourselves as other people - younger, better-looking, different. Advancing technology and medicine are allowing us to play out our fantasies like never before, and yet we cannot be rid of ourselves, we cannot become different persons no matter how much we may pretend or wish to be so. more>>>

Tags: Rebecca Bynum, reality, eternal life

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Posted on 10/31/2012 10:29 AM by Rebecca Bynum

Comments

1 Nov 2012

Norman Berdichevsky

This is a remarkably pithy message with many truths - not only for the older generation that is sadder and wiser but especially for so many younger people who are constantly encouraged by all around them to 'feel envious and covet that which others have and what they seem to be'.

11 Nov 2012

mmt

well said

11 Nov 2012

Dennis Smith

wonderful article. can you suggest Christian books/authors (of course the Bible is the one) that influence your thinking? Thanks, Dennis

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