🎯 Understanding = Doing

‘Work tirelessly. If, as you are going to sleep at night, you remember: “I did not do what I ought to have done,” arise at once and do it. If you are surrounded by spiteful and callous people who do not want to listen to you, fall down before them and ask their forgiveness, for in truth the guilt is yours, too, that they do not want to listen to you. And if you cannot speak with the embittered, serve them silently and in humility, never losing hope. And if everyone abandons you and drives you out by force, then, when you are left alone, fall down on the earth and kiss it and water it with your tears, and the earth will bring forth fruit from your tears, even though no one has seen or heard you in your solitude.’

— Brothers Karamazov, Dostoyevsky

“In the world of actuality, however, where the individual person is involved, there is this tiny little transition from having understood to doing; it is not always quick, cito citissime [very quick], it is not (if I, lacking philosophical language, may speak German) geschwind wie der Wind [fast as the wind]. [XI 205] Quite the opposite, this is the beginning of a very long-winded story. In the life of the spirit there is no standing still [Stilstand] (really no state [Tilstand], either; everything is actuation); therefore, if a person does not do what is right at the very second he knows it—then, first of all, knowing simmers down. Next comes the question of how willing appraises what is known. Willing is dialectical and has under it the entire lower nature of man. If willing does not agree with what is known, then it does not necessarily follow that willing goes ahead and does the opposite of what knowing understood (presumably such strong opposites are rare); rather, willing allows some time to elapse, an interim called: “We shall look at it tomorrow.” During all this, knowing becomes more and more obscure, and the lower nature gains the upper hand more and more; alas, for the good must be done immediately, as soon as it is known (and that is why in pure ideality the transition from thinking to being is so easy, for there everything is at once), but the lower nature’s power lies in stretching things out. Gradually, willing’s objection to this development lessens; it almost appears to be in collusion. And when knowing has become duly obscured, knowing and willing can better understand each other; eventually they agree completely, for now knowing has come over to the side of willing and admits that what it wants is absolutely right. And this is how perhaps the great majority of men live: they work gradually at eclipsing their ethical and ethical-religious comprehension, which would lead them out into decisions and conclusions that their lower nature does not much care for, but they expand their esthetic and metaphysical comprehension, which ethically is a diversion.”

— The Sickness Unto Death, Kierkegaard

Whether we accept it or not, we either choose to act, or choose not to act. There is no such thing as not choosing. We are always making a choice. This means that procrastination is not just the delaying of the choice to work, but is rather the result of a consistent choice not to act.

How often do you delay a decision to do what is right, delaying at first to the next hour, then to the next day, the next month, until nothing ends up being done? Surely the problem lies in truly understanding the good that is wanting to be accomplished. For if you really understood how good is the Good, any alternative will be rejected and there would also be no delay tolerated in seeking to accomplish the Good. Any delay to doing good is nothing but the immediate choice to do evil! For if we are not doing the good, then are we not doing evil?

You have often lauded yourself with talk about ‘fighting your lower nature’, and ‘rejecting pleasure for the good’, but really the fight against evil, if the Good is properly understood and believed, would never be reflected upon with such feminine woe. ‘Oh! If doing the right thing were not so hard!’ These expressions reflect a lack of willingness to know and will for the Good. When a warrior goes to battle, he does not think to himself, ‘I’m quite tired, oh! I’m going to risk my own life for naught! And I might die! Why can’t the others do it and not me?’ No! Not in the slightest! He rather, being emblazoned with courage, zeal, confidence, and faith will not tolerate the prevailing of evil. The warrior knows that to fight against evil is the noble cause, and that to defend the good is the greatest honour.

And this is precisely the problem. You have tolerated evil to the point where you no longer wish to fight against it, and when you do, you fight it lazily and with no hope of victory.

The greatest evil then to fight against is the refusal to will the good, and to seek the good. And the good can only searched for in humility. This is why I placed the quote by Dostoyevsky first, because he teaches us that most of the evil that we see lies within us, and that to serve the ones who do not listen to us, or do not love us, or even hate us, will bring forth fruit that will allow us to understand the good. When Dostoyevsky speaks of kissing the ground and watering it with tears, he does not suggest weakness, but rather sincere self-reflection. If you could see how hypocritical you are, and if you would admit to yourself that you are more a sinner than those you hate and criticise, and if you truly understood and saw this you would know to do nothing better than to fall into tears! Tears of repentance, and tears of gratitude! Becuase God has opened your eyes for you to see how broken you are; God has guided you to perfection!

When you find yourself hesitating towards accomplishing good, know sincerly and believe that you have not understood how important it is, because you would never otherwise hesitate. Seek to understand why doing evil is wretched, and search tirelessly for understanding, so that you are wholly against doing it. Wish that you never hesitated in rejecting evil, and wish that the thought of doing it never entered your mind! Wish tirelessly for these things!