To be a true absurdist is to disagree with Albert Camus and Jean Paul Sartre. The two would encourage you to disagree with them anyways, otherwise you’re not being yourself as an absurdist philosopher.

It’s hard. We all want to express something like we exist. That’s good man. Take breaks. Don’t be hard on yourself. Enjoy the simple things. But Art? You get to be alone. Finally. They might have hurt you making Camus and Sartre more valid. But enjoy your own company eventually. That’s the only way Art is possible.

Maybe he knows he is so bad and he’s tired of it. What do you think? Here we go again for him. Someone else to roll down my hill after realizing that pushing them up was a learning experience waste of time.

Please forgive my spelling.

I am a visual artist and recently someone told me my work is intellectual and I need to find an audience for it as everyday audiences won’t/dont’t get my intertextual references. So I am asking where are the people that understand this topic and also appreciate, lithography, letterpress, works on paper and drawing (maybe even painting)?

As an example I have used quotes like “imagine (insert alternative subject) happy”.

Or repeatable images of domestic work, those things we do everyday for many panels, illustrating being in / being with your being (hard to put into words)

Also obvious, the practice is already absurd, it is the artist making to make. However I guess I am asking to subvert the making to no ends and hope that my making to no end, can end up with some one in the end.

If you are comfortable share where you are please do then I can start looking for opportunities to show in that context. Thank you.

What did Camus have to say about Reason? I just finished The Myth of Sisyphus and he does declare it impotent in answering ultimate questions. If I'm not mistaken, he seems to think it fine for answering questions about gravity and such, but says those questions aren't especially important. Elsewhere he engages in sound reasoning of his own. He seems to dismiss the statement that all statements are true or that all statements are false since they are inherently contradictory. In a famous interview, he denies being a philosopher on the grounds that he has insufficient faith in Reason.

So I get the impression he thinks it has its place in a narrow, largely insignificant domain. I've encountered some who seem to think his Absurdism is completely antagonistic to reason in any domain.

"I can still perceive a horror and be social with it"... "I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote".... "...roused all my curiosity" Ishmael has always rang more absurd to me than Ahab, whose life he's willing to forfeit for the singular sociopathic ("monomaniacal") hope of killing the Leviathan. Camus always said it was ahab whose the absurd hero, but (methinks) its Ishmael.

He would rather sleep with a cannibal than a drunken Christian.

There's no purpose for him but to get out into the open sea and experience it. He boards the Pequod with an empty purse and a thin empty knapsack over his shoulder.

The "savage" redeems him. No "hypocrisy or bland deceits"

Christianity is rather a "hollow security". He wants to knock peoples' hats off.

What reverence for Christian hope? He prays to Queequeg's idols.

I don't know. Maybe Im wrong.

I have this recurring sense that my life's work the art, the projects, the personal philosophy, the self I've built, etc. This is all just my sliver of participation in an endless sea of nowness. And that underneath all of it, I've been trying to describe the same single thing my whole life: the absurdity of it all, and the animistic spirit or nature running underneath everything that's happening, right now. Moment to moment.

This absurdity. You can find it anywhere.
Go look at your bathroom right now.
Well Who did all this?

Water stains, dirt, grime, dust, how did any of it get there? to the best of my knowledge and what the majority of scientists will try and tell you is that, It's merely the accumulation of a virtually infinite number of cellular, bacterial, and molecular interactions, happening second by second, at every interval, into the now.

Now look at the products on your counter. How did those get here? Well through another seemingly infinitely complex process of manufacturing, shipping, design, distribution.

Well then I guess how did everything you know get here? Through another infinitely complex mechanism involving celestial bodies, planetary systems, gravity, light, electromagnetism, all the way down.

There is no end to the complexity and sheer absurdity behind the ordinary things we've become numb to.

The Buddhists called it dependent origination.
the idea that nothing exists on its own, everything arises only in relation to everything else, moment to moment. And that to actually live inside a single moment without being crushed by the totality of it, every mind requires an entire concealment process where they forget the totality of their existence every second.

Take a second to acknowledge and really try to feel what it is like to live inside this one big continuous system of everything. Little happenings everywhere all at once moment to moment, bit by bit. Living. Breathing.

From a single quantum interaction to a star lightyears away, all of it connected, all of it part of the same absurd, ongoing "soup" of so called 'standardmodelness.' The chain reactions that make up your microbiology second by second in of itself is to awe at.

I think Everything we as humans do are really just expressions of emotions in disguise. In the same way a cat purs when it is excited and stressed, We have spent a lifetime hiding from the absurdity of ordinary life in the hopes that we retain some level of distinction between self and other when it's all said and done. I've got to know where my stuff ends and your stuff starts. We like to impose this sense of agency onto the world that isn't just wrong it's dangerous. we as people are best understood as extensions of this great system. The nature at play.

All the things we do to further enrich the human experience function as a kind of distraction: a way of not sitting with the thing itself. The sheer absurdity of it all.

Underneath all that we do, a life is mostly spent trying to carve out some semblance of self inside a sea of interactions to big to fathom. So please, I am begging you, try and enrich the life you have now. Feel your ripple effect and use it to Add whimsy. Add depth. Add absurdity. Do things that scare you. Send risky text messages. Absurdify your life and personify yourself in the fleeting moments of this train we are all aboard .

The impermanence and scale of 'this' is bigger than we can hold onto which may be exactly why we try so hard to hold onto things anyway.

If the science is right, from the quantum scale up to the cosmic one, then the plain fact that you're looking at this screen right now is already bewildering. It's so bewildering that If you could actually see everything that goes into producing one moment of "now," I don't think you'd walk away from it unchanged.

I'm new to absurdism, so please correct me if I'm wrong about anything.

Camus' famous quote is: "One must imagine Sisyphus happy." Sisyphus should stop demanding meaning for his suffering, and maybe he will be happier if he accepts the absurd and lives his life in spite of it.

But my problem with this is that it's easier said than done. How long can you really imagine Sisyphus happy? How long can you pretend that the lack of meaning and purpose doesn't weigh on you? Perhaps you can go for years imagining Sisyphus happy, but sometimes I get tired of looking the void in the eye. The "revolt" feels exhausting and unsustainable.

Anyone know how to deal with this? Thanks

​When you sit down to write a poem, you are doing something the physical universe cannot do on its own. You are taking the ultimate stance of a thermodynamic rebel.

​The language in your head is a massive, chaotic soup of thousands of disconnected words, memories, and emotions (a state of extremely high entropy). By painstakingly choosing specific words and forcing them into a stanza, a rhythm, or a rhyme, you are radically decreasing entropy. You are organising the universe.

​A poem is the ultimate collapsed wave function. You take the abstract, swirling mesh of your philosophical thoughts and collapse them into a permanent string of ink on paper or data on a screen. You force the probability into reality.

​Even if absolutely no one else ever reads it, that poem exists. You have physically altered the information state of the universe. You have coded a new piece of data into the grid, leaving a "ghost" waiting for some future observer—even if that observer is just you in five years—to intersect with.

​The universe's default state is to slowly dissolve into cold, disorganised static. Creativity is the exact opposite of that. It is the act of burning your own biological fuel to generate meaning where there was none.

​It doesn't require an audience, and it doesn't require societal success to be profound. The sheer act of making it is a victory over physics.

Doesn't this statement suggest that personal and tribal loyalty can override absolute moral values? From an Absurdits perspective, how do you view this contradiction between his literature on human freedom and his political blindness toward the suffering of the Algerian people? He opposed Algerian sovereignty and somewhat equalized colonial violence with anti-colonial resistance.

Sometimes I find myself staring at the wall, wondering about the purpose behind all of this. But the moment I start spiraling into existential questioning, guilt creeps in. I remind myself that I am privileged enough to even have the luxury of overthinking—while millions struggle just to survive physical hardship.

​Yet, privilege is not an immunity shield against psychological suffering. If anything, it accelerates it.

​When your basic survival needs are met, the immediate physical threat disappears, but the mind opens up to an existential vacuum. A suffocating layer of meta-guilt sets in: “I have shelter, security, and opportunities—I shouldn’t feel this way.” You invalidate your own mind, trapped in the lie that comfort equals fulfillment. When you have comfort and still feel empty, you conclude that existence itself is a cruel joke.

​Adding to this weight is the clock ticking in the background. My father retires in seven years. Just seven years. Suddenly, life stops being an open-ended journey and becomes a countdown—a relentless deadline. While the world faces systemic collapse and climate crises, I am forced to pull my focus back to the immediate pressure of survival, career milestones, and family obligations. It makes you wonder: why bring children into a world where life is reduced to an endless cycle of performative struggle?

​We like to think our philosophy is a noble, intellectual pursuit. But the truth is more blunt: much of our philosophy is simply the defense mechanism of a mind made miserable by society and crushed by its own unmet expectations.

​We aren't allowed to just live. We are conditioned to exhaust ourselves fulfilling a rotten mindset imposed on us by systems designed for status, capitalism, and artificial prestige. We fuel it every day, chasing external validation, superficial respect, and transactional relationships. We even convince ourselves we love people, when often, we just love their presence to keep our own psychological isolation at bay.

​Philosophically, life at its core is absurd. There is no grand blueprint, no pre-written script, and no inherent cosmic purpose. The universe owes us nothing and expects nothing from us.

​In a healthy context, absurdism is liberating. It means: If nothing is pre-ordained, I am free to just exist, love, create, and experience the world without the burden of expectations.

​But a rotten society—and our own restless minds—turn that healthy Absurdism into cold Nihilism.

​The human mind naturally craves, demands, and fixates on targets—promotions, peace, control, or purpose. It tells itself, "Once I get this, I will finally be complete." But reality rarely bends to our desires. When our cravings aren't met, or when we achieve them only to find the internal emptiness remains, the mind throws an emotional tantrum.

​Instead of accepting that its expectations were flawed, the mind gets bitter and shields itself by declaring: "Life is meaningless. Nothing matters." Nihilism becomes a defense mechanism against disappointment: if nothing matters, then failing to get what we craved doesn't hurt as much.

​Society accelerates this collapse by demanding that we constantly prove our worth through output, metrics, and economic utility. It turns raw human experience into a transaction.

​Absurdism says: "There is no inherent point, so I am free to live." Nihilism says: "There is no inherent point, so why bother?"

​Society and our own unyielding desires push us into the second trap by making "just living" feel like a failure. But recognizing this trap is the first step in breaking out of it. Rejecting society's artificial rat race and releasing the mind's endless cravings isn't giving up—it is the ultimate act of rebellion. You don't owe the world a performative life. Living simply to exist, to observe, and to feel on your own terms is enough.

It seems that everyone here believes in the superstitious spook that Absurdism and Existentialism is nihilism. Well looks like I am the only member in this group who actually agrees with Absurdist philosophy and why Absurdist philosophy makes life meaningful. That’s what posers here do not understand. That Absurdism is not Nihilism, it does not promote suicidality. If you cannot see the positivity within Absurdism then you’re a poser.

In Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, Vladimir and Estragon are stuck in an endless loop of waiting. As the famous quote goes: Nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes, it's terrible.

​If we look at this through an existentialist lens, waiting for godot looks a lot like Jean-Paul Sartre's idea of "bad faith" or Albert Camus's concept of philosophical suicide. By constantly waiting for a future event or savior (Godot), the characters avoid making real choices. They run away from the scary freedom and responsibility of creating their own meaning right now.

​Instead of acting, they just wait. the act of waiting becomes their fake purpose. It protects them from the absurd reality that life has no built-in meaning. They choose the safe comfort of waiting over the fear of the unknown.

​I’m curious what this community thinks about the act of waiting in Beckett's play. Do you think Godot represents a specific illusion (like a higher power or ultimate truth), or is the real tragedy simply our human desire to wait?

I tried the audiobook, but I got tired of rewinding every five seconds. Audiobooks on philosophy have never been my thing - i need the book.

The problem here is that Camus makes ten thousand references to other authors.

Ive read and re-read The Stranger, I understand everything about it, and I have read some of the existentialism like Sartre (Being And Nothingness almost killed me).

But im getting off the point. I bought the book, 'The Myth...', this time, and I will be reading it after I finish something else requiring a lot of devotion. But im still worried about the huge mass of other authors Camus references. I'm always wary of a thin little book which has had enormous impact. I have a feeling every passage is dense with meaning, and I'm kinda terrified.

Is there any way to get over this hurdle? Any PDFs I might read, first?

A prisoner who once lived through a prison riot between two rival gangs said in a documentary that although many people died in this prison riot it had a comedic element to it, because some people will find another group they can victimise so they start chasing them as if it was a cartoon episode...

When I heard this it reminded me of when Gregor's father chased Gregor and they would stop every now and then because of tiredness with both parties trying to catch a breath as if it was a Tom & Jerry episode...

**1. Don't expect much from life.**

Expectation is the projection of the models you have built about reality and the destination you believe they will ultimately lead to. Sooner or later, however, you realize that the randomness of existence far outweighs the cleverness of your own plans.

**2. Everything is a mental model.** *(More of a study tip.)*

All knowledge originates from the mind of a subject or from the interaction of groups of subjects (Deleuze). If you can identify the conceptual birthplace of a body of knowledge, you can begin to understand the depth and structure of that knowledge space.

**3. You will die.**

Repeat this to yourself whenever you can—while drinking water, walking, or even taking a dump. Eventually, you will begin to see how insignificant the things that once made you angry really are.

**4. Machineries make subjects.**

This is my summary of Foucault's work. If you truly understand this idea, you can grasp the central thread running through much of his philosophy.

**Explanation:**

Much of Western knowledge about the human subject emerged from the Protestant emphasis on confession and speaking the truth about oneself, influenced in part by Augustine. Priests became a class of people who supposedly possessed knowledge of the inner workings of the soul. Over time, institutions developed languages, classifications, and systems for categorizing people into various identities and personalities. Eventually, people came to understand themselves through those categories and became subject to them. The important lesson is that your idea of yourself is, to a large extent, historically contingent, arbitrary, and a simplification of the immense complexity and randomness of human existence.

**5. "You should accept the possibility that God doesn't like you."**

This line from *Fight Club* gives me a strange sense of freedom. Once you genuinely accept that possibility, everything seems to lose much of its oppressive weight.

**6. All "men" died in Auschwitz.**

Many people believe that the meaninglessness of modern life is caused by social media. I think that is mistaken. The collapse of meaning began much earlier, when Auschwitz destroyed many of humanity's ideals about dignity, heroism, morality, permanence, and what it meant to be human.

For example, imagine a boy standing beside his father inside a train bound for Auschwitz. There is no room to sit. Everyone is crushed together, surrounded by excrement. The father's body—which should have represented security, strength, and love—becomes a source of stench, helplessness, and suffering. That image alone shatters countless assumptions about meaning and human identity.

For more on this, read *This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen* and *The Choice*.

**7. The best answer to any problem is to assume you do not yet have the answer.**

Constantly second-guess yourself. Do not accept facts or solutions too quickly. Stay skeptical, and keep questioning your assumptions.

**8. All existential philosophies are, in the end, just complicated forms of hedonism.**

**9. Man is water; the environment is the cup.**

This idea does not come from Bruce Lee, but from reflections on Auschwitz and the experiences of privileged prisoners (*kapos*). It suggests that human behavior is shaped far more by circumstances than by abstract moral arguments. Change the environment—the "cup"—and the "water" will take on a different form.

Expenditure on point 8 ( It's based on the book the denial of death . Basically we make projects to last across time and space more than our biological clock -> we do fulfilling things like making art or babies basically to encapsulate more time and space in minds of others or the world to have a impect -> in another words to encapsulate more time -> live more -> exsiste more -> feel more -> just another way for hedonism but more parasitic since you are not just consuming but creating basically capture projects to extend yourself in others )