Within the last few years I became an atheist. I have finished reading Camus’ Myth of Sisyphus.
I’m a senior in high school, and it’s contents were a little dense for my understanding, which required multiple readings of chapters.
But I now feel I understand the jist of it, and so far this philosophy sounds to be the most logical I’ve heard (although I still have so much to learn).
Are you, or are other atheists you know absurdists?
Posted: December 2nd 2009
logicel
When I was your age, I also came across the writings of the existentialists. A nun gave me a slender volume written by Sartre. The reason why she gave it to me was I kept on saying to anybody who was willing to listen: “Life is absurd, just absurd, completely and all together absurd.”
After reading the book, I felt so much better to realize that I was not the only person who felt that way.
What runs underneath my absurdism is a finely honed sense of irony. Here we are, fussing about, so focused on our every need and desire, planning like the dickens our future, and eventually, we go poof. It just makes me chuckle.
I have encountered recently on the net, someone who self-identifies as an agnostic who insists that the only 'true’ atheism, the only kind worth its salt, is the kind he thinks (I disagree with him) expressed by the existentialists, that is, chock-a-block full of angst, gloom, and despair. And the only kind of response possible to our absurd predicament would be if we are laughing and crying at the same time, feeling every second in the deep wells of our being the tragedy and cruelty of being alive. Several atheists tried to show him that you can be an atheist and not be torn to ribbons while being one. He remained unconvinced and insisted we were fooling ourselves.
However, my absurdism is light-hearted and good tempered—I get a limited time to strut my stuff and strut my stuff I will do until I am no longer. Death is part of the bargain. You get life with all its mind-boggling potential and surprises, you get death. You can’t have one without the other.
Theists will often offer sympathy to atheists, thinking that they are gloomy and despair-ridden. They try to make atheists see the light and hope of their particular brand of religious beliefs. They get very confused when they are told that I am just fine, thank you very much. I am fulfilled because I work at seeing reality as clearly as possible each and every day.
Posted: December 9th 2009
SmartLX www
You’ll find that the authors and playwrights now categorised as absurdists usually didn’t think of themselves this way. With the exception of Camus, for one, they mostly accepted the label “existentialist”.
Existentialism is a focus on existence over and above essence. The world and what’s in it is all there is, and we ourselves add all the other stuff. The brain gives rise to the “soul”, and so forth.
One aspect of this is that life has no ethereal meaning. We supply our own meaning, and honour it by living it passionately. This is where absurdism comes in: in the absence of karma and other balancing forces, absurd and possibly undeserved things can happen to anyone at any time. It’s a part of life.
I think this is true, so I guess you could call me an absurdist. It’s not how I would define myself day-to-day though. I’d be happier with “existentialist”, like the old writers.
Posted: December 8th 2009