My Journey with Kierkegaard: From the Paradoxical Self to the Polarized Mind

Article

Abstract

[In English]

The article investigates how radical, or paradoxical, experience (such as loss, death anxiety etc.) forms an essential dimension of human’s relation to existence, and how this very relation could become fruitful in case of proper attitude. The author defines human experience as constrictive/expansive continuum only degrees of which are conscious: denial or avoidance of these polarities cause disorders and suffering, whereas coexistence with it associates with vital living. In this regard the author discusses implications of Kierkegaard’s conception of self as a synthesis of finitude and infinitude and its manifold relations to itself and the world, and relevance of his works to clinical psychology.