Comments on: Fear and Trembling http://thesimulacra.net/journal/2006/08/10/fear-and-trembling/ "Sometimes the appropriate response to reality is to go insane." - Philip K Dick Sat, 06 Dec 2008 23:32:35 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Katrina http://thesimulacra.net/journal/2006/08/10/fear-and-trembling/comment-page-1/#comment-69 Katrina Thu, 16 Nov 2006 13:18:32 +0000 http://thesimulacra.net/journal/2006/08/10/fear-and-trembling/#comment-69 First time I've checked out your site properly, (sorry!) but I thought this was an astute commentary by Kierkegaard on the mysterious sense -not just you, but I also sometimes have of something greater than a cyclic view of life expanding and collapsing to, ultimately, nothingness. Whilst many biologists I know, and as Jacob points out, Buddhists also, find a satisfying beauty in this 'nothingness', I cannot. And to believe in something 'greater', even if it is, like you said, perhaps irrational and improbable, is the core of millions of people's existence. In The Silver Chair (C.S Lewis) there's a good illustration of the importance of such 'irrationality'. First time I’ve checked out your site properly, (sorry!) but I thought this was an astute commentary by Kierkegaard on the mysterious sense -not just you, but I also sometimes have of something greater than a cyclic view of life expanding and collapsing to, ultimately, nothingness. Whilst many biologists I know, and as Jacob points out, Buddhists also, find a satisfying beauty in this ‘nothingness’, I cannot. And to believe in something ‘greater’, even if it is, like you said, perhaps irrational and improbable, is the core of millions of people’s existence. In The Silver Chair (C.S Lewis) there’s a good illustration of the importance of such ‘irrationality’.

]]> By: Edd http://thesimulacra.net/journal/2006/08/10/fear-and-trembling/comment-page-1/#comment-59 Edd Sat, 19 Aug 2006 12:55:36 +0000 http://thesimulacra.net/journal/2006/08/10/fear-and-trembling/#comment-59 Thanks for your comment. <em>"...that life was truly empty, but wasn’t able to reconcile this with his notion of God."</em> I think this was a large part of his reason for being a theist. He thought it was better to take a "leap of faith" and believe, even though he couldn't fully reconcile God to the world around himself. I can certainly understand his reasons, even if I can't quite follow them myself. Thanks for your comment.
“…that life was truly empty, but wasn’t able to reconcile this with his notion of God.”
I think this was a large part of his reason for being a theist. He thought it was better to take a “leap of faith” and believe, even though he couldn’t fully reconcile God to the world around himself. I can certainly understand his reasons, even if I can’t quite follow them myself.

]]> By: Jacob http://thesimulacra.net/journal/2006/08/10/fear-and-trembling/comment-page-1/#comment-58 Jacob Tue, 15 Aug 2006 06:54:17 +0000 http://thesimulacra.net/journal/2006/08/10/fear-and-trembling/#comment-58 But the realization of being a wind in the desert is precisely the image I get from most strains of mysticism. Chogyam Trungpa considers hopelessness to be an absolutely essential spiritual revelation. This is consistent with my understanding of Buddhism, and the notion of killing the ego. At the top of the tree of life, there is *nothing*. Science has the cop-out of "serving man", but the mystic doesn't get that luxury Kierkegaard's description of the world seems accurate until he tries to save himself from it; I sense that he too must have intuitively felt, like Sartre and the Shakyamuni Buddha, that life was truly empty, but wasn't able to reconcile this with his notion of God. But the realization of being a wind in the desert is precisely the image I get from most strains of mysticism. Chogyam Trungpa considers hopelessness to be an absolutely essential spiritual revelation. This is consistent with my understanding of Buddhism, and the notion of killing the ego. At the top of the tree of life, there is *nothing*. Science has the cop-out of “serving man”, but the mystic doesn’t get that luxury

Kierkegaard’s description of the world seems accurate until he tries to save himself from it; I sense that he too must have intuitively felt, like Sartre and the Shakyamuni Buddha, that life was truly empty, but wasn’t able to reconcile this with his notion of God.

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