The story is also Kierkegaard's explanation of why he called off his engagement to his long time love, Regine Olsen. It is said that upon figuring out what he truly wanted in life, which was to become a Christian, Kierkegaard realized that it was not possible to become one with God while trying to maintain a marriage. So, he broke off his engagement to Miss Olsen in order to achieve his priority of becoming a Christian. "According to Kierkegaard there are three stages of human existence. The most immature being the aesthetic stage." (Jansen 1) During this stage humans are dominated by their desires, be them physical, emotional or intellectual. The goal of these people is simply to gain pleasure however satisfaction is non-existent. This is when an existentialist would say that the person is living inauthentically, living without coming to terms with one's existence. Stage two shows people beginning to be overcome by a sense of right and wrong. Humans are now facing ethical situations. "Choices are often ambiguous, though, and sometimes people must choose between equally evil options, so those in the ethical stage remain as unfulfilled as those in the aesthetic stage." (Jansen 1) By the end of this stage the ethical person becomes a person of morality and morality becomes their chief principle. The third and final stage of Kierkegaard's stages of faith is the religious stage, which is primarily what "Fear and Trembling" deals with. It is in this stage that the move to an authentic level of being is made. These people however can be put into two groups. Group 1, are those bound by guilt, while Group 2 is made up of those who live in total response to God. In Kierkegaard's novel, "Fear and Trembling", the story of Abraham and Isaac is used to illustrate not only the themes of alienation and the inauthentic vs. the authentic, but in some ways it tells the story of Kierkegaard's life. Throughout the course of the text Abraham makes the move from stage to stage to stage encountering each of the two afore mentioned themes.