more on this theme | more from this thinker
Full Idea
One may liken anxiety to dizziness. He whose eyes chance to look down into a yawning abyss becomes dizzy. Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom which is when freedom gazes down into its own possibility, grasping at finiteness to sustain itself.
Gist of Idea
Anxiety is staring into the yawning abyss of freedom
Source
Søren Kierkegaard (The Concept of Dread (/Anxiety) [1844], p.55), quoted by Kevin Aho - Existentialism: an introduction 6 'Moods'
Book Ref
Aho,Kevin: 'Existentialism: an introduction' [Polity 2014], p.81
A Reaction
Most of us rapidly retreat from the thought of the infinity of things we might choose. Choosing bizarrely merely to assert one's freedom is simple stupidity.
22098 | Socrates neglects the gap between knowing what is good and doing good [Kierkegaard, by Carlisle] |
22096 | Anxiety is not a passing mood, but a response to human freedom [Kierkegaard, by Carlisle] |
22097 | The ultimate in life is learning to be anxious in the right way [Kierkegaard] |
21909 | Ultimate knowledge is being anxious in the right way [Kierkegaard] |
20758 | Anxiety is staring into the yawning abyss of freedom [Kierkegaard] |