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"What, in fact, is the Absurd Man? He who, without negating it, does nothing for the eternal. Not that nostalgia is foreign to him. But he prefers his courage and his reasoning. The first teaches him to live without appeal and to get along with what he has; the second informs him of his limits. Assured of his temporally limited freedom, of his revolt devoid of future, and of his mortal consciousness, he lives out his adventure within the span of his lifetime. That is his field, that is his action, which he shields from any judgment but his own."--Albert Camus
This blog is dedicated to the absurd--the notion that none of this matters, has ever mattered, or will ever matter. You can, of course, choose to view such an outlook as fatalistic, depressing, or (as one recent author put it) "resignation to our inevitable demise." We, on the other hand, choose to view it as unlocking the chains in which most of us spend our days, tragically unaware of the key sitting unused in our hand.
Ruminations on the meaninglessness of it all
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Blog Archive
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2009
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June
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- Governors and Beggars - What's the Difference?
- "Nothing Matters"
- What makes us happy?
- Rich and Miserable
- Worried? Don't Be.
- Only a game
- Happy Father's Day!
- The Sage of Baltimore was Absurd
- Why absurdity?
- This is water
- On education
- Krishnamurti
- In Defense of Idlers
- Doing nothing
- In praise of boredom
- Do you want the red pill or the blue pill?
- Who is the absurd man?
- Camus: Quote of the day
- The Cruise of the Snark
- We die
- You are a Black Swan
- The illusion of control
- This Simian World
- All or nothing
- Act accordingly
- The Capacity to Enjoy
- Proof of the Absurd
- Stand Still Like the Hummingbird
- Work is Absurd
- Channeling Nicolas Cage
- The Professor of Happiness
- Absurdity
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June
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Books we like
- The Myth of Sisyphus - Albert Camus
- Total Freedom - Krishnamurti
- The Denial of Death - Ernest Becker
- I am a Strange Loop - Douglas Hofstadter
- Stand Still like the Hummingbird - Henry Miller
- Tell Them it was Wonderful - Ludwig Bemelmans
- The Road - Cormac McCarthy
- Peace is Every Step - Thich Nhat Hanh
- Minority Report - H.L. Mencken
- Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Hunter S Thompson
- The End of Faith - Sam Harris
Movies with a healthy dose of the absurd
- It's A Wonderful Life (yes, really...)
- The Family Man
- Heaven Can Wait
- The Matrix
who is john galt?
ReplyDeleteAll state same thing, "key sitting unused in our hand". If it were so, overwhemingly majority of world would be content to just be or delight in nothingness, or revel in wonder about everything anything everyone or anyone,but that is not how the design is.
ReplyDeleteImperfection is perfect with its own imperfections. Energy & Intelligent design that exists in multitude of energies, designs is one. It is for this energy to resolve. W hy crib "tragically unaware"? Enery is intelligent enough to allow & have unawareness & there is such delight & joy even is such so called states of unawareness! Truly, where is unawareness! Live, Be Alive, that is what is!
BTW: what or where is the key? Enough has been written, spoken, debated about it. the word key has be belted infinite number of times by all & sundry.
I'm a bit confused by all the absurdity stuff.
ReplyDeleteI've always thought the paintings of Toulouse-Lautrec were under-rated. All we get to see here in America is the circus posters.
I am glad that i stumbled upon this blog.
ReplyDeleteI see many a blog and after a few hyper skims...i let them go, but I wonder if this one will be different?
I hope so.
I am going to start here, from the beginning and work my way to Tiger.
It's not necessary that I post this, but i feel like it and I guess I am hoping your reactions will be, "who cares".
:)
zoe
About a year ago I was feeling particularly Absurd and googled "man is absurd" and this popped up. Encountering this blog was one of my happiest internet discoveries (after narwhal porn, of course) and your continued dedication to it is just remarkable.
ReplyDeleteKeep it up!
Enzo
hello everyone...i was just searching google for some references and books concerning albert camus and his masterpiece "the stranger" and suddenly i'm here...a great blog indeed.
ReplyDeletei just wanted to ask for help, seeing that this blog is commited entirely for albert camus and the absurd...i'm doing my final master's degree dissertation, where i'm going to compare beween the stranger and waiting for godot in terms of philosophical background and implications...would you please help me guys...anything will be great, websites, pdf,articles,quotes,critics, analysis ...anything will be well appreciated...thank you very much in advance...by the way i'm from algeria too hahaha...
To whom it may concern -
ReplyDeleteJust read through every post and comment from this blogs brief 3 year life. I thought I’d pass on an observation or two for those who might also follow my path.
The authors Rick and Inigo seem sincere in their belief that they are attempting to pursue absurdity. And in their sincerity they have gathered interesting quotes, shared interesting stories, and express their personal beliefs with a fair degree of clarity. These are all positives.
However, unlike Camus the authors of this blog don’t rebel against life’s grand meaninglessness by committing to live their own meaning. Instead they’ve made the tragic leap of trying to believe they believe in nothing while very much believing the opposite.
The nihilists curse is that when there is no absolute meaning in the universe all meaning comes from within oneself. And with the power to define what their life means they’ve chosen that it be meaningless.
As you read the blog look to the commentary by Captain Jack, Arthur, Random Havoc, and several of the many “Anonymous” for more useful ways to understand and apply the lessons of Camus.
I wish you well -