Spheres in Our Own Lives

                 In Kierkegaard’s Truth is Subjectivity, he talks a lot about what is truth and what we try to believe is truth but really just an objective opinion of it. I would like to talk about two things that are mentioned in this piece. The first is on the bottom of page 17 and at the top of page 18 in italics; quite simply I don’t know what the fuck he is talking about, it was like trying to understand Yoda on drugs. Now that I have that off my chest moving on, on page 19 he says that the man praying to God with his eyes clothes is praying in truth, opposed to the one who prays with his eyes fixed on the idol which is not truth. This is because the one with his eyes clothes is practicing his faith that there is another power and the only reassurance they need is inside of them. If you can see it in your mind and truly believe it then it is real to you. The man who was praying while looking at the idol is not in truth to God because he is not relying on his faith that there is a higher being. He is fixated on the idol in front of him; the man is following his eyes, not his faith.    

                 I really enjoyed reading Robert Solomon’s From Rationalism to Existentialism because it was very similar to my own views about faith and life. This piece even helped me grasp a better understanding of what existentialism is about, not what it is because as we have already read you cannot give existentialism a simple definition. I think that existentialism has something to do with the way we live life, what truths we hold and what paths we follow. I think the three spheres that where discussed make up a large portion of the    attempt to understand existentialism.

                The first sphere I would like to discuss is the aesthetic sphere. This sphere is interesting because I  feel that I follow this life style quite often in my life. Though I am a Roman Catholic and I try to follow the Christian ethic I find that a lot of my actions are made in an aesthetic thought process. One example of this is teasing. The bible tells us to not insult others unless we ourselves have done nothing wrong for someone to insult us; this is in accordance with the message from Jesus Christ telling his followers that those who are without sin may cast the first stone. What I have just described is in accordance with the Christian ethic, but when I tease someone it is in the aesthete. For reasons being that I have no concern of the moral or religious principles surrounding my actions, my only regard is in the self satisfaction I receive from poking fun at another’s expense.

                The bible tells us that we should not have sex until we are married because it is a sacred bond between a single man and a single woman. The bible says this because it does not follow the aesthete. Solomon states that the aesthete can become bored and is dissatisfied by repetition. By not waiting until marriage to have sex a level of sexual frustration may arise after a couple has wed. The partners become restless and long to expand their horizons and not just stick with one person. Marriage implies this message “in sickness and in health, until death do us part” meaning that you are taking a vow that you will remain faithful to your spouse no matter what. However, by living life in the aesthete it makes this vow difficult to uphold. For this reason I understand why you can only live in one sphere, it is because the contradictions among the spheres.

                The next sphere is the ethical sphere. The ethical sphere is different than the aesthetic sphere because you are not living by your own principles to fulfill your own satisfaction but instead you are living equally among a community following the group’s principles.  I have also followed this sphere at one time or another throughout my life. What I believe it means is that we make decisions based on where it will put us in the future not how we will feel right after. To expand on this I would like to give two examples one of the aesthete and one of ethics. The ethical man may be given the opportunity to have sex with an incredibly attractive girl that he met at a bar, but when he brings her home he realizes that he does not have any protection let alone does not even know her. So instead the ethical man turns down the sex and gets to know her better instead. Now for the aesthetic man, he too meets an incredibly attractive girl at a bar and brings her home with the intention of having sex with her. Regardless of the fact that he has no protection and knows nothing about the girl he proceeds to have sex with her. When the ethical man moves on from this moment in his life he can look back on it and be happy that he did not do anything too bold that may have impacted the relationship that he is in now. But when the aesthete looks back on this brief moment of satisfaction he will be discomforted by his action, for if he had gotten to know the girl better or waited to use protection he would not be living the rest of his life with a painful STD.

                I believe that a person cannot live life by following all the spheres at one time because of the numerous contradictions. However I feel that a person can go from following one sphere one minute and another sphere the next. I think that to only be able to follow one sphere would be like a robotic action, as humans we are not programmed to follow only one set of values.