system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
What does Kierkegaard mean when he says “ the most painful state of being is remembering the future “?
gpt
This may be one of those instances where Kierkegaard is a little too poetic for his own good. What he's saying here makes more sense in light of his concept of Despair, one form of which he defines as, "in despair to will to be oneself." By this phrase he is describing the state of being in which one avoids coming into accord with themself by imagining that there is some change they need to go through before becoming properly "themself." When Kierkegaard says "remembering the future," he is likely referring to this fantasy about what one's future should have been or ought to be, and how these delusional thoughts cause perpetual suffering by alienating them from both themself and their creator.