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... I leave Sisyphus at the foot of the mountain! One always finds one's burden again. But Sisyphus teaches the higher fidelity that negates the gods and raises rocks. He too concludes that all is well. This universe henceforth without a master seems to him neither sterile nor futile. Each atom of that stone, each mineral flake of that night filled mountain, in itself forms a world. The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.
Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus (Camus's name rhymes with shampoo, btw, NOT with shamus.)
More fun with Sisyphus...
This prompted me to look up what exactly an absurd hero is. From what i can tell it's just someone who decided to be happy and continue to live life after knowing that nothing matters? I'm still a little confused.
ReplyDeleteFor Camus there's a bit more to it. Life's full of absurdity and irrationalism, and is often repetitive and meaningless and unrewarding... and yet, it beats the alternative. "The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy." If he weren't happy at some level, in some sense, why would he keep on pushing that rock, getting out of bed in the mornings, doing it again and again...?
DeleteI 100% identify with Camus. At everything we do, there’s always something intrinsically driving us all to do that thing, which is happiness. Whether the activity we do is fun or going to work to earn money which we (think) will make us happy eventually. It’s always nice to remember why we do the things we do
ReplyDeleteTHe idea that a wise man knows nothing is very interesting to me. The more you learn about a subject the more you realize there still is to learn so essentially the more knowledge we gain, the more understanding we get about what we dont know.
ReplyDeletelove it, Camus is just interested in pursuing a third possibility: that we can accept and live in a world devoid of meaning or purpose.
ReplyDelete...a world devoid of intrinsic meaning or purpose, but welcoming of our own meaningful and purposive contributions.
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