Camus' "The Myth of Sisyphus and the Absurd"

Camus' The Myth of Sisyphus focuses on what he calls "The Absurd". The Absurd is the desire for order and structure in a chaotic world. Humans have always and will always strive for some sort of order. They will either turn to God for that order or accept that the world is meaningless. He does not believe that this contradiction can be reconciled, only escaped from.

Camus suggests facing the Absurd as the solution to the contradiction. Although life has no meaning, he does not believe that suicide is the answer. He does not believe that it is necessary to escape the Absurd at all, but that we can live and find meaning within it.

He provides three characteristics of the absurd life, which are revolt, freedom, and passion. By revolting we will not accept any attempt at reconciling the unreconcilable contradiction of the Absurd. Freedom is the freedom to be or do whatever we desire, to create our own meaning and passion is that we must find experiences that are diverse and valuable to ourselves.

He also provides four examples of the Absurd life: the seducer, the actor, the conquerer, and the artist. These lifestyles are attempts at living within the contradiction of the Absurd by creating personal meaning. That meaning can be created through pretending to be other people, physical pleasures, or creating new imaginary worlds.

The Myth of Sisyphus is a greek myth about a man called Sisyphus who is punished for all eternity. He must push a rock up a mountain only to have it roll back to the bottom again, time after time. Camus explains that Sisyphus must realize that his life is nothing but an absurd struggle and once he realizes this, he can find happiness within it. One must either realize that life is Absurd and live within it or believe in a God who creates meaning. Camus suggests the previous.

Camus' Absurd is essential the same as Sartre's Nausea. Both conclude that meaningful experiences must be created in a meaningless world. Without God there is nothing to turn to except manufactured meaningful experiences. The difference is that Camus' seems to believe humans can become much more adjusted to a post-metaphysical world, whereas Sartre's Roquentin seems to believe the Nausea will not go away. Camus' absurd is referring to the absurd contradiction of desiring meaning where there is none, where Sartre's Nausea is the feeling this invokes. Camus' Absurd is much more concrete because it provides the contradiction which is causing humans distress, rather than Sartre's simply meaningless world, which is more conceptual.

Camus' writing on the Absurd is successful because it addresses what is undoubtedly true in a post-metaphysical world: humans must accept that life is meaningless or turn to God. Once human's accept that the world is meaningless, they are free to create their own meaning within it. Humans can only be truly happy when they have accepted one of these two beliefs.

Camus' writings are unsuccessful when he gives the four examples of the Absurd life. Just because the world has no inherent meaning, does not mean that actors, artists, rebels, and seducers are the only ones who can enjoy life. I think Camus should have left the determination of meaning up to the individual. Many people will find meaning in a quiet life with loved ones, even if they do not believe in God and even if their life is not adventurous.

If, as Camus suggests, we accept our life as Absurd, than we should be capable of creating meaning under any circumstance. As with his example of Sisyphus pushing the rock endlessly up the mountain, we should be able to find enjoyment in life no matter what that enjoyment is or where it comes from. Our life need not be adventurous or creative to be meaningful to ourselves.