Faith is the highest passion in a human being. Many in every generation may not come that far, but none comes further.
Soren KierkegaardRead
To venture causes anxiety, but not to venture is to lose one's self.... And to venture in the highest is precisely to be conscious of one's self.
Interpretation
Venture into new experiences can create anxiety, yet avoiding them means losing touch with your true self.
This quote by Soren Kierkegaard highlights the duality of human experience regarding risk and self-awareness. While venturing into the unknown may bring anxiety, it is through these ventures that individuals discover and realize their true selves. Embracing challenges and uncertainties is essential for personal growth and understanding, illustrating the importance of taking risks for self-actualization.
In practice
During a motivational speech about overcoming fears, this quote can inspire individuals to take risks.
Faith is the highest passion in a human being. Many in every generation may not come that far, but none comes further.
Men think that it is impossible for a human being to love his enemies, for enemies are hardly able to endure the sight of one another. Well, then, shut your eyes--and your enemy looks just like your neighbor.
How did I get into the world? Why was I not asked about it and why was I not informed of the rules and regulations but just thrust into the ranks as if I had been bought by a peddling shanghaier of human beings? How did I get involved in this big enterprise called actuality? Why should I be involved? Isn't it a matter of choice? And if I am compelled to be involved, where is the manager—I have something to say about this. Is there no manager? To whom shall I make my complaint?
A possibility is a hint from God. One must follow it.
And when the hourglass has run out, the hourglass of temporality, when the noise of secular life has grown silent and its restless or ineffectual activism has come to an end, when everything around you is still, as it is in eternity, then eternity asks you and every individual in these millions and millions about only one thing: whether you have lived in despair or not.
I am so stupid that I cannot understand philosophy; the antithesis of this is that philosophy is so clever that it cannot comprehend my stupidity. These antitheses are mediated in a higher unity; in our common stupidity.
If all the suns but ours collapsed tonight, how many lifetimes would it take us to realize that we were alone?
For too long, we’ve called unbelievers to “invite Jesus into your life.” Jesus doesn’t want to be in your life. Your life is a wreck. Jesus calls you into his life. And his life isn’t boring or purposeless or static. It’s wild and exhilarating and unpredictable.
Punishment is the last and the least effective instrument in the hands of the legislator for the prevention of crime.
How wonderful it is to be an American. We have known the best of times and the worst of times.
As long as you look for a Buddha somewhere else, you'll never see that your own mind is the Buddha.
How can it be that mathematics, being after all a product of human thought which is independent of experience, is so admirably appropriate to the objects of reality?
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