✨🤍 “𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒃𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒊𝒎𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒎𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇; 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑮𝒐𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝑮𝒐𝒅”

“𝑭𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒗𝒆𝒍, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒆𝒕 𝒏𝒐 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒍𝒖𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒊𝒕; 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏.”

 “ 𝑻𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑰 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒆𝒙𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔.”

Words cannot describe how much i loved this book. Idk there were tears in my eyes by the end of the book, the way Kierkegaard talks about Abraham touched my heart. As a muslim, a believer of Abrahamic faith, i couldn't help but agree with Kierkegaard  and his admiration for Abraham and faith. 

▫️“It is human to complain, human to weep with one who weeps, but it
is greater to have faith and more blessed to behold the believer for it is great to give up one's desire, but greater to stick to it after
having given it up; it is great to grasp hold of the eternal but greater to stick
to the temporal after having given it up.”

▫️“The
dialectic of faith is the most refined and most remarkable of all dialectics, it
has an elevation that I can form a conception of but no more. For he who
loves God without faith reflects on himself, while the person who loves
God in faith reflects on God.”

A believer is indeed great. He stands firm on his faith, renounces his desires for his faith.

“𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝑨𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒉𝒂𝒎 𝒃𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕, 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅. 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒔𝒍𝒆𝒆𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔?”

 Kierkegaard discusses the story of Abraham and his sacrifice through 3 parts:

1. 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐁𝐋𝐄𝐌𝐀 𝐈: 𝐈𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥?

Kierkegaard asks if a higher goal will justify suspending the ethical duties?
And then he argues that Abraham indeed suspends the ethical duties in order to fulfill his duties to god. Since he's ready to sacrifice Abraham's for his own sake(to fulfill god's command)and not for a higher ethical reason.

▫️"Faith is just this paradox, that the single individual as the particular is
higher than the universal, is justified before the latter, not as subordinate but
superior, though in such a way, be it noted, that it is the single individual
who, having been subordinate to the universal as the particular, now by
means of the universal becomes that individual who, as the particular,
stands in an absolute relation to the absolute. "

2. "𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐁𝐋𝐄𝐌𝐀 𝐈𝐈 : 𝐈𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐛𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐝𝐮𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐆𝐨𝐝? "

▫️"The ethical is the universal and as such, in turn, the divine. It is therefore
correct to say that all duty is ultimately duty to God; but if one cannot say
more one says in effect that really I have no duty to God. The duty becomes
duty to God by being referred to God, but I do not enter into relation with
God in the duty itself."

Kierkegaard argues that the ethical can be defined as universal and is associated with the divine and duty to God. Thus there are cases where one has to act against universal ethical principles to fulfill the duty to God. And then he talks about the Paradox of faith:

▫️"Then faith's paradox is this, that the single individual is higher than the
universal, that the single individual (to recall a theological distinction less in
vogue these days) determines his relation to the universal through his
relation to the absolute, not his relation to the absolute through his relation
to the universal"

Faith is the paradox which makes an individual become higher than the universal.Thus as the individual is higher than the universal and thus there is an absolute duty to God. Thus when an individual makes an absolute relationship with universal, it makes the ethics relative .

3. 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐁𝐋𝐄𝐌𝐀 𝐈𝐈𝐈 : 𝐖𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐡𝐚𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐒𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐡, 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐄𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐳𝐚𝐫, 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐈𝐬𝐚𝐚𝐜?

This was my fav part of the book. 

▫️"Abraham
makes two movements. He makes the infinite movement of resignation and
gives up his claim to Isaac, something no one can understand because it is a
private undertaking. But then he further makes, and at every moment is
making, the movement of faith.

Kierkegaard argues that Abraham doesn't need any approval from the universal, but instead from himself and God.  He argues that Abraham doesn't act like a tragic hero, who would seek advice from others, neither does would disclose himself like a true hero. Instead, he loses the sight of his  sufferings in his love for God and finds comfort in that faith.

▫️"But he who loves God has no
need of tears, needs no admiration, and forgets his suffering in love, indeed
forgets so completely that afterwards not the least hint of his pain would
remain were God himself not to remember it; for God sees in secret and
knows the distress and counts the tears and forgets nothing.
"

▫️"So either there is a paradox, that the single individual as the particular
stands in an absolute relation to the absolute, or Abraham is done for."

Thus Kierkegaard concludes the story with the paradox and leaves it up to the readers whether we accept it or not. 

𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘴:

▫️“But the highest passion in a human being is faith”

▫️“No one who lacks an infinite passion is ideal and
anyone who does have an infinite passion has long since saved his soul” 

▫️“nullum unquam exstitit magnum ingenium sine aliqua
dementia’ [‘there was never great genius without some madness"For
the dementia here is the genius's suffering in life, is the expression, if I may
say so, of divine jealousy, while genius itself is the mark of divine favour...
Thus the genius is disorientated from the start in relation to the universal
and put into relation to the paradox, whether, in despair over his own
limitation, which in his own eyes turns his omnipotence into impotence, he
seeks a demonic reassurance and therefore will not admit the limitation to
either God or man, or he reassures himself religiously in love for the divine”

▫️“How is madness related to genius? Can the one be constructed out of the
other? In what sense and to what extent is the genius master of his own
madness? For it goes without saying that to some degree he is indeed its
master, otherwise he would really be mad”

▫️“Now tears, certainly, are a terrible argumentum ad hominem,92
and there are no doubt those whom nothing else touches but who can still be
stirred by tears”

▫️“ A proud and
noble nature can endure everything, but one thing it cannot endure, it cannot
endure pity. Pity implies an indignity that for such a person can only be
inflicted from above, for in himself he can never become an object of pity.”

▫️“But faith is
not the aesthetic, or if it is, then faith has never existed just because it has
existed always.”

▫️“Deeper natures never forget themselves and never become something other
than they were.”