Purity of Heart | Barriers to Willing One Thing: The Reward-Disease

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Kierkegaard has already listed worldly goals – pleasure, honor, riches, power – as barriers to willing the Good.  Getting caught up in the pursuit of these ambitions leads one off the authentic spiritual path.  

In Chapter 4 Kierkegaard begins to talk about more subtle traps that keep one from willing the Good in simplicity.  Here he addresses “the Reward-Disease”:

“In the first place a statement must be made which is easy to grasp: that the man who desires the Good for the sake of the reward does not will one thing, but is double-minded.  The Good is one thing; the reward is another that may be present and may be absent for the time being, or until the very last. When he, then, wills the Good for the sake of the reward, he does not will one thing but two.  It is now certain that he will not in this way make much progress along the pathway of the Good.”

“To will the Good for the sake of reward is double-mindedness.  To will one thing is, therefore, to will the Good without considering the reward.”

He goes on to give an example of a man who loves a girl for her money:

“If a man loves a girl for the sake of her money, who will call him a lover?  He does not love the girl, but the money. He is not a lover but a money-seeker.  But if a man said ‘It is the girl I love and she has money’ and he should ask us for our judgment, for we have no particular call to judge, then a good answer would be, ‘It is a difficult matter with this money.  Money may have a great influence, one can easily be deceived, and it is very difficult to know oneself.’ If he were really very intent on this matter he could even wish that the money were not there, just to test his love.  For a true lover would say, ‘The girl has only one fault, she has money.’”


What Kierkegaard critiques in this chapter, interestingly, is seeking external rewards in the world for doing the Good.  He seems to be ok with the experience of natural interior rewards (i.e. “feeling good” because one “does the Good”) and also with seeking one’s eternal reward (the Christian idea of Salvation or Heaven).

“This reward, that we are talking about here, is the world’s reward.  For the reward which God for eternity has joined with the Good has nothing bad in it.”

“Now, that the Good has its own reward is indeed forever certain.  There is nothing so certain. It is not even more certain that God exists, for that is one and the same thing.  But here on earth, Good is often temporarily rewarded by ingratitude, by lack of appreciation, by poverty, by contempt, by many sufferings, and now and then by death.  It is not this reward to which we refer when we say that the Good has its reward. Yet this is the reward that comes in the external world and that comes first of all. And it is precisely this reward which the man is anxious about, who wills the Good for the sake of the reward.”


Other contemplative authors have much to say about rejecting, or at least being indifferent to, even interior rewards (“spiritual consolations,” or good feelings) that come from prayer or doing the Good.  For instance, here is what St. John of the Cross has to say about those who seek God only for how it makes them feel: 

"...they still feed and clothe their natural selves with spiritual feelings and consolations instead of divesting and denying themselves of these for God's sake.  They think denial of self in worldly matters is sufficient without annihilation and purification in the spiritual domain. It happens that, when some of this solid, perfect food (the annihilation of all sweetness in God – the pure spiritual cross and nakedness of Christ's poverty of spirit) is offered them in dryness, distaste, and trial, they run from it as from death and wander about in search only of sweetness and delightful communications from God.  Such an attitude is not the hallmark of self-denial and nakedness of spirit but the indication of a spiritual sweet tooth."


In my own mind, when considering the natural interior goods that come from doing the Good (or, in St. John’s case, seeking God), the key is your intention.  If, while doing the Good, you’re constantly thinking about how you are going to feel or what kind of a person you are for doing it, if your attention is on the good feeling that comes, then in Kierkegaard’s terms you are double-minded.  In St. John’s terms, you are doing something because you have a sweet tooth; you just want to feel good.  The Good does have its own reward. It’s “built in.” But if one loses focus on the Good, longing instead for that built in reward, then one is not willing the Good in simplicity.

A Viktor Frankl quote comes to mind:

"...being human always points, and is directed, to something, or someone, other than oneself, be it a meaning to fulfill or another human being to encounter. The more one forgets himself, by giving himself to a cause to serve or another person to love, the more human he is and the more he actualizes himself. What is called self-actualization is not an attainable aim at all, for the simple reason that the more one would strive for it, the more he would miss it. In other words, self-actualization is possible only as a side-effect of self-transcendence."


The natural reward for doing the Good needs to come as a side-effect, not as an aim.  

Regardless of how one breaks down exterior or interior, present or future, rewards, willing the Good in simplicity means willing the Good without considering the reward.

Jordan B. Peterson's Biblical Lectures

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Evolutionary history, human psychology, biblical texts, and God. Whatever you think of the array of views Jordan B. Peterson holds on social issues, his lectures on the psychology of biblical stories are worth listening to. The introductory lecture, Introduction to the Idea of God, was just re-released on his podcast.


Along these same lines (the attempt at reconciling evolutionary history (“Big History”) with religion and ideas of God broadly) is John Haught’s The New Cosmic Story.

Purity of Heart | Barriers to Willing One Thing: Variety and Great Moments Are Not One Thing

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In Chapter 3 Kierkegaard provides the scriptural verse which forms the basis of the work, clarifies that to will one thing is to will the Good, and begins his list of Barriers to Willing One Thing.

In regards to the first element of the chapter, he begins with the following:

“So let us, then, upon the occasion of a time of Confession speak about this sentence: Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing as we base our meditation on the Apostle James’ words in his Epistle, Chapter 4, verse 8:“‘Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you.  Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts ye double-minded.’  For only the pure in heart can see God, and therefore, draw nigh to Him; and only by God’s drawing nigh to them can they maintain this purity.”  

And adds:

“Let us speak of this, but let us first put out of our minds the occasion of the office of Confession in order to come to an agreement on an understanding of this verse, and on what the apostolic word of admonition ‘purify your hearts ye double-minded’ is condemning, namely, double-mindedness.”

James 4:8 is the springboard for the rest of the work and what James 4:8 condemns is double-mindedness – what Kierkegaard will essentially interpret as ulterior motives to willing the Good in simplicity.  These ulterior motives are what he will elaborate on and call Barriers to Willing One Thing in subsequent chapters.

After briefly expounding on James 4:8, Kierkegaard goes on to clarify that willing one thing is to will the Good.

“The person who wills one thing that is not the Good, he does not truly will one thing.”

“...for the Good is one thing.”

“...it is certain that a man in truth wills one thing, then he wills the Good…”

“Only the Good is one thing in its essence and the same in each of its expressions.”

“In truth to will one thing, then, can only mean to will the Good, because every other object is not a unity.”


Although in the Introduction Kierkegaard calls God “the one thing,” for the remainder of the work he will call “the one thing” the Good.  For Kierkegaard only the Good is One Thing.  All else is a striving after multiplicity. For example, when speaking of the goal of pleasure, he says:

“In the time of pleasure see how he longed for one gratification after another.  Variety was his watchword. Is variety, then, to will one thing that shall ever remain the same?  On the contrary, it is to will one thing that must never be the same. It is to will a multitude of things.  And a person who wills in this fashion is not only double-minded but is at odds with himself. For such a man wills first one thing and then immediately wills the opposite, because the oneness of pleasure is a snare and a delusion.”

I think the equation of the Good being the only goal that is “one thing” is somewhat confusing.  Could we not as easily say that the goal of Power is “one thing”? Or the goal of Fame? Or Wealth?  And because “the Good” looks different in each concrete situation, could it not just as easily be spoken of as a multiplicity?  For this reason, I think the work would have been more clearly titled Purity of Heart is to Will Only The Good (but that doesn’t have quite the same ring to it…).  Regardless, for Kierkegaard the Good, and only the Good, is One Thing.

Finally, Kierkegaard begins his Barriers to Willing One Thing. 

In this chapter, Kierkegaard essentially names all varieties of worldly ambition and labels them as barriers to willing the Good.

“For pleasure and honor and riches and power and all that this world has to offer only appear to be one thing.”

Nothing in the world is the proper aim of attainment.  These goals will all prove themselves to be a multiplicity – endlessly changing and ultimately empty. 

At the end of the chapter, Kierkegaard talks about more noble goals:

“Love, from time to time, has in this way helped a man along the right path.  Faithfully he only willed one thing, this love. For it, he would live and die.  For it, he would sacrifice all and in it alone he would have his eternal reward. Yet the act of being in love is still not in the deepest sense the Good.  But it may possibly become for him a helpful educator, who will finally lead him by the possession of his beloved one or perhaps by her loss, in truth to will one thing and to will the Good.  In this fashion a man is educated by many means; and true love is also an education towards the Good.”

“Perhaps there was a man whose enthusiasm reached out toward a definite cause.  In his enthusiasm he desired only one thing. He would live and die for that cause.  He would sacrifice all for that in which alone he would have his happiness, for love and enthusiasm are not satisfied with a divided heart.  Yet his endeavor was perhaps still not in the deepest sense the Good. Thus enthusiasm became for him a teacher, whom he outgrew, but to home also he owed much.”

Even the more noble ends of love or a giving oneself for a good cause are ultimately only teachers which – because they are myopic and limited in scope – one must outgrow to will the Good in simplicity.  

Purity of Heart | Remorse, Repentance, Confession: Eternity’s Emissaries to Man

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In the second chapter of this work, Kierkegaard gets very serious.  There is certainly a heavy tone throughout, but it is felt most strongly in this section.

For Kierkegaard it is not an option to will one thing.  Not something we are at liberty to choose if it happens to suit us.  For Kierkegaard, it is one’s duty to will one thing.  Not to do so is a moral failure before God.  Not to do so is good old fashioned sin.

Within the world’s contemplative traditions there are various ways to look at what needs to be overcome in the process of spiritual transformation.  One common, probably the most common, lens is that of personal “attachment/craving” – we crave and are attached to things in the external world (or even internal realities, often concepts we have about ourselves), things that we get our life from but which are ultimately temporary, without substance, illusory, impermanent.  Breaking those attachments (in some traditions, in order to be attached ultimately to God) leads to liberation – part of which includes the release of the “selfless self,” one’s “Buddha Nature,” etc.  The language of attachment and craving is characteristically Buddhist, but also finds expression in the Christian contemplative tradition, for instance in the writings of St. John of the Cross.  

Another lens to look at what needs to be overcome is the lens of sin.  It is our sin, our moral failure, that stands in the way of liberation.  We must repent and turn from that sin in order to find God. One thinks of Dante climbing the Mountain of Purgatory in The Divine Comedy, passing those who are being purified of the sins they have committed in life.  Kierkegaard is first and foremost a Christian, and the themes of sin, guilt, repentance, and forgiveness are never far away.  

Interpreting the path through the lens of sin and repentance lends to a feeling of weight, of sobering, a sense of seriousness.  It adds a moral dimension to the contemplative quest. We are morally obligated to turn away from our biased self-will towards the Good.  Feel the difference, for instance, between saying “repent of your vanity” vs. “lose your attachment to your vanity.”

In Chapter 2, Kierkegaard speaks mainly of two guides – remorse and repentance – which should bring us back to the Good.  If we are honest with ourselves, if we unflinchingly look at our lives, remorse should lead to a feeling of guilt, in turn leading to repentance and a turning back to the Good.  

“There is, then, something which should at all times be done.  There is something which in no temporal sense shall have its time.  Alas, and when this is not done, when it is omitted, or when just the opposite is done, then once again, there is something (or more correctly it is the same thing, that reappears, changed, but not changed in its essence) which should at all times be done.  There is something which in no temporal sense shall have its time. There must be repentance and remorse. 

One dare not say of repentance and remorse that it had its time; that there is a time to be carefree and a time to be prostrated in repentance.  Such talk would be: to the anxious urgency of repentance – unpardonably slow; to the grieving after God – sacrilege; to what should be done this very day, in this instant, in this moment of danger – senseless delay.  For there is indeed danger. There is a danger that is called delusion. It is unable to check itself. It goes on and on: then it is called perdition. But there is a concerned guide, a knowing one, who attracts the attention of the wanderer, who calls out to him that he should take care.  That guide is remorse. He is not so quick of foot as the indulgent imagination, which is the servant of desire. He is not so strongly built as the victorious intention. He comes on slowly afterwards. He grieves. But he is a sincere and faithful friend. If that guide’s voice is never heard, then it is just because one is wandering along the way of perdition.  For when the sick man who is wasting away from consumption believes himself to be in the best of health, his disease is at the most terrible point. If there were someone who early in life steeled his mind against all remorse and who actually carried it out, nevertheless remorse would come again if he were willing to repent even of this decision. So wonderful a power is remorse, so sincere is its friendship that to escape it entirely is the most terrible thing of all.”


There is nothing “contemplative” here outside of a yearning for a self (sometimes called the selfless-self, Buddha nature, Atman/Brahman, True Self, the Holy Spirit/Christ working within) that is committed only to the Good.  This is good old fashioned Christian preaching.  

The contemplative practices, if one is so inclined, can be seen as “means of grace” for unlocking this self.  This is something Kierkegaard doesn’t touch on, so far as I see, in this work.  

Purity of Heart | Introduction: Man and the Eternal

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In the Introduction to his work, Kierkegaard, through an opening prayer, anticipates themes that will return:

“Father in Heaven! What is a man without Thee! What is all that he knows, vast accumulation though it be, but a chipped fragment if he does not know Thee! What is all his striving, could it even encompass a world, but a half-finished work if he does not know Thee: Thee the One, who art one thing and who art all! So may Thou give to the intellect, wisdom to comprehend that one thing; to the heart, sincerity to receive this understanding; to the will, purity that wills only one thing. In prosperity may Thou grant perseverance to will one thing; amid distractions, collectedness to will one thing; in suffering, patience to will one thing. Oh, Thou that giveth both the beginning and the completion, may Thou early, at the dawn of day, give to the young man the resolution to will one thing. As the day wanes, may Thou give to the old man a renewed remembrance of his first resolution, that the first may be like the last, the last like the first, in possession of a life that has willed only one thing. Alas, but this has indeed not come to pass. Something has come in between. The separation of sin lies in between. Each day, and day after day something is being placed in between: delay, blockage, interruption, delusion, corruption. So in this time of repentance may Thou give the courage once again to will one thing. True, it is an interruption of our ordinary tasks; we do lay down our work as though it were a day of rest, when the penitent (and it is only in a time of repentance that the heavy-laden worker may be quiet in the confession of sin) is alone before Thee in self-accusation. This is indeed an interruption. But it is an interruption that searches back into its very beginnings that it might bind up anew that which sin has separated, that in its grief it might atone for lost time, that in its anxiety it might bring to completion that which lies before it. Oh, Thou that givest both the beginning and the completion, give Thou victory in the day of need so that what neither a man’s burning wish nor his determined resolution may attain to, may be granted unto him in the sorrowing of repentance: to will only one thing.”


For Kierkegaard, a well lived life is a life in which one has “willed one thing.”  

“As the day wanes, may Thou give to the old man a renewed remembrance of his first resolution, that the first may be like the last, the last like the first, in possession of a life that has willed only one thing.”


But something lies in the way.

“Alas, but this has indeed not come to pass.  Something has come in between. The separation of sin lies in between.  Each day, and day after day something is being placed in between: delay, blockage, interruption, delusion, corruption.”


Anything that lies in between the soul and God, or the soul and willing one thing, is, for Kierkegaard, sin.  

In this introductory prayer, a basic outline of the entire work is present.  The soul’s goal is to will one thing. Sin lies in the way. The correct response is repentance and a turning back to the one thing.  The rest of the book will essentially elaborate on these themes.

In the remainder of the Introduction, Kierkegaard explores things in life which have their time.

“...the talk about the natural changes of human life over the years, together with what externally happened there, is not in essence any different from talking of plant or of animal life.  The animal also changes with the years. When it is older it has other desires than it had at an earlier age. At certain times it, too, has its happiness in life, and at other times it must endure hardship.  Yes, when late autumn comes, even the flower can speak the wisdom of the years and say with truthfulness, ‘All has its time, there is a time to be born and a time to die; there is a time to jest lightheartedly in the spring breeze, and a time to break under the autumn storm; there is a time to burst forth into blossom, beside the running water, beloved by the stream, an a time to wither and be forgotten; a time to be sought out for one’s beauty, and a time to be unnoticed in one’s wretchedness; there is a time to be nursed with care, and a time to be cast out with contempt; there is a time to delight in the warmth of the morning sun and a time to perish in the night’s cold.  All has its time.’”


There is a time to dance with delight, and a time to weep with sorrow.  A time to work, a time to rest. A time to prosper, and a time to wilt. But there is something that always has its time – the Eternal – and something that ought always be done – the Good.

Purity of Heart Series

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I am beginning a short series on Soren Kierkegaard’s Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing. Kierkegaard is a daunting author to tackle, and I will be keeping things pretty broad in this series. One gets the feeling that you could read even his short works over and over again, with new ideas presenting themselves each time. Kierkegaard, in his preface, seems to think similarly. Of this work he says:

“It is in search of that solitary ‘individual,’ to whom it wholly abandons itself, by whom it wishes to be received as if it has arisen within his own heart; that solitary ‘individual’ whom with joy and gratitude I call my reader; that solitary ‘individual’ who reads willingly and slowly, who reads over and over again, and who reads aloud – for his own sake.”

I feel like you sometimes have to read Kierkegaard “willingly and slowly,” “over and over again” just to get what he’s trying to say! Regardless of the details of this work, I find the broad idea of having the goal of achieving Purity of Heart – to relativize self-concern and simply will “the Good” (or perhaps “God’s Will”) – to be core to many contemplative traditions and authors. The contemplative journey can be summarized in many ways – achieving Union with God, losing all attachments, realizing the Self, etc. As I’ve said before, I think a good way to synthesize some of these ideas is by summarizing the contemplative journey as “the path from self to no-self.” In this case, the path is from willing simply your own good, to willing the Universal Good. If Purity of Heart isn’t the goal of the contemplative quest, it’s at least a byproduct of the journey.

Soren Kierkegaard was a 19th Century Danish philosopher who sought to renew authentic Christian faith within his contemporary “Christendom.” Kierkegaard was a prolific author whose well-known works include Fear and Trembling, The Sickness Unto Death, and Either/Or as well as many Christian devotional writings. He is often thought of as the father of existentialism.

They Never Rule Over Him

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“‘This Brahmin,’ he said to a friend, ‘is no proper merchant and will never be one, there is never any passion in his soul when he conducts our business. But he has that mysterious quality of those people to whom success comes all by itself, whether this may be a good star of his birth, magic, or something he has learned among Samanas. He always seems to be merely playing at the business affairs, they never fully become a part of him – they never rule over him, he is never afraid of failure, he is never upset by a loss.’

The friend advised the merchant: ‘Give him from the business he conducts for you a third of the profits, but let him also be liable for the same amount of the losses, when there is a loss. Then, he’ll become more zealous.’

Kamaswami followed the advice. But Siddhartha cared little about this. When he made a profit, he accepted it with equanimity; when he made losses, he laughed and said: ‘Well, look at this, so this one turned out badly!’”

– Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness

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“C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity makes a brilliant observation about gospel-humility at the very end of his chapter on pride. If we were to meet a truly humble person, Lewis says, we would never come away from meeting them thinking they were humble. They would not be always telling us they were a nobody (because a person who keeps saying they are a nobody is actually a self-obsessed person). The thing we would remember from meeting a truly gospel-humble person is how much they seemed to be totally interested in us. Because the essence of gospel-humility is not thinking more of myself or thinking less of myself, it is thinking of myself less. 

Gospel-humility is not needing to think about myself. Not needing to connect things with myself. It is an end to thoughts such as, ‘I’m in this room with these people, does that make me look good? Do I want to be here?’ True gospel-humility means I stop connecting every experience, every conversation, with myself. In fact, I stop thinking about myself. The freedom of self-forgetfulness. The blessed rest that only self-forgetfulness brings. 

True gospel-humility means an ego that is not puffed up but filled up. This is totally unique. Are we talking about high self-esteem? No. So is it low self-esteem? Certainly not. It is not about self-esteem. Paul simply refuses to play that game. He says ‘I don’t care about your opinion but, I don’t care that much about my opinion’ – and that is the secret. A truly gospel-humble person is not a self-hating person or a self-loving person, but a gospel-humble person. The truly gospel-humble person is a self-forgetful person whose ego is just like his or her toes. It just works. It does not draw attention to itself. The toes just work; the ego just works. Neither draws attention to itself.

Here is one little test. The self-forgetful person would never be hurt particularly badly by criticism. It would not devastate them, it would not keep them up late, it would not bother them. Why? Because a person who is devastated by criticism is putting too much value on what other people think, on other people’s opinions. The world tells the person who is thin-skinned and devastated by criticism to deal with it by saying, ‘Who cares what they think? I know what I think. Who cares what the rabble thinks? It doesn’t bother me.’ People are either devastated by criticism – or they are not devastated by criticism because they do not listen to it. They will not listen to it or learn from it because they do not care about it. They know who they are and what they think. In other words, our only solution to low self-esteem is pride. But that is no solution. Both low self-esteem and pride are horrible nuisances to our own future and to everyone around us.”

– Timothy Keller, The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness

The Man Who Was Thursday, Job, and The Problem of Evil

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One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”

Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”

Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”

“Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

– Job 1:6-11

"I see everything," he cried, "everything that there is. Why does each thing on the earth war against each other thing? Why does each small thing in the world have to fight against the world itself? Why does a fly have to fight the whole universe? Why does a dandelion have to fight the whole universe? For the same reason that I had to be alone in the dreadful Council of the Days. So that each thing that obeys law may have the glory and isolation of the anarchist. So that each man fighting for order may be as brave and good a man as the dynamiter. So that the real lie of Satan may be flung back in the face of this blasphemer, so that by tears and torture we may earn the right to say to this man, 'You lie!' No agonies can be too great to buy the right to say to this accuser, 'We also have suffered.' It is not true that we have never been broken. We have been broken upon the wheel. It is not true that we have never descended from these thrones. We have descended into hell. We were complaining of unforgettable miseries even at the very moment when this man entered insolently to accuse us of happiness. I repel the slander; we have not been happy. I can answer for every one of the great guards of Law whom he has accused.”

– G.K. Chesterton, The Man Who Was Thursday

Jesus as Apocalyptic Prophet in the Gospel of Matthew

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As a follow-up to the Historical Jesus Series, I just released Jesus as Apocalyptic Prophet in the Gospel of Matthew. I realize this is a controversial subject matter, but it is one that has profound implications for the life of faith. In my opinion, this topic has been almost completely ignored by the modern church. Whether one agrees with the conclusions presented in this essay or not, “Jesus as Apocalyptic Prophet” is a view that any serious student of the New Testament will at least need to engage. Personally, although this subject matter was distressing to me when I first encountered it, I believe it ultimately led to a broader and more life-giving understanding of religion and spirituality. More information about this tract can be found on the My Books page.

Luminous Dusk | Soldiers

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“My late father fought in the Second World War as an enlisted man. He told me that he discovered what he was up to only after he returned home and read a few books. In the midst of battle, ignorance and confusion governed. Knowledge consisted of concrete imperatives: go left, retreat, hold your fire, cross the bridge, walk the road, take the town. How his deeds furthered some master plan he knew not: there was for him no big picture. My father could not see the forest because he was a tree. He just followed orders and tried to stay alive. Those of us who are religious are like my father. We know that we are in a war but not how it goes or how it will eventuate; and few of us are generals. Our lot is rather to be good soldiers – to live according to the imperatives upon us and to save our souls.”


– Dale Allison, The Luminous Dusk

This quote very much reminds me of Viktor Frankl’s thought. We don’t know the ultimate meaning of life. In the absence of that knowledge we have to ask ourself what our meaning is. What is life calling us to?

Effects and Interpretation


I am more certain than ever that the practice of Centering Prayer, over the long run, leads to positive changes in my life. I am less certain than ever how to interpret what is actually happening during Centering Prayer.