Good Morning Everyone!! Happy Hump Day! The week is halfway over, but it feels like eons passing coming off the holiday. It’s alright, we’re in this together. We are the Thought Breakfast Sangha!!!

Today, for our main course, we’re looking to Søren Kierkegaard to break through the surface and get into the deeper existential reflection. To burn that off, we’ll turn it into a fun little thought exercise. For dessert, we’ll open up Kierkegaards The Sickness Unto Death and really just blow the lid off our think-pieces (brains) this morning.

Honestly, strap yourself in. Because today’s thought breakfast will be like the philosophical equivalent of trying exotic meats for the first time. Let’s do it. Thought Breakfast is served!

Most people don’t have a “self” as we think we do. We confuse the self with personality or preference, but Kierkegaard says those are only surface-level masks.

When you go deep enough, you find that our idea of our “self” is just a projection of our habits, roles, identities, expectations, and anxieties that have been influenced or placed on us throughout the course of our human experience. Kierkegaard tells us that what we call the self is usually a reaction to the world, not the core of who we are. Stay with me here.

The “self” is formed in relation to something higher (God, Truth, The Power that established the self), not just inwardly. Kierkegaard says, “The greatest hazard of all, losing one’s self, can occur so quietly that it seems like nothing at all.”

This deviates a little bit from the past two days. To Seneca and Aurelius, reflection is a tool for clarity, correction, and sanity maintenance. To Kierkegaard, reflection is a much deeper existential question: Am I actually living as the person I want to be? Or am I living in reaction to the world around me?

Kierkegaard splits the self into two pieces: the constructed self and the true self.

The constructed self is who you represent as a result of your circumstances. Think about your habits and roles in life. Are you a mother who walks in the morning? An employee who drinks coffee? Are these descriptions of your self or merely of things you do?

The true self is much different. This is who you are before God. When all of the worldly layers are shed, down to even the relinquishment of your first name, this is where you find the “true” self according to Kierkegaard.

The constructed self is reactive. The true self is chosen.

Thus reflection to Kierkegaard is pondering on the gap between these two selves. It closely aligns with modern psychotherapy. You’ll ask yourself questions like: Is my life aligned with my values? Are my actions consistent with my deepest commitments?

This type of reflection requires honesty. Much like yesterday’s point, it is not a confession of guilt. It is a sincere confrontation with who you are below all the noise. Shedding your illusions, excuses, and self-narratives is the beginning of freedom because you stop lying to yourself.

Reflection isn’t about who you were. It’s about who you are becoming.

Kierkegaard tells us that the danger isn’t in failing, it’s in identifying with the wrong self.

Ask yourself these questions:

That’s it. Remember that reflection isn’t about judgement, it’s about direction. Setting yourself up to project more of your “true self” each day.

Søren Kierkegaard says,

“A human being is spirit. But what is spirit? Spirit is the self. The self is a relation that relates itself to itself, and in relating itself to itself, it relates itself to the Power that established it. To truly be a self is not self-invented. It is to rest transparently in that Power. The greatest hazard of all, losing one’s self, can occur so quietly that it seems like nothing at all.” - The Sickness Unto Death

That is a lot to digest. Kierkegaard is showing us that the self is not just you, it’s you in relation to something higher. This poses a danger when it comes to reflection. The danger isn’t guilt, it’s unconsciousness. You have to remember that your self (spirit, as Kierkegaard put it) exists only in relation to its creator (the Power that established it).

“The despairing man is unaware that he is a self. He thinks his life consists in what the world calls a life. He busies himself with being something in the eyes of others. But the self is not something one invents. The self is the task of becoming what one already is before God.” - The Sickness Unto Death

Becoming yourself is not inventing an identity. It’s peeling back the layers until you realize who you were all along. Kierkegaard’s biggest warning is that it’s possible to live a full life without ever becoming yourself.

Munch on that for today. Kierkegaard is a tough one to summarize in a five-minute newsletter, but I think we did alright. Go out today and become your true self. As always, pull the chair back up tomorrow for another steaming hot plate of Thought Breakfast!

Thank you for reading along with us today! If you enjoy this content, and want to start your days grounded in thought and mindfulness, I suggest you have a seat at our table! Smash that button below to check out more editions and subscribe!

Remember to stay mindful, smell the flowers, and take it easy.

Chef Ricky - Thought Breakfast

P.S.

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