#56: Kierkegaard on Anxiety, Despair, Faith, and How to Live | Gordon Marino

Philosopher Gordon Marino says Kierkegaard's hardest lesson isn't really about God — it's about the lies we tell ourselves to avoid doing what we already know is right. In this episode, the longtime Director of the Hong Kierkegaard Library breaks down anxiety, despair, and faith for the modern crisis of meaning.

In this episode:

What Kierkegaard means by anxiety as "the dizziness of freedom"

Why despair often hides inside outward success, not visible failure

Kierkegaard on self-deception — the excuses we make to our own conscience

Faith as courage, not certainty: the leap beyond endless reflection

Kierkegaard's critique of "the present age" — and what it predicts about social media and modern distraction

Gordon Marino's own story: from a suicidal college athlete to one of the world's leading Kierkegaard scholars

Guest: Gordon Marino is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at St. Olaf College, where he served as Director of the Howard and Edna Hong Kierkegaard Library for 27 years. He is the author of The Existentialist's Survival Guide and Kierkegaard in the Present Age, and co-editor of The Cambridge Companion to Kierkegaard. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, The Atlantic, and the Wall Street Journal.