According
to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Absurdism is a philosophy based on
the belief that the universe is irrational and meaningless and that the
search for order brings the individual into conflict with the universe.
While
many philosophers seek the meaning of life and reason for being,
French-Algerian writer and philosopher Albert Camus believed that life
itself has no intrinsic meaning at all. This philosophy was fully
explored in his written works, most prominent in his essay, The Myth of
Sisyphus. He wrote,
“There
is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide.
Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the
fundamental question of philosophy.”
It
sounds depressing. The more a person becomes aware of his existence and
finding the meaning of life in the midst of chaos, the more he becomes
confused.
“The absurd is born of this confrontation between the human need and the unreasonable silence of the world.”
Animals
are saved from this problem. They exist primarily in this world just to
survive: finding food, the constant need for safety from predators, and
reproduction. Whereas humans, because of their higher level of
consciousness, have the constant need to find meaning in an otherwise
indifferent world. As Carl Jung said,
“Men can’t stand a meaningless life.”
And Victor Frankl,
“Man’s search for meaning is the primary motivation in his life….”
A Futile Struggle
A man’s struggle to find meaning despite the universe’s indifference is what makes human life absurd.
We
are all facing the ugly reality that we will all die and return to
dust. That our lives are futile, no matter how we make our lives
significant. A strongman who thinks that his idea is better than
anybody, a great poet who can create a masterpiece that will be read by
generations to come, a beautiful actress who became legendary because of
early death, a mother who nurtures you, a teacher who molds you, and
you who struggles to become better every day -- sleeping, waking up,
eating, working – all these make life a pointless merry-go-round with no
end but death.
To Camus, humans have three options to escape absurdity:
1. Physical Suicide
It
is the admittance or “confession” that life has no meaning at all and
terminating its existence and its place in the universe is the only way
out of absurdity.
2. Leap of Faith
In
finding for meaning, a man finds solace in religion. Because man fails
to find answers through reason, he tries to find them through believing
that there is a supernatural being who holds all of the answers. These
kinds of men like the idea that there’s a heaven or Nirvana. They are
hoping that their daily struggles and good deeds will be rewarded
afterlife. To Camus, believing in religion is like committing a
psychological suicide because man is using an easy way out instead of
having the determination and patience in finding the answers himself and
he must so as his existential duty.
3. Recognition
The
best option of the three is recognizing the absurdity and confronting
the ugly truth that life has no inherent meaning and trying to find so
is futile.
“You
will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness
consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of
life.”
Frankl’s words come into mind;
“For
success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only
does so as the unintended side-effect of one's personal dedication to a
cause greater than oneself….”
Facing
the absurdity of human condition and accepting it makes a person an
absurd hero. An absurd hero finds happiness in his struggles in finding
meaning in his existence.
Human Life in Universal level
“I
looked up at the mass of signs and stars in the night sky and laid
myself open for the first time to the benign indifference of the world.”
Man’s
existence in the world is only a minute fraction compared to other
creatures that roamed on earth billions of years ago. And earth’s very
existence is also young compared to countless other planets in the
universe. If we’re going to think deeply about it, human lives,
including its achievements and failures, are inconsequential.
Here’s another from Carl Sagan on the vastness of the universe and mankind’s insignificance;
Look
again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone
you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human
being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and
suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic
doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every
creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every
young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor
and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every
"superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the
history of our species lived there -- on a mote of dust suspended in a
sunbeam.
Rebellion for Happiness
Camus
said that acceptance of the absurd is the only solution to this
problem. Our lives might inconsequential, we might have no idea how long
we are going to live, and we might never find the key to happiness, but
the only way to live a fulfilling life is to live freely and that is
living according to one’s own wishes.
“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.”
“I rebel; therefore I exist.”
x
Grotesque by Natsuo Kirino
