Freedom is also finitized by this viewpoint since it is misconstrued as free will. Our will is capable of deciding, but it is not free , that is, we cannot weigh two diametrically opposed alternatives without passion or concern for the outcome. The most terrible punishment for sin is the new sin. This does not mean that the hardened, confident sinner will understand it this way. This entry from the journal, as it pertains to The Concept of Anxiety , underscores the psychological aspect of the dogmatic issue of hereditary sin.
Sinfulness brings about a loss of freedom.
The anxiety of freedom becomes translated into the anxiety over sin. This anxiety increases as the sinful individual contemplates his entrapment in sinfulness. The cycle of sin is a sort of hell for the individual sinner. In The Sickness Unto Death Kierkegaard returns to the psychological aspects of sin and anxiety in which he addresses despair. Despair is anxiety in the face of the eternal.