Absurdism: Finding Meaning in a Meaningless World

 

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

How NOT to Write a Blog Post (and the best way to Procrastinate)

My hilarious love and hate towards my passion in life (yes, that's writing. Duh)

So here's my best list of How NOT to Write the Best Blog Post Ever :

1. Stop writing what matters and start doing what doesn't (Yes, like this one. Wow, You are a genius, hi-five) ✋👋

2. Because you're bored and hate researching, open your e-mail for the nth time. Of course, there's nothing important in there, so you just close the tab. 👤

3. Because you are still bored, browse Reddit and act like a cool keyboard warrior that you really are and aim for those karma points! 😎😎😎

4. You're feeling lonely and alone and isolated. Because you are a geek (or whatever or whoever you are) you must have that "must-have" action figure to talk to. But I'm not a geek. I'm a perfectly normal person. 👧 So I've got a ceramic green turtle. To talk to. Mind you, this is my second one because my bruha cat broke my first one. 😿

5. Stare at nothingness. Zoning out is the key to freedomhood. Freedom from this suffering that writing has to offer. Freedommmmmm!!!! 💣

6. Thanks to zoning out, you remembered something crucial for your survival. 💥 So armed with sticky notes and a pen, you write down 1.) noodles and 2.) water because you know yourself too much. You always forget things.  💪

7. Now you are happy. Go to Youtube, search Conan O'Brien and laugh at his dank jokes. 🙉

8. Then worry a little bit that this list might reach up to ten. 💬 😓

9. Apathy sinks in. You don't care anymore. 😑 You claim to be a Stoic. And Stoics know how to respond to negative things. They turn it into positive things. Now you're happy again. 😁

10. Continue the pursuit of "happy-ness." 😄

Okay, back to work. 😒

Religion and Philosophy: Then and Now

I am reading the Meditations by Marcus Aurelius and it strikes me how ancient people regard Philosophy as modern people regard Religion.

Before, religion is all about rituals and sacrifices, prayers and winning favors of gods.

In ancient times, philosophy provides a "design for living" with coherent and logical belief systems. It involves answering mortal and existential questions. It also provides answers to problems in making ethical choices and creating an equal and just society.

Back then, you only pray to god to win a war, for a good harvest, and for a good weather.

Back then, moral and ethical decisions are man's personal responsibility.

Now, philosophy is just an academic discipline.

Now, people rely their actions based on a god's commandments.

Modern religion integrated selected "philosophical ideologies" that serve religious dogmas.

Does that mean that the ancient society had better belief system than now?

What do you think?

Blue Pill or Red Pill?

A stranger approaches you and asks you, "Blue Pill or Red Pill?"

A blue pill will give you a chance to go back in time and reset everything. You still retain all the memories and knowledge that you have accumulated until now. 

A red pill will make you an instant ultra-rich person. 

So, you were given a chance to choose. 

What is your choice?

My choice is to take the red pill.

Okay, first, why not the blue pill?

Because no matter how we reset our lives, how we go back in time, we are all still the same human beings capable of making mistakes. Over and over again. Because that's what we are. To err is human. As love and kindness make us human, too. 

Most people want to go back in time to undo those mistakes that they've done. They want to undo those regretful moments. 

But in our most difficult journey in life, there are good circumstances that come out of it.

The sweet serendipity. 

The good accidents. 

And undoing our mistakes will undo those good things, too. 

Owning your own failures, mistakes, and regrets make you a stronger person. It also prevents us from making the same mistakes all over again. 


Well, unless you are potato- head and cabbage-head. No offence to potatoes and cabbages.

Now, why red pill? They say that money is the root of all evil.

Yes, it is. If it's in the wrong hands. 

But then, if I'm financially independent, I can do anything good that I want to do. 

 I can help a lot of people because I love helping people. I love the act of giving so much that it warmths my entire soul.

I can also travel anywhere. Seeing all of the great places in the world will open up my eyes to what beauty this planet of ours have. Meeting and befriending strangers will make you see an entirely different perspective of humanity. That there may be cultural differences, we can still find a lot of similarities. 


So, how about you?  Blue Pill or Red Pill?

Of Being an Open Minded Idiot

     The emergence of technology and modernism requires everybody to be open-minded. If innately not, then you can just pretend to be one even though you are a hopeless cynic and a despondent doctrinaire. And if not again, then you will be left behind by all these changes for good. 

     Unlike centuries ago that open-mindedness was regarded as hypocrisy and heresy, and the government was ruled by religion and superstitions (although, scarily, nothing changed that much nowadays), this modern era is accompanied by open-mindedness, tolerance, and innovations. Change equals modernization. And vice versa. 

     It is because of technology that information is always within everybody's reach. We are all being feed by these fast-paced pieces of information second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour, every day. So much information that it overwhelms us, that we don't know which news is correct, or is it just one of the sensationalized events manipulated by the media people who are continuously grasping and hounding for headlines that are unique and catchy, making them sound like they can change the world. If nothing, then they'll just settle down on some trashy news about the private (?) lives of celebrities. Everybody loves showbiz news anyway, seeing those glittery stars in the limelight that they are just humans like us (that errs) after all. 

     Being open-minded means you are an out-of-the-box thinker. You receive any information without any prejudice and judgments, without any bias and filter. 

     I pride myself to be one. Yeaah.

     And I think, am I kidding myself? I am a cynic, a skeptic. I receive information, I rant if it is out of the boundary of my knowledge or if it contrasts my ideals. As a very knowledgeable opinionated woman, any idiot with partial knowledge of the topic will believe me. Heck, I am a natural, believable liar. 

     How many people out there who are, like me, trying to be open-minded? There are a lot maybe, but there are also a lot of others who are unforgivingly sticking to their own narrow conducts. 

    Being not open-minded is an issue. How can you embrace changes if you are not? How can you adapt to the ever-changing environment if you are not? Remember that the Age of Industrial Revolution was led by those people who are not afraid of new ideas and of change. In fact, they wanted it. They wanted to change our world, the lives of the people, to make it better, more convenient. Until now, innovators relentlessly work for change. 

     Ideas advancing, religion and beliefs evolving, human values progressing (other saw it digressing because of lesser interpersonal contacts due to yes, technology).

     Atheism and Agnosticism are now a trend. There are even self-declared Satanists. How can we accept this fact of so-called heresy if we are left behind in those gaping holes of ancient beliefs? 

    I, myself is an Agnostic and it doesn't bother me other people's preferred belief. But there are things that are so different and new it shocks me despite the fact that I boast myself that there are very few things that can surprise me. 

 

 

 

 
P.S. This is just an article written in dragging ways by an open-minded idiot that is me. *peace*

 
PPS this is it as of now.

Update: I am now a pure atheist.

 

 

 

 

 

The Side Effects of Bullying

I experienced bullying. A jolly lot during my elementary years when I was still receiving the honour of being the "Most Well Behaved" pupil.

Which is then pretty normal to become the main target of bullies. I frequently stutter during those years, making me very shy to talk a lot. My stutters can't escape the ears of those hounds. I am also not witty enough to make my classmates laugh over simple conversations. Wherein, I think, that all of them are natural talkers.

And I think weird. I don’t really like a lot of people. I almost hate them.

But what surprises me during those years is when a classmate of mine who stutters a lot like me is not being bullied. WHY?! I think it is very unfair not to received fair attention and acceptance in the community of small social circle inside our classroom.

Maybe that is the reason why I hate a lot of people back then.

It is quite a classic case. Almost every childhood experiences consist of the nightmares of bullying. I say almost because even the bully-iers are being bullied, too. And I think that they suffered more than we do. Having no outlets, they vent their pent-up emotions and frustrations and let downs on other people. Which is very pathetic.

I don't write to discuss human psychology on why people bully. I write because I want to talk about on what it does on people. On how it transforms people as well as on how it destroys them.

I, for one, acts like an extrovert around people. I seriously studied how to talk like a pro. I observed and I imitated all those who are popular in the group. I experimented. And I applied it to my day to day conversation. Until I perfected the art of talking. Hah!

That changed my whole persona. From a wallflower into the most talkative person in the room. I haven’t realized it earlier until my name was written in the “List of Noisy Students”. And when my best friend shared me this:

“Don't let the crowd pressure you,
Stand for something-
Or you'll fall for anything.!”

                     -Teen Creed 

Until then, I realized, I pushed too far. It wasn’t me anymore!

That's what bullying made me. An alien of my own self. A copycat. Lost in the sea of all the world’s mediocrity in order to fit in.

That is my story. Until now, I still can’t decide whether it’s a happy one or not.

Anyway, at least I didn’t end up depressed and killed myself, right?

Here’s another better story to cheer you up.

There was a girl who was ruthlessly bullied because of her extreme cystic acne and physical appearance. This made her emotionally distraught which made her leave public school and entered a private school in order to work directly with a teacher to prevent from being bullied. Her name is Cassandra Bankson.

Because of her experience of being teased due to her skin problems, she created a video tutorial on how to cover acne with makeup. Her daily videos gained millions of viewers and international attention. She’s into modelling, too. Not bad, eh?

Another girl, named Bethany Mota, was home-schooled as a child. She entered a public school in junior high but decided to leave after a devastating experience on cyber-bullying.

Looking for an outlet for all the boredom and loneliness, she decided to upload videos offering tips and advice to young girls like her on makeups and fashion among others.

Her videos garnered millions of viewers and earned thousands of dollars from it. She built her own empire on clothing and accessories.

Now, those stories are quite inspirational. I didn’t suggest that victims of bullying should also upload video tutorials and catch the attention of thousands of people.

I say it is all about coping up. We all have our own devastating experiences. But it is up to us on how to overcome those nightmares. We can’t just let ourselves curl in a dark corner and cry our hearts out; it will not make things better. It is all about on how we stand tall, with head held up high, and never let other people control you.

" When people hurt you over and over, think of them like sand paper. They may scratch and hurt you a bit, but in the end, you end up polished and they end up useless." -Unknown

FILIPINO-ISM: A Perspective of Philippines from an American Blogger

        

"Filipinos: Don't try to be more like us, try to be more like YOU. I believe what the world needs now is more of “you,” not more of “us".”

I think this is the best line from Nathan Allen’s open letter to the Filipino people posted on his blog A Foreign Blogger's Letter to the Philippines. Hearing a foreigner encouraging another nationality to be 'more' like themselves seems downright wrong but could be educating, like a parent to a child. Filipinos love to imitate western culture and all the 'dreams and luxury' it pertains. And it is refreshing to hear from a foreigner who must be very proud of his race and his big country but despite of that, he still persuades a small country with a 'colonial mentality' to think on their own, to stand on their own.

We Filipinos are cheerful and hospitable in nature, especially to foreigners, and I was not surprised to read a blog of an American falling in love with our country and our people.

I should have titled "FILIPINO-ISM: A Bright Perspective of Philippines from an American Blogger" but I removed the word bright because I really am not totally happy with his total perspective, despite the fact that many Filipinos who have read the article seems to like it very much. Though he expressed his love for the country and its people, he also stated that,

"Sadly, perhaps due to colonization and other factors (I'll get to these later), the Philippines may have established itself as a country full of "small minds" - people that were discouraged from being ambitious, and kept from their potential. Those in power wanted to keep it that way, and to some extent I believe it's still the same today."

       
      I beg to disagree. No one has the right to call the Philippines as a country full of 'small minds'. The Philippines have produced a lot of ‘small people’ with ‘great minds’. Statesmen, diplomats, scientists, authors, etc. The best example is Gen. Carlos P. Romulo and Sen. Miriam Defensor- Santiago. If Mr Allen failed to recognize that, then he should have done more research about Filipinos before screaming to the whole world that Filipinos have small minds just because a Filipino friend of his told him that he thinks too much. That is a blatant hasty generalization.

            Our thinkers, unlike Americans, are not always in the limelight. That is the reason why we have very few known intellectuals. And we don’t always over-sensationalize things.

I would like to correct him with this when Filipinos ruminate or pondering over things, they do it privately. Filipinos are highly sociable people, and they don’t like to ruin a moment shared with a friend just because he wants to contemplate over an idea that was boiling inside his mind.

Being a colonized country before is never an excuse for us not to be proud. Printed in our exported products is "Proudly made in the Philippines." Slogans everywhere in the country are "Proud to be Pinoy", "Proudly Filipino", It's more fun in the Philippines." Surely, nobody can't say that it is not enough? Purely breed of Filipino musicians? We have Lea Salonga and Charice Pempengco. And yes, no one could miss mentioning our beauty queen delegates (the list is too long to mention).

And yes, we do take problems and tragedies and injuries lightly (well, of course except for the serious ones). And that is the reason why we don’t need therapists. But if he thinks that just because we took it lightly doesn’t mean that we don’t really care. That we don’t worry. I would like to say this: we think, but we do not overthink. We worry, but we do not overworry. It is all about bravado and trust. We believe that he/she can overcome any pain and sufferings alone. And all the jokes and unmindingness are supports in disguise, to lift somebody's spirits up. It is an encouragement, to smile despite all  the miseries and tragedies. Reminding somebody of his/her miseries is a completely bad idea.

 That is the reason why you can still see the smiles both in the children's and adults' faces after largely suffering from wrath of typhoons and flash floods.

Bayanihan

Re: Consumers and copycats. I might agree that media has a lot to do with this. It happens anywhere in the world, in any culture. The emergence of pop culture. Clearly, Mr Allen really failed to recognize that. And if I'm going to use his tact (hasty generalization) I would really love to say that Americans are hypocrites. So you mean consumers? Copycats? Arent’ you one of the biggest consumers of the world? And yes, where is your originality? Hmm. That made me wonder.

I really appreciated the fact that he made a tremendous effort of writing an article about my people, but I would appreciate more if he won’t write and give an opinion on something that he does not completely understand.

Euphemism is customary to us. It is very polite to keep rude things to ourselves. Despite the fact that we are family oriented, we usually do not share what we always have in mind, especially if it is something unpleasant. What we Filipinos love to share are love, kindness, happiness and joviality. I am pretty sure that every culture and race in the world share the same values, but maybe it is how we show and express it that is totally eccentric to foreigners. It is already inculcated in our culture. That is Filipino-ism.

“Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others.” - Robert Louis Stevenson