Philosophers You Have Never Heard Of

Life is absurd... and that's the good news

I want to ask you something… actually a few things.

How important is it to you that your life has meaning? Would you say that your life currently feels meaningful or do you wish your life had greater purpose and meaning?

It seems you’d first have to decide what exactly constitutes a life of meaning. Then you could determine what changes might be necessary in order to make your life more meaningful. We all want that, right? No one wants to live a meaningless life. To feel that one’s life is void of meaning is despairing. Life must have meaning to be worth living.

Or does it?

Where exactly did the idea of “meaning” come from? How is it that human beings became so preoccupied with it? At what stage of our evolution as Homo sapiens did we begin to scrutinize our lives on these terms?

And who decides what the meaning of life is? Does religion, and which one? And what if you are an Atheist? Is there no meaning? Logotherapy was developed by Holocaust survivor, neurologist and psychiatrist Viktor Frankl and is based on the premise that the primary motivational force of an individual is to find a meaning in life. Frankl’s book, Man’s Search for Meaning, making the list of “the ten most influential books in the United States”, and selling more than 17 million copies in 54 languages.

The search for meaning is also lucrative. Have you ever noticed how the personal pursuit of meaning has become a leading marketing strategy? These days the promise of, and search for, meaning has been grafted onto almost every aspect of our lives. A product, service, or experience is no longer judged simply on whether it’s “good” or “bad,” but whether or not it is, in some abstract way, “meaningful.”

The exploitation of meaning is the new blueprint for inducing consumer spending. Marketing gurus know we will spend six dollars on ice cream or coffee if we can be convinced it’s actually more than ice cream or coffee, and imbedded with some life-changing social or cultural cause or value. There’s a reason why highly-priced body wash wants you to equate their product with “body positivity”, or why you will see two minutes of neighborly relationships, nostalgia, and small-town values before you discover it’s an insurance commercial. Subaru even has a “Love Promise”:

“The Subaru Love Promise is our vision to show love and respect to all people at every interaction with Subaru. Together with our retailers, we are dedicated to making the world a better place. We believe in being a positive force in the communities in which we live and work, not just with donations, but with actions that set an example for others to follow. Through our five core pillars — Environment, Health, Education, Pets, and Community — and the Subaru Share the Love Event, we aim to create change in the areas we and our owners care about the most.”

Seriously??? A car? Okay, I admit that I’m a skeptic. But, pets???

The pursuit of meaning has shifted from an epic journey to a scavenger hunt. It’s not enough to locate purpose in love, family, work or religion, now we’ve been conditioned to find meaning in everything we do. From our morning coffee to our weekend laundry load, each event or chore needs to be elevated into an inspiring experience of existence. We meditate, listen to podcasts, and cram in five minutes of mindful journaling in order to make life matter.

But is it possible that too much meaning is a bad thing? What if the notion of the “meaning of life” is a myth? And what if the sooner you know this, the better off you will be?

I want to introduce you to a philosopher who believed that the search for meaning is a curse, and that our insistence that life be meaningful is the biggest obstacle in the way of our happiness. He challenged the idea that the crux of a worthy existence is knowing our lives have meaning. I included him in this series - “Philosophers You Have Never Heard Of” - mainly because he refused the label of “philosopher”. If you google the top 50 philosophers of all time, he won’t be on the list.

So far in this series I have covered the following philosophers:

• Michel Foucault

• Simone de Beauvoir

• Siddhārtha Gautama

• Baruch Spinoza

In this article I want to discuss the philosophical insights of Albert Camus.

Albert Camus (1913–1960) was a French journalist, editor and editorialist, playwright and director, novelist and author of short stories, political essayist and activist. Phew, busy guy! And although he repeatedly denied it, a philosopher. Camus ignored or opposed systematic philosophy, had little faith in rationalism, presented his central philosophical insights in metaphors, was preoccupied with immediate and personal experience, and brooded over such questions as the meaning of life in the face of death. Although he forcefully separated himself from existentialism, Camus posed one of the twentieth century’s best-known existentialist questions: Is life worth living?

Who Is Albert Camus?

Albert Camus was born November 7, 1913 in Mondovi, Algeria, and died January 4, 1960, near Sens, France. He was a French novelist, essayist, and playwright. At age 22, Camus had his first publication - a play entitled, Revolte dans les Asturies. The subject was the 1934 revolt by Spanish miners that were brutally suppressed by the Spanish government resulting in 1,500 to 2,000 deaths.

Albert Camus won the Nobel Prize for Literature at the age of 44 in 1957, the second youngest recipient in history. He was awarded the Nobel Prize “…for his important literary production, which with clear-sighted earnestness illuminates the problems of the human conscience in our times.”

For many reasons, Camus was a controversial figure and we will explore some of them. He was no high-brow, pensive, sophisticated academic, he was a popular, attractive, stylish, down-to-earth, and pleasure-loving person. many of the photographs you find of him will have cigarette hanging out of his mouth, a la James Dean.

No philosopher comes upon their ideas in a vacuum. Each of us is impacted by the events and spirit of our times and place in history. Albert Camus lived from 1913-1960. World War II took place 1939-1945, and its grim realities had a significant impact upon the lives of all who lived in that era, including Albert Camus.

He was in Paris when the Germans invaded France during World War II. Camus took an active role in the underground resistance movement against the Germans during the French Occupation. Upon his arrival in Paris, he started working as a journalist and editor of the banned newspaper Combat. He continued writing for the paper after the liberation of France. Camus used a pseudonym for his Combat articles and used false ID cards to avoid being captured. During that period he composed four Lettres à un ami allemand (Letters to a German Friend), explaining why resistance was necessary.

Camus was politically active. He was part of the Left that opposed the Soviet Union because of its totalitarianism. His rejection of communism, upset many of his colleagues and contemporaries in France. Camus attacked totalitarian communism while advocating for libertarian socialism and anarcho-syndicalism.

World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.

The literary career of Albert Camus is most celebrated in four novels, which he wrote during or after World War II:

• The Stranger (1942)

• The Plague (1947)

• The Fall (1956)

• The First Man (published posthumously 1995)

He also published several essays and delivered many lectures, including the lecture “The Human Crisis” on March 28, 1946, to a full house at the McMillin Academic Theatre at Columbia University, on his first and only trip to the United States.

Though the philosophical ideas of Albert Camus were more explicitly expressed in several essays and lectures, you can clearly see his philosophical thought come to life in the characters, subjects and stories of his novels. The above four novels are part of public domain and you can find them to read online at no cost.

Albert Camus was not just a writer, philosopher and activist, he loved sports, especially football (soccer). During his college days he played goalie for his team in Algiers. After this, Camus continued in goal for the Racing Universitaire Algerios (RUA) junior team. It was here that his career ended. In 1930, aged 18, he contracted TB, was confined to bed for several months and, after he recovered, his lungs were too damaged for him to play again. But he continued to love the game.

Camus wrote, “After many years in which the world has afforded me many experiences, what I know most surely in the long run about morality and obligations, I owe to football.” That’s Camus in the dark jersey in the front row of the picture.

In 1960, Camus tragically died in a car crash. There is a conspiracy theory that Albert Camus might have been killed by the KGB for criticizing the Soviet Union. He left behind two children, Catherine and Jean.

I find much to appreciate about Albert Camus. The combination of philosopher, writer, activist/anarchist and athlete are similar to my own assortment of interests, pursuits and endeavors. Camus seemed to have lived his life with great gusto, courage and conviction, which I admire. Having studied his life for some years now, I appreciate and understand his words now more than ever, “Live to the point of tears.”

I certainly cannot cover the life of Albert Camus in this short essay. To learn more about him, you are likely to find the following books useful:

• Albert Camus: A Biography by Herbert R Lottman

• A Life Worth Living: Albert Camus and the Quest for Meaning by Robert Zaretsky

• Albert Camus: Elements of a Life by Robert D. Zaretsky

• At the Existentialist Café by Sarah Bakewell

{Also, every time you see the name “Albert Camus” above, the live link takes you to a useful article about Camus that is worth reading. These links are a gateway into truly understanding the person, life and philosophical ideas of Albert Camus. I hope you will take the time and explore this enigmatic philosopher.}

The Controversial Camus-Question That Rocked Western Philosophy

A person doesn’t get a choice in the matter of coming into the world and their existence. Generally however, a person does have a choice as to whether they want to stay - to continue living or to end their life. This choice was a central concern in the philosophical insights of Albert Camus.

Camus wrote:

“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.”

Hmmm. Not sure I’d want to chat with Camus if I was having a bad day. Doesn’t really seem like a life-of-the-party or cheer-you-up kind of guy. Surprisingly, however, he is most known as a fun-loving rebel who lived with great gusto, conviction and passion.

Albert Camus asserted that the most significant philosophical question is whether or not to commit suicide. He likely would have been banned from Facebook for posting such a question or at least required to include a trigger warning. His mention of suicide is often misunderstood. He was not a proponent of suicide, but raised the question as a matter of sharply addressing whether life was worth living.

He writes:

“I see many people die because they judge that life is not worth living. I see others paradoxically getting killed for the ideas or illusions that give them a reason for living (what is called a reason for living is also an excellent reason for dying). I therefore conclude that the meaning of life is the most urgent of questions.”

To understand where Camus was coming from, you must understand one of his central philosophical insights, which he called the “Absurd”.

The Absurd

If I were to summarize the central focus of the philosophy of Albert Camus, it would go like this:

• The world and human existence have no inherent meaning.

• The Absurd arises out of the fundamental disharmony between the our search for meaning and the meaningless of the universe.

• Humans have three ways of resolving the dilemma: Suicide; “Philosophical Suicide”; Acceptance of the Absurd

What follows are the words of Camus related to his central philosophical insights, and additional commentary by myself:

The Dilemma of Human Existence

“I said that the world is absurd, but I was too hasty. This world in itself is not reasonable, that is all that can be said. But what is absurd is the confrontation of this irrational and the wild longing for clarity whose call echoes in the human heart. The absurd depends as much on man as on the world.”

Camus is defining one of his prominent philosophical ideas, which he referred to as the “Absurd.” Albert Camus did not believe the world or human existence had any inherent meaning. This isn’t particularly unique to Camus, the idea of a meaningless universe tends to be a bedrock assumption of most existential philosophy. French existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre wrote, “Life has no meaning a priori. It is up to you to give it a meaning, and value is nothing but the meaning that you choose.”

To Camus, there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the world, despite that it has no inherent meaning. What creates the situation of the “Absurd” is that human beings insist upon finding such a meaning. The “Absurd” is the result of human beings searching for meaning in a meaningless world. Keep in mind that a phrase like “meaningless world” is not meant to be taken as a dark, depressing and despairing statement. In existential philosophy it’s simply the assertion that there is not an absolute, inherent or divinely-infused meaning governing the world and human existence.

Camus wrote, “The Absurd is born of this confrontation between the human need and the unreasonable silence of the world.” The universe and the human mind do not each separately cause the Absurd, but rather, the Absurd arises by the contradictory nature of the two existing simultaneously.

Human beings have tended to feel that the universe and human existence must have some sort of central or organizing meaning and purpose, and that life would hardly be worth living in the absence of it. One of the top existential questions is: What is the meaning of life? The question implies there must be an answer. We search for the meaning of life because we believe there is one to be found. Notice it’s referred to as the meaning of life - in other words, that life must have some sort of inherent, innate, intrinsic, authoritative meaning around which we must orient our lives.

Ask Camus the question about the meaning of life, and he will simply say, there isn’t one.

Keep in mind that in the times that Albert Camus lived - during and in the aftermath of WWII - it is not any surprise that the meaninglessness of the world and human existence would be especially felt.

The Absurd is a discomforting situation. It consists of a fundamental disconnect between the desire of the human being for ultimate meaning and a universe that constantly frustrates this desire with its indifference. This dilemma is fundamentally relational, rather than a property of the universe or human beings as individual entities. It’s a relationship that occurs between a person that seeks ultimate meaning and yet will always be frustrated in achieving a certain answer.

If we suppose that Camus’ notion of the Absurd exists and life is defined by this particular conception of absurdity, then we can ask the following question: Is such an absurd life worth living?

Escaping the Dilemma

To Camus, the most significant philosophical question that can be asked is whether or not life is worth living in a meaningless universe? Camus soberly sharpened the question to whether a person should choose to live or commit suicide. He wrote, “Does the Absurd dictate death?” Camus once wrote, “Should I kill myself, or have a cup of coffee?” It wasn’t meant to be a flippant statement about suicide. His point was that every person always has a choice before them - the choice to end their lives or the choice to continue living.

One might say there is a difference between merely existing and actually living, as in fully engaging and embracing the lived human experience. The question of the choice to live is before us continuously. Existing is you being here physically, doing what you have to do to get through the day. Living is taking life as it comes, embracing it and doing as much as you can to feel fulfilled.

In his essay, Absurd Reasoning, he wrote,

“Dying voluntarily implies that you have recognized, even instinctively, the ridiculous character of that habit, the absence of any profound reason for living, the insane character of that daily agitation and the uselessness of suffering.”

According to Camus, people commit suicide “because they judge life is not worth living.” However, Camus believed that the recognition of the meaninglessness of the universe and existence or the resolution of the Absurd, did not warrant nor necessitate suicide. Rather, in the act of ending one’s existence, Camus believed one’s existence only became more absurd.

Camus wrote,

“Now I can broach the notion of suicide. It has already been felt what solution might be given. At this point the problem is reversed. It was previously a question of finding out whether or not life had to have a meaning to be lived. It now becomes clear on the contrary that it will be lived all the better if it has no meaning.”

For all the talk about suicide in the philosophical writings and ideas of Albert Camus, it should be noted that he was not an advocate of suicide, and obviously did not commit suicide himself. Camus spoke of suicide exclusively in the context of his philosophical notion of the Absurd, which became known as “Absurdism” in philosophical circles.

Camus also asserted that a person could attempt to resolve the dilemma of the Absurd by doing what he called “philosophical suicide”. He used this term to refer to a belief in the existence of a reality that is beyond the Absurd. More specifically, any religious, spiritual or abstract belief in a transcendent realm. Camus viewed a belief in anything beyond the Absurd as irrational. Though other philosophers such as Kierkegaard justified this as a necessary leap of faith, Camus called this “philosophical suicide”.

How many people do you personally know who prefer a comforting lie rather than an unpleasant truth? For Camus, philosophical suicide is the unwillingness to grapple with the very nature of life, and by this, never truly live. In essence, “philosophical suicide” is creating illusory hopes, fantasies and narratives as a way of escaping the existential angst of the essential facts of the universe, such as the absence of any inherent, prescribed, universal or absolute meaning and purpose. Camus believed that especially religion was philosophical suicide, but he also viewed nationalism and much of metaphysical philosophy to be so as well.

A Walk in the Woods

If you read a lot of Henry David Thoreau, you might see him as sympathetic to the Absurdism of Camus.

Thoreau wrote, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”

There are several things worth noting about these words:

1. The requisite to go “to the woods”

It was necessary for Thoreau to let go of his attachments to the life he was living in order to investigate and discover that another life was possible. Most people are so thoroughly vested in the scripts, expectations, and demands of the status quo that they are blind to the possibility of living life differently. It's not necessary to move to the woods, but you must step out of the inertia of business as usual to gain new perspective.

2. The challenge to “live deliberately”

Most people are living by default, droning along in accordance with beliefs, mindsets, attitudes, scripts, expectations and narratives that have been programmed into their head. In contrast, we have the capacity to live deliberately - that is, to live consciously and intentionally. One doesn't drift into a life true peace, meaning and happiness. We must chose and cultivate this path deliberately.

3. The need to “front the essential facts of life”

Most people buy into all kinds of fantasies and illusions in order to deny, escape or distract oneself from the essential facts of life and the true nature of reality. For example, many people adopt a victim mentality or blame others for their unhappiness, rather than take personal responsibility for the reality of their lives. Fronting the essential facts of life also involves being brutally honest with yourself about your chronic unhappiness and disharmony, and your misplaced dependencies, schemes and attachments to alleviate it.

4. The regret of discovering “I had not lived”

Hours, days, weeks, months, years and decades fly by, and suddenly we find ourselves nearing the end of our life's journey. This is not the time to discover you had not embraced the gift of life fully, wholly, courageously and spartantly. Knowing the fragility and impermanence of our mind-body lived human experience, we are challenged to recommit each day to living life wholly, and realize our fullest potentialities and possibilities. Palliative care nurse, Bronnie Ware, in her book, The Top Five Regrets of the Dying, identified the top five regrets of those close to death to be:

• “I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.”

• “I wish I hadn't worked so hard.”

• “I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.”

• “I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.”

• “I wish that I had let myself be happier.”

Accepting Reality

In my work as a religious deconstruction and religious trauma counselor, I often see people in existential crisis as a result of questioning and collapse of their bedrock beliefs about God, absolutes, meaning and purpose. This can sometimes result in a person tumbling into a dark nihilism and even suicidal ideation. We will often discuss a process for cultivating existential health, which includes constructively coping with the givens of human existence.

James Baldwin wrote, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” Camus believed that the proper way of responding to the Absurd was to accept it. In fact, he held that a person cannot live life fully and freely unless they do.

Camus wrote,

“For if there is a sin against life, it consists perhaps not so much in despairing of life as in hoping for another life and in eluding the implacable grandeur of this life.”

He further asserted,

“The realization that life is absurd and cannot be an end, but only a beginning. This is a truth nearly all great minds have taken as their starting point. It is not this discovery that is interesting, but the consequences and rules of action drawn from it.”

Words such as these indicate that Camus saw the meaninglessness of life, not as a tragedy, but as an invitation and adventure. He identifies what he believes to be the most fundamental truth about the human condition, which is that we are responsible for everything. You and I are responsible for giving life meaning. You and I are responsible for all our beliefs and actions in the world. You and I are responsible for what our life is or isn’t. We are responsible for the condition of our world. We are responsible to solve whatever problems exist in the world.

Have you ever noticed that the meaning of the world is the meaning and significance that we are projecting onto it? People search for the meaning of life not realizing they are the meaning-maker, for better or for worse.

German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche wrote, “There are no facts, only interpretations.” In other words, our experience of life is determined by what we think it means or the interpretations we impose upon it. In any given moment, life shows up in some configuration of a set of facts - time, location, circumstance. But what we actually experience in those moments is the meaning we ascribe to those facts. This is perhaps one of the most profound truths: Life is what you make it.

The life of Albert Camus seemed to give evidence to the validity of his philosophical ideas. He was known as one who lived life with unparalleled courage, creativity, and zeal. Camus spoke of the acceptance of the Absurd as a “revolt.” He wrote, “The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.”

One could summarize the Camus notion of the Absurd as follows:

• The world and human existence have no inherent meaning.

• The Absurd arises out of the fundamental disharmony between the individual's search for meaning and the meaningless of the universe.

• Humans have three ways of resolving the dilemma: physical suicide (ending one’s life); philosophical suicide (creating myths and narratives that spare us existential angst); acceptance of the absurd (living fully and courageously in the world as it is).

The Problem of Everyday Existence

Camus believed that the reality of the Absurd is most commonly felt as a result of human beings living their routine existence, and reflecting upon it to the extent of recognizing how meaningless it is. Camus wrote,

“At any street corner the feeling of absurdity can strike any man in the face. It happens that the stage sets collapse. Rising, streetcar, four hours in the office or the factory, meal, streetcar, four hours of work, meal, sleep and Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday and Saturday according to the same rhythm — this path is easily followed most of the time. But one day the "why" arises and everything begins in that weariness tinged with amazement.”

We get this, right? Life sometimes feels like continuous survival mode: eat-sleep-work-bills-tasks-gym-repeat. Consider the possibility that people dream of escaping their ordinary lives, but their lives were never ordinary. They simply failed to notice how extraordinary it was.

James Howard Kunstler wrote in The Long Emergency:

“If it happens that the human race doesn’t make it, then the fact that we were here once will not be altered, that once upon a time we peopled this astonishing blue planet, and wondered intelligently at everything about it and the other things who lived here with us on it, and that we celebrated the beauty of it in music and art, architecture, literature, and dance, and that there were times when we approached something godlike in our abilities and aspirations. We emerged out of depthless mystery, and back into mystery we returned, and in the end the mystery is all there is.”

Camus asserted that neither physical suicide nor philosophical suicide was a reasonable, useful or effective way of resolving the dilemma of our quest for meaning in a meaningless universe. He believed that the proper way of responding to the Absurd was to accept it. In fact, he held that a person cannot live life fully and freely unless they do.

The Myth of Sisyphus

In Greek mythology Sisyphus was the king of Ephyra. He was punished for his trickery by being forced to roll an immense boulder up a hill only for it to roll down when it nears the top, repeating this action for eternity.

As the myth goes, Zeus ordered Death (Thanatos) to chain King Sisyphus down below in Tartarus (Hell). King Sisyphus slyly asked Thanatos to demonstrate how the chains worked. As Thanatos was granting him his wish, Sisyphus seized the opportunity and trapped Thanatos in the chains instead. Once Thanatos was bound by the strong chains, no one died on earth. This caused an uproar especially for Ares (Greek god of war) who was annoyed that his battles had lost their fun because his opponents would not die, and so he intervened. The exasperated Ares freed Thanatos and turned King Sisyphus over to Thanatos, who condemned Sisyphus to the eternal fate of futilely pushing a heavy boulder up a hill only for it to roll back down to pushed up again and again and again, for all eternity.

Camus used the Greek legend of Sisyphus as a metaphor for the individual’s persistent struggle against the essential absurdity of life. In 1942, Albert Camus wrote an essay about this titled, The Myth of Sisyphus. Take a moment and read The Myth of Sisyphus. It’s not a long essay.

Sisyphus, The Absurd Hero

For Camus, Sisyphus is the “Absurd Hero”. He writes,

“You have already grasped that Sisyphus is the absurd hero. He is, as much through his passions as through his torture. His scorn of the gods, his hatred of death, and his passion for life won him that unspeakable penalty in which the whole being is exerted toward accomplishing nothing. This is the price that must be paid for the passions of this earth.”

Sisyphus is conscious of his plight, and therein lies his tragedy. For if, during the moments of descent, he nourished the hope that he would yet succeed, then his labor would lose its torment. But Sisyphus is clearly conscious of the extent of his own misery. It is this lucid recognition of his destiny, however, that transforms his torment into his victory. Camus says:

“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 towards the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.”

Sisyphus’ life and torment are transformed into a victory by concentrating on his freedom, his refusal to hope, and his knowledge of the absurdity of his situation. Sisyphus continues to perform his duty no matter how useless or how insignificant his action. It matters little for what reason he continues the struggle so long as he remains devoted to the task at hand.

Notice that the freedom of Sisyphus involved casting off the gods or a divine “master”.

The beliefs of Albert Camus about God are complicated. He once said, “I am not an atheist but I don’t believe in God.” Not exactly a position of clarity!

Camus didn’t speak very much on his views about the existence of god. He was born into a Catholic family but said he didn’t share the convictions and views of Christianity. Just taking from his ideas on the Absurd and that life lacks a knowable objective meaning, I don't think he would have been a theist. He might have believed in a deistic, non-intervening kind of god but I haven’t seen anything concrete on this. The most likely to me is that he was a critical but hopeful agnostic. Whether he intuitively felt that there is a god or not I don’t think we know for certain but it seems slightly more likely that he didn’t.

Camus believed that religion was a great deterrent to living life fully because it makes false promises to people and sets their hopes and sights on a better life after death. Camus held that a human being is nothing else but that which we make of ourselves. Seemingly not holding a belief in an afterlife, Camus challenged people to live their lives passionately and fearlessly - no reserves, no retreats, no regrets.

There has typically been a conflict between the central premises of religion and existential philosophy, namely, a disagreement about the existence of God, the supernatural, and grand absolutes. There are exceptions such as Søren Kierkegaard and Karl Jaspers, who are considered Theistic or Christian existentialists.

To understand why an Absurdist might see religion as the obstacle to true freedom, these two explanations might be useful.

Russian revolutionary anarchist, Mikhail Bakunin, wrote:

“The first revolt is against the supreme tyranny of theology, of the phantom of God. As long as we have a master in heaven, we will be slaves on earth. Our reason and our will will be equally annulled. As long as we believe that we must unconditionally obey God, no other obedience is possible – we must of necessity passively submit, without the least reservation, to the holy authority of his consecrated and unconsecrated agents, messiahs, prophets, divinely inspired law-makers, emperors, kings, and all their functionaries and ministers, representatives and consecrated servitors of the two greatest institutions which impose themselves upon us, and which are established by God himself to rule over men; namely, the Church and the State. All temporal or human authority stems directly from spiritual and/or divine authority. But authority is the negation of freedom. God, or rather the fiction of God, is the consecration and the intellectual and moral source of all slavery on earth, and the freedom of mankind will never be complete until the disastrous and insidious fiction of a heavenly master is annihilated.”

Similarly, Humanist and freethinker, Robert G. Ingersoll, wrote:

“When I became convinced that the universe is natural – that all the ghosts and gods are myths, there entered into my brain, into my soul, into every drop of my blood, the sense, the feeling, the joy of freedom. The walls of my prison crumbled and fell, the dungeon was flooded with light and all the bolts, and bars, and manacles became dust. I was no longer a servant, a serf or a slave. There was for me no master in all the wide world - not even in infinite space. I was free - free to think, to express my thoughts; free to live to my highest truth; free to live for myself and those I loved; free to use all my faculties, all my senses; free to spread imagination's wings; free to investigate, to guess and dream and hope; free to judge and determine for myself; free to reject all ignorant and cruel creeds, all the "inspired" books that ancients have produced, and all the bygone legends of the past; free from popes and priests; free from all the "called" and "set apart"; free from sanctified mistakes and holy lies; free from the fear of eternal pain; free from the winged monsters of the night; free from devils, ghosts and gods. For the first time I was free. There were no prohibited places in all the realms of thought - no air, no space, where fancy could not spread her painted wings; no chains for my limbs; no lashes for my back; no fires for my flesh; no master's frown or threat; no following another's steps; no need to bow, or cringe, or crawl, or utter lying words. I was free. I stood erect and fearlessly, joyously, faced all worlds.”

In this article I am doing my best to represent the philosophical ideas of Albert Camus. I’m not trying to convince you that we leave in a meaningless universe and that belief in God or the practice of religion are wrong, silly or unacceptable ways of finding meaning and purpose in life. As I always say, you do you. It’s not for me or anyone to judge your beliefs, values and convictions. Camus’ genuinely believed that the world and existence doesn’t have inherent meaning, and that our insistence in finding one is the most vexing aspect of the human condition. To Camus, the fact that life is meaningless doesn’t mean it’s not worth living. In fact, he believed that it was the fundamental reason why it is.

Camus understands the Absurd Hero to be that person who confronts the fundamental absurdity of the human condition and chooses to embrace life with passion and courage, despite the apparent lack of inherent meaning. The Absurd Hero, as described by Albert Camus, rejects the temptation to escape or deny the absurdity of existence and instead engages in a constant struggle to find meaning and create value in a world that is inherently indifferent to human concerns. This concept is central to Camus’ philosophy of the absurd.

In a nutshell, what Albert Camus is saying is this:

1. You know deep down that there isn’t any inherent, absolute, prescribed meaning and purpose to the universe and human existence, and that your life will end in death. If you laid aside your hopeful and wishful thinking, and allowed yourself to see this, it would be clear.

2. Rather than ponder suicide or create stories and narratives that tell you otherwise, the way to respond to the absurdity of the universe and existence, is to unflinchingly admit it, fearlessly lean into it, and courageously choose to live spartanly and passionately in the face of it.

3. True liberation can only be achieved by embracing the absurdity of the world and creating one’s own sense of meaning. We must be willing to embrace the uncertainties and challenges of life in order to achieve true freedom.

Camus said that we must make our way in this world based upon what we know with certainty. He wrote,

“This heart within me I can feel, and I judge that it exists. This world I can touch, and I likewise judge that it exists. There ends all my knowledge, and the rest is construction.”

To Camus, life has no absolute meaning. In spite of our irrational nostalgia for unity, absolutes, a definite order and meaning to our existence, no such meaning exists in the silent, indifferent universe. Between this yearning for meaning and eternal hopes, and the actual condition of the universe, there is a gap that can never be filled. The confrontation of the irrational, longing human heart and the indifferent universe brings about the angst of the Absurd.

You can see now why Sisyphus is the Absurd Hero. He is conscious of his plight: it was his scorn of the gods, hatred of death, and passion for life that won him the penalty of rolling a rock to the top of the mountain forever, and he does not appeal to hope or to any uncertain gods. His is the ultimate Absurd, for there is not death at the end of his struggle. And yet, all is not chaos; the experience of the absurd is the proof of man’s uniqueness and the foundation of his dignity and freedom.

To Camus, all that remains is a fate whose outcome alone is death. Outside of that single fatality of death, a world remains of which man is the sole master. What bound him was the illusion of another world. The resolution is not found in divine fables that amuse and blind, but in the full acceptance of the terms of the existence we find ourselves in, and the exercise of our will and freedom to live and savor every moment. For Camus, that is the “meaning of life” - the meaning you give it by how you choose to live it.

The Camus Secret to Happiness

“You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.”

Camus believed there is no objective formula for achieving happiness and no inherent meaning to life. Seeking either in his estimation is futile and a waste of time. Instead Camus believed happiness and meaning is solely what you create for yourself in life through your daily choices and actions.

“Man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is.”

Human beings are mortal, we are alone in the universe because there is no God, our life is meaningless beyond the meaning we give it, there is no otherworldly afterlife coming - Camus believed these to be the fundamental facts of our existence. However, Camus argued, we refuse to accept this, which prevents us from being and actualizing the unique and free creatures we are.

Sisyphus knew his fate was an eternity of pushing a heavy boulder up a steep mountain, only for it to roll back down to be pushed back up again.... and again and again and again, forever. Camus envisioned Sisyphus pushing that boulder up the mountain with a smile on his face. That smile is the revolt. We lean into the facts of our absurd universe and existence with defiance, resolve, courage, audacity, grit, heart and vigor.

This Dylan Thomas poem says it well:

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Albert Camus wrote, “But in the end one needs more courage to live than to kill himself.” This sentiment was prevalent in the view that Camus held about life. It's not for the faint of heart, and only a few truly live.

“Live to the point of tears.”

Albert Camus wrote, “Live to the point of tears.” It’s an exhortation to live life to the fullest. To live to the point of tears is to embrace the entirety of the lived human experience, both the joys and the sorrows. It’s an invitation to embrace the entire spectrum of human feelings — from the exhilarating peaks of joy to the profound valleys of sorrow, and every nuanced emotion in between. It’s about feeling deeply, loving passionately, and facing challenges with courage. Fling your heart open to the world. This is the essence of a life truly lived — vibrant, rich, and undeniably real.

Live to the point of tears. What tears would these be?

Perhaps they are...

• tears of healing

• tears of joy

• tears of overcoming

• tears of awakening

• tears of becoming

• tears of compassion

• tears of relinquishment

• tears of acceptance

• tears of triumph

• tears of defiance

• tears of vulnerability

• tears of courage

• tears of surrender

• tears of release

• tears of sadness

• tears of anger

• tears of tenderness

Camus’ poignant but practical insight for a full life is to live to the point of tears. Let yourself be touched by a human moment. Notice something beautiful that moves your heart. Express a deep feeling of compassion, kindness or solidarity. Sit with your sadness. Respectfully stand on the edge of another person's hurts and sorrows and offer your quiet and caring presence. Be undone by the injustice and suffering you witness in the world. Go inside yourself and see how deep the place is from which your life flows. Feel and live it all deeply.

I wrote in Notes from (Over) the Edge:

“I don’t know what will kill me first - the beauty of this world or the sorrow of it. There is a bliss that no amount of ache can steal away. And there’s an ache that no amount of bliss can rescue you from. The deal is both the beauty and the sorrow. It's what it means to be human. You are supposed to feel both the bliss and the ache. Life is not supposed to make you feel good or make you feel bad; it's just supposed to make you feel.”

In Summary

• The search for the meaning of life may be a wild goose chase that never ends.

• A “meaningless universe” sounds depressing, but could it be the foundation for true liberation and living life well?

• Is meaning a thing you “find” or something you make?

• We all exist but maybe living is a choice we have to continuously make.

• Live to the point of tears.