If you sat and pondered about what most things people ponder about at some point in life, you’ve probably stumbled upon the age-old question, “What is the meaning of life- what is the meaning of my life?” And if you’re like most people, you don’t really find an answer. Or you find the answer rather easily. Most people define their “reasons to live” by throwing themselves into their religion, devoting their time and money to family and friends or on those who rely on them the most. These are noble causes...but they all end. All of your friends die, your significant other dies, your family dies, then you- eventually die. Everything we associate with living a fulfilling life, full of meaning such as love, affection, friendship, learning, fucking, dancing, is really all just meaningless in the end since it all... fucking... ends.
Welcome to the wonderful world of absurdism. Where the goal is to find ways to not kill yourself, as nothing really holds any intrinsic meaning in the end. It all ends, so why bother? If nothing holds any meaning, why do we still crave to stay alive and cling to some sort of meaning, if that even exists in itself? To understand why this seemingly bizarre and rather dark and nihilistic view of the world around us, we must first get comfy with the idea of The Absurd. We assume here that life in itself does not hold any intrinsic meaning, sort of like Nietzsche believed. The quest to find meaning in our life is useless, as it is all fleeting and will eventually end.
Finding meaning in a random, chaotic, and irrational universe and existence will never provide us with the answers we need or want. So what is the point here? Suicide. According to absurdists.
Camus puts it this way:
“There is only one really serious philosophical problem,” Camus says, “and that is suicide.”
“Julia, what even is absurdism, God has a plan for me, and He gives me a purpose in this life.” Ok ok ok. This is a valid point, and there is nothing wrong with that, but for the sake of exploring absurdism, let’s drop religion (whatever it may be). To those who don’t believe, obviously, religion doesn’t give them meaning, so according to absurdism. Kill yourself. Given all the pain and suffering in the world, the only rational conclusion about God is that he’s either clueless or a psychopath. So, God’s existence could only make life more absurd, not less. And even the good deeds make it absurd, as these goods deeds are sporadic and seemingly unfair at times. Sometimes we think to ourselves, “what did that awful person do to get the success, money, fame, and I didn’t?”. This also is the absurdity of God, as the blessings seem so displaced. This is arguable of course, and existential absurdism doesn't suggest you stop believing in religion- in fact, its quite the opposite.
As gloomy and hopeless this all seems on paper, existential absurdism's goal is to not succumb to the meaninglessness and absurdism of life, but to take on a sort of Kierkegaardian "leap of faith" into a world that is so absurd, or to subscribe to mindfulness, to take in "the illusion" of meaning, and to persevere into the painful and/or confusing absurd present in our lives. It's despite the absurd, we find something that makes us whole, not necessarily meaning in our lives, but venturing into a chaotic meaningless world, with some sort of orientation that maybe we just exist to derive an understanding and not a meaning, and making most of it in the small sliver of time we exist. Whether it's religion and why its so important to us, or family or friends, it's more of an understanding rather than a meaning.
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