Purity of heart is to will one thing – Kierkegaard Seminar Series – Therapeutic work in intimate relationships – Seminar 2: Repentance as love’s excellence: The aesthetics and ethics of ‘making good’ – Devang Vaidya – 9th of May 2024 @ 5 pm – 7 pm UK time – Zoom

Purity of heart is to will one thing

Kierkegaard Seminar Series

Therapeutic work in intimate relationships

Devang Vaidya

The purity of heart is to will one thing, writes Kierkegaard in one of his staggeringly beautiful upbuilding discourses. This one thing to will is simply, the good. But what is good? Since antiquity, thinkers have debated on the nature of good. This has lead to unrestrained commitment to all kinds of belief systems – philosophical concepts, moral theories, religious doctrines, societal norms, psychological formulas, and scientific research. Many of us in the present age settle on a confusion of such ideas that are quite often too abstract to put into practice consistently, especially when it comes to relating to our intimate others.

For this series of seminars I will propose that it is not necessary to define the concept of good. Rather we can approach it is acts – or as Kierkegaard calls them ‘works of love’. Good then means good acts. Kierkegaard’s interest in the subject of the good is religious and rooted in the Biblical commandment: ‘love thy neighbour as thy self’. How are we to mediate between the dialectical paradox of self-love and Other-love? What does neighbour mean in the context of our intimate relations? Who is a neighbour? If we are to love our neighbours as ourselves, does this not circle back to our loving ourselves as though we are our own neighbours?

Most of all, how should we contend with the tragic dimension of existence that continually shows that we often do not do, cannot do, or simply will not do, what we ought to do. Willing the good, loving oneself and others: this is a tall order and most of us humans will face spectacular defeats along the way of striving for this unattainable ideal. And yet, I will argue, there is hope, radical hope, what Kierkegaard refers to as the ‘expectancy of faith’, yes, even for us moderns who have signed up to the idea that God is dead.

In a series of short seminars I will explore some of these themes based on actual examples from real life case-studies.

Seminar 2: Repentance as love’s excellence: The aesthetics and ethics of ‘making good’

At a recent Kierkegaard workshop on one of his upbuilding discourse titled “The purity of heart is to will one thing”, which means to will the good, one participant quipped: “No shit, Sherlock! Now tell us, what the hell do you mean by good?”

In today’s seminar I will propose a Kierkegaardian answer. Good is not some philosophical concept of good. It is simply underpinning oneself with the resolute will to make good. The will to make good, I will argue, is rooted in the human capacity for remorse. Remorse is based in affect. Remorse is also relational. Responding to remorse in us runs parallel to responding with remorse to others. Remorse can lead to a transformed will that can propel us to acts of repentance, acts of making good, as works of proper self-love and Other-love.

I will conclude on an ironic note that ultimately none of us are really up to this task to perfection since we humans often do not do, will not do, or even cannot do, what we ought to do. We might however maintain the ‘humble courage’ to remain striving without deceiving ourselves into believing in our own absolute power of ethical sovereignty.

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A Certificate of Attendance will be emailed to participants.

If you think you have a new and interesting topic to share with us and would like to be our next speaker please, don’t hesitate to contact our events organiser on events@existentialanalysis.org.uk.