Soren Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher, wrote more than a century ago about “the sickness that is not until death.” He did so in an essay about despair, loss, and fear. Notwithstanding the gloomy topic, Kierkegaard was an optimist. The sickness about which he wrote, after all, is “not until death.” The sickness until death, he wrote, would be a deeper sickness—the one that comes from the separation of one’s soul from the spiritual core that is deepest part of one’s being. Welcome to the world of Connecticut higher education, college and university-style, circa 2017.
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