On absurdism

This is a short and intellectually devoid summary of the early 1940s philosophical movement from France.

Absurdism arises out of inquiry into meaning of life .

It is a psychological mechanism that according to Albert Camus – One of the most famous literary figure of the movement – has three outcomes. ( From his famous book – Myth of the Sisyphus)

1. Stop existing. Stop living life. Commit cognitive suicide.

2. Fall back to religion /faith , an eternal blindness. Resting on ignorance as a bliss.

3. Become ridiculous as moral precepts don’t matter when you are but a blip in the universe. Morality as social construct ceases to matter in life.

This philosophy is an exploration into the human experience of contradictions between human desire for meaning and order, and the reality of chaotic and meaningless world.

This desire,according to Camus ( pronounced Camoo) is rooted in our need for clarity and certainty – ‘Predictability’

We strive for certainty in a system. Our mental models are attenuated to static rules and values so as to make sense of the reality.

But the reality is utterly and fundamentally unpredictable,chaotic and meaningless. The world doesn’t care about our desires or our attempts to impose order on it.

This contraindication and conflict is deeply unsettling and even tragic. It is a struggle to reconcile our desires with the reality.

This is where Camus and Buddhism overlap in slightest sense.

According to Camus – This contraindication is “Absurdism”

Camus proposes that The absurd is not a problem to be solved, but a condition to be accepted and embraced. He believes that the only way to live authentically true you must accept the uncertainty of life. This means living without our Vital lies and facing the world as it is, with all its chaos and unpredictability.

Camus rejects the idea of human free will and instead focuses on the limitations that reality places on us. This philosophy is thought provoking and challenging to the human experience. But is discomfort and flirt with contraindications the only way to live outside of Maya ?