In my post, Rhythm of Madness, I talked about how It all cancels out has been my catchphrase much of my life, how all the contradictions of life make no sense and in summation amount to nothing. There isn’t meaning to be found in life. Little did I know that this thought is definitely not an original one (none of my musings ever are). Nihilism, which has been around for a while, contemplates that life has no provable meaning; there isn’t a higher being to imbue the universe with intrinsic value.
Albert Camus, in his work The Myth of Sisyphus, describes what he calls the Absurd, a painful contradiction between our own desperate need to find meaning in life, and the universe’s indifference to our pleas. We are insignificant and ephemeral, with the death the only truth we can count on. Due to my lack of drawing ability (anybody want to collaborate on occasion?), I created a silly (perhaps absurd) scene with a stuffed bear rolling an exercise ball up the stairs. Then, as I am prone to do, I transferred the style of another image (in this case a work from Qianjiao ) to make it look like the bear had been painted. Side note: to the few fans out there of Madison and the Body Stuffers: the bear in the picture is the inspiration behind the character Brother Bear.
I started reading Myth of Sisyphus because it really is hard for me to find a reason to keep fighting. Most people have a hope for the future, or they live in the moment, or they believe in God making everything right in the end, or some other belief system that allows the world to make sense. In Myth of Sisyphus, Albert Camus posits that there are three responses to the absurd:
- Suicide – Life has no meaning. We are all going to die. What does it matter when we die? He rejects this notion, though I sometimes think it might be a survivor bias. Other philosophers that found this the natural conclusion probably didn’t last very long to write about it.
- Philosophical suicide – One makes a leap of faith. I would say this is anything that can’t be proven. Some believe in God, and having that higher being designing the universe allows the world to be interpreted in a meaningful way. Also, many existential philosophers assume axioms that can’t be proven that provide meaning to life. This is similar to math. You can’t prove anything in math without agreed upon assumptions, e.g. Euclid’s five postulates for geometry. Camus rejects this approach, choosing instead an “impossible transparency” and “rather than resigning … to falsehood,” boldly pursues truth even if it leads to despair.
- Absurd freedom – This choice is what Camus proposes as the solution. You accept that life is absurd, “but without the resignation that ought to accompany it.” It is that rebellion that gives a person meaning. The “day-to-day revolt … gives proof of his only truth, which is defiance.”
The canonical example he gives of the absurd hero is Sisyphus, doomed by the gods to eternally push a rock up a hill only to watch if roll back down each and every time. Sisyphus’s punishment embodies the pointlessness of our efforts, how insignificant we are in the grand scheme of things. Camus interprets him differently: “One must imagine Sisyphus happy.” Sisyphus can find purpose in his meaningless toil simply by accepting his condition, essentially not letting the gods dictate his reason for existence but finding the meaning within himself. “He is superior to his fate. He is stronger than his rock.”
As I read the book, I resonated with Camus’s description of the absurd; that’s what I’ve been feeling. I was taught to pursue truth, and unfortunately that yearning has led me to forgo the faith of my childhood, and pretty much any belief system. The pursuit of truth has led me to despair. I find this idea of revolting to be interesting. It is similar to what Liam says in Spinning Utopia: “I’m going to keep fighting! I don’t care if there’s not a reason why. I’m going to fight until I find a reason or just make up my own. I’ll be my own God. I’ll write my own myth, create my own universe, proclaim my own reason for being.”
