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Post by jarelyrebollar on Jun 14, 2024 14:23:38 GMT
I quite like the connection between the idea of Absurdism and the myth of Sisyphus. The myth of Sisyphus provides a great example. Sisyphus constantly rolls a boulder up a hill, only to have it roll back down again. Despite the futility, Sisyphus's perseverance symbolizes human resilience. According to Camus, despite life's inherent meaninglessness, we can achieve happiness by embracing the struggle itself, striving relentlessly to find meaning despite its absurdity.
However, is it that peaceful to live a life stuck in a constant cycle and live life to its fullest? Can people today have that peace in life?
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Post by reluedders on Jun 14, 2024 16:11:32 GMT
I like this idea of embracing the struggle, but I think where we're different from Sisyphus is that we see our efforts come to fruition in most instances. Personally, I don't think that I could find peace in that constant cycle. I need to see at least some sort of progression, even if it's the tiniest one.
I think that people today have even less patience that in the past, so they are even less likely to find peace in those constant cycles. With the students I teach, if they don't experience that almost instaneous gratification, they give up. They would not last a day, or even an hour, as Sisyphus.
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Post by Dr. Nemmers on Jun 14, 2024 18:43:01 GMT
Well, to speak to your point, Jarely, I"m not sure that "peace" is an existentialist touchstone, or that existentialists are searching for peace. Agree with you, Renee, that patience is no longer a common virtue, and that we're all seeking progress, and the more immediate the better.
To me, the hardest thing with absurdity is to embrace things that don't make sense. I think we're so conditioned to try and figure things out, to find a reason or rational or purpose, to try to understand why things happen and where they're headed. But things that are absurd don't have an explanation-- they just plain don't make sense. Or, I should say, they have their own internal logic that can't be parsed or extrapolated.
Why is Sisyphus supposed to push the boulder? Well, he just is-- and that's the way it is.
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Post by gnicholson3 on Jun 19, 2024 17:17:30 GMT
Your comment about the cyclical nature of Sisyphus' plight reminded me of the concept of Nietzsche's Eternal Return. Nietzsche doesn't necessarily mean that we will return to this life and be able to fix any mistakes or change anything, instead he's encouraging us to live our lives as if we could do it over again exactly as before. We should jump at the opportunities, big and small, and experience as much as we can so if we could return and live that same life on loop, then we'd be happy with it. Even though we'd live through things we didn't enjoy there would never be the disappointment of passing the opportunities we'd want to try, because there will be plenty of the good and bad. Kundera, author of The Unbearable Lightness of Being, argues that the cyclical nature of life is what leads people to achieve happiness. I don't know that I necessarily believe that, but society as a whole generally live cyclical lives without knowing sometimes; we live according to the seasons (Spring, Summer, Winter Fall), the year (365 days), harvest seasons, school seasons, hunting seasons, etc.
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Post by Rylee Wenzel on Jun 20, 2024 2:21:54 GMT
I do believe people today can have peace in their lives. I think this all leads back to our ability to give meaning to otherwise meaningless things. We are in charge of our own lives. If we choose to take note of the life we have, and the people in our lives, and choose to be grateful for that, I think life can be good. It is weird to consider that everything is absurd and we are simply here to live out our lives and then die. But I think you can choose to focus on that or choose to focus on the good and make even the smallest things meaningful.
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Post by meagangcurrie on Jun 20, 2024 2:50:25 GMT
It depends on the person. Life is an interesting thing and people still do not know how to explain it. To me, the myth of Sisyphus can be perceived in absurdist, nihilistic and even stoic lenses. There are all sorts of interpretations because we all have a different view on life.
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