Choices! Something that we encounter on a daily basis. Has it ever occurred to you that some of your so-called “best decisions” turned out to be the worst. Here, I’ll let your brain crawl over that paradoxical nature of our choices.

Let me start by quoting Kierkegaard.

If you marry, you will regret it; if you do not marry, you will also regret it; if you marry or if you do not marry, you will regret both; whether you marry or you do not marry, you will regret both. Laugh at the world’s follies, you will regret it; weep over them, you will also regret it; if you laugh at the world’s follies or if you weep over them, you will regret both; whether you laugh at the world’s follies or you weep over them, you will regret both. Believe a girl, you will regret it; if you do not believe her, you will also regret it; if you believe a girl or you do not believe her, you will regret both; whether you believe a girl or you do not believe her, you will regret both. If you hang yourself, you will regret it; if you do not hang yourself, you will regret it; if you hang yourself or you do not hang yourself, you will regret both; whether you hang yourself or you do not hang yourself, you will regret both. This, gentlemen, is the sum of all practical wisdom.

Brooding over his insane thoughts is always a stressful task. You’ll have to leave your preoccupied conventional thoughts on one side in order to accept what he preaches to be his truth.

Through this post, I’ll try my best to show you how these thoughts of Kierkegaard overrides every other existing conclusions on the subject matter of choices.

Duality in thoughts!

When we were born, everything was new to our senses. As we grew, our senses learnt each elements surrounding us and their distinctions with the process of cognition. Since all experiences of first human consciousness must have influenced every others it preceded, we can agree on one of these possibilities:

  • for theists: First man on earth must have been taught that there exist a God and his enemy (evil). Thus penetrating the duality in thoughts.
  • for atheists: First-ever evolved human consciousness must have observed the natural phenomenons like “day and night” to “life and death”. Thus developed the duality in thoughts.

Now with that said, we can easily conclude that the humans tend to segregate things happened/happening to them as “Good” or “Bad”. Kierkegaard questioned the authenticity of such segregation.

Human Nature

Reinforcement learning is the main factor that made human existence possible even after some huge catastrophes happened over the centuries. We analyze where we made mistakes during previous attempts and try to make best outcome out of the next. But still, the whole life can be summarized as an episode of us getting better after every decisions, while still strolling in the abyss.

Since “best” and “worst” are mere perceptions, everything ever happened are the flow of cause and effect. This is purely transparent and can’t be defied by logic.

To Conclude

As the non-existence of duality is affirmed, any conclusion made hereafter will become true in one sense or the other. To verify the same, here’s my version of truth:

  • for pessimists: Every decisions you ever made will surely have a regretful outcome. Kierkegaard was one of such brilliant minds who believed and claimed this to be their truth.
  • for optimists: Every decision you ever made can have a beautiful outcome. This seems to be realistic when we rewrite what Kierkegaard quoted:

If you marry, you will relish it; if you do not marry, you will also relish it; if you marry or if you do not marry, you will relish both; whether you marry or you do not marry, you will relish both. Laugh at the world’s follies, you will relish it; weep over them, you will also relish it; if you laugh at the world’s follies or if you weep over them, you will relish both; whether you laugh at the world’s follies or you weep over them, you will relish both. Believe a girl, you will relish it; if you do not believe her, you will also relish it; if you believe a girl or you do not believe her, you will relish both; whether you believe a girl or you do not believe her, you will relish both. If you hang yourself, you will relish it; if you do not hang yourself, you will relish it; if you hang yourself or you do not hang yourself, you will relish both; whether you hang yourself or you do not hang yourself, you will relish both. This, gentlemen, is the sum of all practical wisdom.

Thanks for reading!