Pain is often something we want to avoid at all costs. We dull it, distract from it, scroll past it, or push it down. In a culture that idolises ease, convenience, and instant fixes, suffering is seen as a problem to eliminate—not a mystery to engage with.
But Søren Kierkegaard offers a radically different view.
The 19th-century Danish philosopher didn’t see suffering as meaningless. Instead, he saw it as a vital—often necessary—part of becoming one’s true self. And for Kierkegaard, that journey of becoming is inseparable from one’s relationship with God.
So what if pain wasn’t just something to escape?
What if it was a path to something deeper?
Pain as a Wake-Up Call
Kierkegaard understood that much of our day-to-day life is lived on the surface. We perform. We achieve. We distract. But suffering has a unique way of pulling us out of autopilot. It forces us to confront uncomfortable questions:
- Who am I, really?
- What matters when everything else is stripped away?
- Is there meaning in this pain?
In The Sickness Unto Death, Kierkegaard writes about despair as a spiritual sickness—one that stems from being out of touch with our true self and our Creator. Pain, then, isn’t just physical or emotional. It’s existential. And crucially, it can be transformative.
Suffering as a Spiritual Mirror
For Kierkegaard, suffering isn’t just a punishment or a tragic accident—it can be a mirror. A way of revealing where we’ve built our identity on shaky ground: on success, approval, image, or even our own strength.
When those things fall away, what’s left?
This is where Kierkegaard introduces the concept of inwardness—a turning inward, not into despair, but into truth. And the truest truth, for Kierkegaard, is this: we are not our own. We are created by and for God. And in that relationship, even our deepest wounds can take on meaning.
Pain That Leads to Purpose
This doesn’t romanticise suffering or suggest we should go looking for it. Kierkegaard doesn’t glorify pain. But he does insist that when we face it honestly—and bring it before God—it can lead to profound transformation.
In the face of suffering, we are invited to stop pretending. To let go of the masks. To be real with ourselves, and with God. And in doing so, we discover something unexpected: not just endurance, but identity. Not just survival, but selfhood.
Redemptive, Not Just Bearable
Modern culture often gives us two options: escape pain or numb it. But Kierkegaard gives us a third way: redeem it.
Through faith, pain becomes a place of encounter. A space where we discover our dependence on God and our capacity to live not just reactively, but with purpose and trust—even in darkness.
As The Sickness Unto Death reminds us, despair is not the end. It is the starting point of a new kind of life—one that is rooted not in shallow comfort, but in eternal meaning.
Final Thoughts: You Are Not Alone in the Struggle
If you’re walking through pain right now, Kierkegaard doesn’t offer quick fixes. But he does offer a companion for the road—a reminder that your suffering can shape you, not just shatter you. That you can find meaning in the ache, and even become more fully yourself because of it.
This is the redemptive power of suffering—not that it disappears, but that it can deepen your soul.
🔗 Explore more Kierkegaard-inspired insights on despair, selfhood, and spiritual healing at thesicknessuntodeath.com