The Absurd Ways of Camus
“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.” — Albert Camus
Having been quarantined for a month now (owing to the pandemic caused by the virus, about which I hereby pledge to not mention throughout the course of this article), I found myself incessantly pondering about the meaning and the purpose of life — I had several plans for this year, and they were interrupted by the universe, rather royally.
So, when I read Albert Camus’ essay “the myth of Sisyphus”, a warm realization dawned on me and I ended up (re)reading all of his works, including his famous novel “The stranger” (or L’Étranger), which I had already read once months ago.
Getting to know Camus — I
Albert Camus was a French Algerian philosopher, author, journalist — he won the Nobel Prize in literature at the age of 44, a rather young age for the accolade. He was born in Algeria in 1913, he started his career as a journalist working with a leftist newspaper which ended up getting banned after two years, following which he moved to Paris. Even though he could not join the army during world war II, he was a part of the French Renaissance — being the editor in chief of an outlawed newspaper. It was during this time in Paris, that he completed his first cycle of work relating to absurdism — “the myth of Sisyphus” and “L’Étranger”.
Let’s start with “The stranger”.
The stranger
“Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday, I don’t know.”
In what can easily be the most legendary opening in modern literature, Camus sets the tone for the entire novel — cool and detached, in which the protagonist, Meursault, talks to the readers. Meursault is born in Algeria and he personifies what French philosopher Émile Durkheim describes as Anomie — a listless, callous, affectless condition in which the person progresses into the inability to unify himself with social norms or share his sympathies with others.
When Meursault attends his mother’s funeral, the other attendees are appalled by his lack of visible remorse and sorrow. It is important to note, Meursault has transcended the bounds of bourgeois life — as Camus puts it, Meursault refuses to lie, refuses to play games of hypocrisy, .. he shows what he is and how he feels, and the world immediately feels threatened. As a testimony to his atypical emotions (or lack thereof), he not only engages in relations with his coworker (Marie) just the day after his mother’s funeral, but also goes to watch a comedy film with her — because that’s what she wanted to do.
Another instance of stark affectlessness on Meursault’s part would be when Marie asks him if he would marry her, in his words,
“I said it didn’t make any difference to me and that we could if she wanted to. Then she wanted to know if I loved her. I answered the same way I had the last time, that it didn’t mean anything but that I probably didn’t love her”
Meursault’s blaring honesty, his insistence on speaking what he feels and refusal to act in a way the society expects, left me stunned — for a generation of people brought up on constant external validation, characters like Meursault’s are a breath of fresh air, a rebel. If presented with the opportunity, I would probably end up dismissing anyone I meet who’s like Meursault, let alone try to understand him. That is what bothered and confused me the most.
Progressing forward, in the second part of the book, Meursault finds himself incarcerated for having shot an Arab man, a murder that was committed almost offhand, just because he thought it would be interesting to find out how it felt to pull the trigger. His suffering in prison is somewhat alleviated by his nature, once he accepts he would not see Marie anymore, he ends up not feeling so bad. Throughout his trial, his guilt is substantiated by his sheer lack of remorse and he is granted the death sentence. While awaiting execution, the prison Chaplain forces Meursault, who refuses to believe in God, to talk to God — Meursault’s indifference confuses and threatens him, until he has an outburst about his frustrations and the absurdity of human existence, how nothing in the universe really concerns with his death. The book ends right before Meursault’s execution, in as stark a manner as it began,
“For everything to be consummated, for me to feel less alone, I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate.”
The theme of absurdism can be felt throughout the book, just as several other Camus’ work. The protagonist’s bizzaire acceptance of his fate is in itself an act of rebellion that grants him the freedom, otherwise denied to him by a conformist society.
So what is the philosophy of Absurdism?
What is the purpose of our lives? We as humans, try to seek meaning in our existence but if given some serious thought, we are actually infinitesimal compared to the vast universe and our existence makes no difference to it’s chaotic machinations. This need to search for purpose can be resolved in three ways,
1. Suicide
“There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living, that is the fundamental question of philosophy.”
“The Myth of Sisyphus” begins equally boldly (above), where Camus broaches the subject, if a life without meaning is indeed worth living. However, he is quick in dismissing such a claim — suicide is not a solution to the absurdity of existence, rather by ending one’s existence, the said existence becomes way more absurd.
“There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide.”
2. Ascribing to a higher power
The rather popular choice, religion, the belief that there exists a high power that has put each one on this earth, and has a plan for every individual. Such a thinking is beyond rationality, a lofty leap into the unprovable and intangible — a leap of faith. Camus considers it as bad as suicide — a philosophical suicide.
3. Acceptance
Camus stands in a long line of thinkers, from Kierkegaard to Nietzsche to Sartre who wrestle with the chilling realization that there is in fact no preordained meaning in life. The sooner one accepts there is no predestined meaning to one’s existence, one can reach the highest level of personal freedom. Camus was an ardent proponent of this line of thought.
If the universe is free of absolutes, we as individuals are fundamentally free — we have the right to create our own purpose and find our singular meaning or live as free individuals, a freedom that becomes an act of rebellion (the quote at the very start of the article).
So? What is then the Camusean alternative to suicide or faith? The answer is to live without escape and with integrity, in “revolt” and defiance, maintaining the tension intrinsic to human life. Since “the most obvious absurdity” is death, Camus urges us to “die unreconciled and not of one’s own free will” . In short, he recommends a life without consolation, but instead one characterized by lucidity and by acute consciousness of and rebellion against its mortality and its limits.
The myth of Sisyphus
Sisyphus was a Greek legend, who had defied the Gods on multiple occasions, as a result of which he was cursed to push a heavy boulder uphill. On reaching the top, the boulder rolls back down and Sisyphus is condemned to push it, for perpetuity, not even death would rescue him from his plight.
Camus presents Sisyphus’s ceaseless and pointless toil as a metaphor for modern lives spent working at futile jobs in factories and offices, having to repeat the same task over and over again, with no unique result or way out.
“The workman of today works every day in his life at the same tasks, and this fate is no less absurd. But it is tragic only at the rare moments when it becomes conscious.”
What interests Camus is what Sisyphus goes through as he watches the boulder roll down the mountain.
“It is during that return, that pause, that Sisyphus interests me. A face that toils so close to stones is already stone itself! I see that man going back down with a heavy yet measured step toward the torment of which he will never know the end.”
These moments when Sisyphus, knowing full well his faith, trudges along to push the rock once again, is actually superior to the Gods who cursed him so and stronger than his faith — because paradoxically his sense of tragedy “crowns his victory”. Tragic consciousness is the conclusion of “absurd reasoning”: living fully aware of the acerbity of our being and consciously facing our fate. Sisyphus accepts his plight without the escape of death and without appealing to the Gods — and this rebellion in itself makes him free and his life worth living. Acceptance of the situation is conquering it — the acknowledgement of the absurdity is the triumph over the otherwise hopeless existence.
In a rather groundbreaking interpretation of this ancient mythology, Camus concludes,
“One must imagine Sisyphus happy”
Getting to know Camus — II
Camus was not a typical philosopher — unlike ailing Pascal or peculiar Nietzsche, Camus was extremely charming, well dressed (inspired by the likes of James Dean), extremely successful with women (he is known to have multiple girlfriends or wives at the same time). He was a gifted athelete, an advocate of team spirit and fraternity. He was in love with life, once you realise that life is absurd, you are compelled to live life more intensely. Accordingly, Camus grew committed to, and deeply serious about, the pleasures of ordinary life.
“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.” -Camus
Camus died at the age of 46. He was inadvertently killed by his publisher, when his sports car that they were in, crashed into a tree. In his pocket, Camus had a train ticket that he decided not to use at the last moment.
I shall leave it to the reader to mull over the tragedy of that.
Thank you for making to the end! Do let me know what you think.
