I read somewhere that his experience with the resistance led to his concept of existentialism, in that one could decide today to join; that we may make life decisions at any moment. Is this inaccurate understanding?
The essay evolves well to show us how to have meaning in life. The conclusions and recommendations are good in that we can only do our part with courage and faith. However, the universe is not irrational; yes, it may be incomprehensible to our limited mind. It has order. The absurdity is in the societies created by human beings. The absurdity comes when thinking that this material reality is all that exists and forgetting the impact of energetic forces that continue and evolve long after we die.
The universe and life may not have "meaning" but you can't deny that then both have "method". The method could be the DNA code in case of life or the equation for gravity which works on any scale and all objects in the universe. Maybe we are just trying to assemble a watch from it's parts, having never seen a watch before. That's a way of making me personally comfortable about it.
"The monotony of our lives and the abundance of short-term distractions within it may provide us with a nice ‘autopilot’ experience the vast majority of the time, but once in a while, we get hit with the question of ‘why’."
Thanks for this and the video. I find periodically that I am drawn to existentialism as a bulwark against the nihilism and pessimism of life and your essay encapsulates its essence well for me in such a short time - seems to jump out from the structuring therein.
Interesting, Camus' fascination with the absurd. I only know of him obliquely but he does have a bit of a rep for being a pessimist, or at least that's how I've always heard spoken of him (whether true or not, I would have to familiarize myself with his work).
The story of Sisyphus is a good one as it does illustrate the futility of toil but like the essay points to, and I would agree, is that we make meaningful whatever endeavor we choose. Though, yes, at the end of the day, the universe will be for millions and billions of years, and we are just a blip on the timeline. The personal meaning we give to things makes life worth living, despite the absurdity that seems to loom largely as the backdrop.
Thanks for the essay. I look forward to more philosophical takes and breakdowns. Cheers!
What if the satisfaction and innocent pleasure of watching the spectacle of the ock tumbling down the mountain is the reason for hauling it up in the first place? One could say this is the creative process -- hauling a work up to completion for the joy and glory of sending it off into the world on its tumble. And then doing it all over again with a new piece of work. What if this is why people who are engaged in work they love are the ones most likely to be happy, repeating their work over and over again in new variations, finding new and more creative ways to haul the rock up, and new pleasures in the new ways it tumbles down?
Hi, by the way. Happy to have found your substack.
Huge fan of Camus and his fellow absurdists. So much so that I built a company called Absurd Machine and my own religion called the Church of the Absurd (the logo is a boulder with wings, ha ha). When I was going through my own personal dark night of the soul and slipping towards the brink of nihilism, I took solace in the absurdist notion of creating my own meaning.
Recently, I have gone down the path of Colin wilson's New Existentialism which I find a bit more hopeful and spiritual than the classic existentialists. I believe that there may in fact be an intrinsic meaning to this life and that the very act of "giving life meaning" may be an essential aspect of emergent reality.
Thanks for sharing Meno! I find myself thinking more about philosophy and existentialism in life more these days, this was really interesting to read through. Thinking about the absurd always seems to come more immediately after I finally think I have my ducks in a row. Things all seems to fall into place, just before I tend to have some altered mentality that actually everything is different than I thought and need to start over.
These are very useful essays, thank you. Have you written on any more contemporary philosophers, please? For example, Donna Haraway, Katherine Hayles, Erin Manning, Rosi Braidotti and Francesca Ferrando.
Are we sure it was an eternal punishment? Would not the rock, gradually erode, ceasing to be so large and heavy, that over some unknown period of time, it would reduce itself to something he could put in a pocket and walk off the mountain with, a memento of his punishment, as well as that nothing is eternal?
Have found that looking for meaning outside one's self, if the self even exists, is a meaningless journey or quest. Any order in life, that has meaning, must to some degree, harmonize with the individual, if there is to be freedom for the individual. So, YES, agree with Camus, that life is an extraordinary adventure in our Universe, and well worth traveling the path, even if one ends up dead.
Then again, since the Universe began as a singularity, before the initial Big Bang, we are all part and parcel of a whole. Or as a poet wrote: "The pain of separation is as nothing, The joy of union all.",
I read somewhere that his experience with the resistance led to his concept of existentialism, in that one could decide today to join; that we may make life decisions at any moment. Is this inaccurate understanding?
The essay evolves well to show us how to have meaning in life. The conclusions and recommendations are good in that we can only do our part with courage and faith. However, the universe is not irrational; yes, it may be incomprehensible to our limited mind. It has order. The absurdity is in the societies created by human beings. The absurdity comes when thinking that this material reality is all that exists and forgetting the impact of energetic forces that continue and evolve long after we die.
The universe and life may not have "meaning" but you can't deny that then both have "method". The method could be the DNA code in case of life or the equation for gravity which works on any scale and all objects in the universe. Maybe we are just trying to assemble a watch from it's parts, having never seen a watch before. That's a way of making me personally comfortable about it.
"The monotony of our lives and the abundance of short-term distractions within it may provide us with a nice ‘autopilot’ experience the vast majority of the time, but once in a while, we get hit with the question of ‘why’."
Why is this so accurate haha
Thanks for this and the video. I find periodically that I am drawn to existentialism as a bulwark against the nihilism and pessimism of life and your essay encapsulates its essence well for me in such a short time - seems to jump out from the structuring therein.
Interesting, Camus' fascination with the absurd. I only know of him obliquely but he does have a bit of a rep for being a pessimist, or at least that's how I've always heard spoken of him (whether true or not, I would have to familiarize myself with his work).
The story of Sisyphus is a good one as it does illustrate the futility of toil but like the essay points to, and I would agree, is that we make meaningful whatever endeavor we choose. Though, yes, at the end of the day, the universe will be for millions and billions of years, and we are just a blip on the timeline. The personal meaning we give to things makes life worth living, despite the absurdity that seems to loom largely as the backdrop.
Thanks for the essay. I look forward to more philosophical takes and breakdowns. Cheers!
What if the satisfaction and innocent pleasure of watching the spectacle of the ock tumbling down the mountain is the reason for hauling it up in the first place? One could say this is the creative process -- hauling a work up to completion for the joy and glory of sending it off into the world on its tumble. And then doing it all over again with a new piece of work. What if this is why people who are engaged in work they love are the ones most likely to be happy, repeating their work over and over again in new variations, finding new and more creative ways to haul the rock up, and new pleasures in the new ways it tumbles down?
Hi, by the way. Happy to have found your substack.
A great post! Thanks. Not sure why my comments got deleted.
The utube worked well, though a bit rushed.
I love Camus!
Huge fan of Camus and his fellow absurdists. So much so that I built a company called Absurd Machine and my own religion called the Church of the Absurd (the logo is a boulder with wings, ha ha). When I was going through my own personal dark night of the soul and slipping towards the brink of nihilism, I took solace in the absurdist notion of creating my own meaning.
Recently, I have gone down the path of Colin wilson's New Existentialism which I find a bit more hopeful and spiritual than the classic existentialists. I believe that there may in fact be an intrinsic meaning to this life and that the very act of "giving life meaning" may be an essential aspect of emergent reality.
Thanks for sharing Meno! I find myself thinking more about philosophy and existentialism in life more these days, this was really interesting to read through. Thinking about the absurd always seems to come more immediately after I finally think I have my ducks in a row. Things all seems to fall into place, just before I tend to have some altered mentality that actually everything is different than I thought and need to start over.
These are very useful essays, thank you. Have you written on any more contemporary philosophers, please? For example, Donna Haraway, Katherine Hayles, Erin Manning, Rosi Braidotti and Francesca Ferrando.
Are we sure it was an eternal punishment? Would not the rock, gradually erode, ceasing to be so large and heavy, that over some unknown period of time, it would reduce itself to something he could put in a pocket and walk off the mountain with, a memento of his punishment, as well as that nothing is eternal?
Have found that looking for meaning outside one's self, if the self even exists, is a meaningless journey or quest. Any order in life, that has meaning, must to some degree, harmonize with the individual, if there is to be freedom for the individual. So, YES, agree with Camus, that life is an extraordinary adventure in our Universe, and well worth traveling the path, even if one ends up dead.
Then again, since the Universe began as a singularity, before the initial Big Bang, we are all part and parcel of a whole. Or as a poet wrote: "The pain of separation is as nothing, The joy of union all.",
when discussing life and death.
Thomas Nagel on the Absurd:
https://philosophy.as.uky.edu/sites/default/files/The%20Absurd%20-%20Thomas%20Nagel.pdf