“Suffice it to say that [Kierkegaard] believed that inner conflict and guilt feeling are always a concommitant of creativity… These are not to be termed neurotic, nor do they result in neurotic anxiety so long as the individual can confront his creative crises and resolve them for further expansion of the self. For example, every creative possibility in individual development involves some killing of the past, some breaking of past forms or patterns; to move ahead raises the unavoidable spectre of isolation from one’s fellows and one’s previous patterns; one is tempted to remain in the familiar and the safe, not to venture. But one achieves selfhood only by moving ahead, despite conflict, guilt, isolation, and anxiety. If one does not move ahead, the result is ultimately neurotic anxiety. For Kierkegaard, neurotic anxiety is the result of retrenchment, which occurs because the person is afraid of freedom.”
