The Meaningless Existence And The Meaninglessness Of Life

Punishment “is tragic only at the rare moments when it becomes conscious” is what Camus claims (Myth of Sisyphus). The solution to Meursault’s and Sisyphus’s fatal fates is converting negative emotion, into joy through perception. Some argue that in the beginning, Meursault was hardened and cant be an existential hero because he is mindless, but his perception is clearly outlined and changed. “It was like knocking four quick times on the door of unhappiness,” (59) is what Meursault thought when he shot the Arab another four times. Although some may argue he was committing a hardened act, unhappiness is still an emotion. It isn’t necessarily sadness, which is what society wants to see, but it could be interpreted as being content. Meursault cannot find the happiness in life; he is just okay with it and unconsciously proceeds through his life in a routine of physical happenings. Then, he remembers, “Manman used to say that you could always find something to be happy about,” (113). This alters his perception on the spot, and no longer becomes sad based upon speculating on his memories and how he will lose them. This mirrors Sisyphus and how he finds the “silent joy” by altering his perception of what is currently happening with pushing the rock up the hill. So, Meursault forgets about the past and looks for good from his cell. Outside of those cell bars he can see the green grass, the sky, the stars, and is happy. Now, his happiness is not declared yet, he doesn’t know that he is happy, but he just went into the idea of living a life in death instead of death in life. This realization happens with his impression on the chaplain, which is that “he wasn’t even sure he was alive because he was living like a dead man,” (120). This means that one

Society tends to live day to day without much question of their own existence. Humans are born into the world and without second thought begin to live their lives, but there comes a time when individuals begin to question the reason for their being. In Richard Taylor’s, “The Meaning of Life”, Taylor explores the thought that our existence, when viewed externally without our prejudices, is fundamentally pointless. A thorough analysis of Taylor’s ideas will be given to understand the reasoning behind his thoughts, his argument will then be defended from counter arguments that state that the meaning behind any entity’s life could have any alternative meaning.

    Eddins’ argument of the relevance of Camus’s work to Hemmingway’s is delineated in the Santiago and Sisyphus’s similarities. Both are lone men who are ,”engaged in an isolated, repetitive struggle that must end in defeat.” (2). Only their stubborn spirit and determination drives them despite their unforgiving environment.

The Myth of Sisyphus tells of a mortal who was punished by the gods to push a rock to the top of a mountain which would then roll back to the bottom where he was to start pushing again. Sisyphus was to continuously repeat this task or all of eternity. Many similarities in philosophies can be seen between this myth and The Stranger, both authored by Albert Camus. In The Stranger, Meursault often noted what interested and disinterested him, similarly, the narrator of the myth mentions that Sisyphus return trip down the mountain peaks his interest. Additionally, Meursault never developed any faith in a higher power which correlates to the narrator of the myth stating, “...there is no higher destiny” (Camus, paragraph 9). Next, Meursault clearly

It is said that an action must carry purpose, in order to be called meaningful. Only the reason we do as we do, our motivations, is what will endure, even long after the actions themselves are forgotten. Buildings are demolished, statues are replaced, and organizations simply fall apart, but ideals are eternal. When an ideal resonates within our hearts, it is stronger that anything that can be seen in this material world, and at the end these ideals push us forward and transform into actions, creations and innovations. BAMUN is the compilation of many ideas, launched thanks to the diligent work of altruistic human beings. Due to their legacy, each year we have the opportunity to rewrite our history. Each year we have the chance of reinventing our society and redefining our character. It is up to every one of us to make part of the ceaseless passing of time.

In the written texts “Myth of Sisyphus” and “The Stranger”, French author Albert Camus vividly portrays parallelism between his fictional characters. Through Meursault’s narrative and time spent in jail in “The Stranger”, Meursault reveals his emotionally removed temperament, earning himself the status of an outsider. In contrast to Meursault, Sisyphus was never labeled as an outsider, but did not bring joyous thoughts among the gods; Sisyphus was a burden to the gods. Although Meursault and Sisyphus have their differences, their love for life, defiant behavior toward their punishments, and their acceptance of their fates are the parallels between them.

As Camus believes, despite one’s suffering, one should be satisfied. Instead of pondering on one’s mistakes and flaws, one should be able to say “all is well” at the end of the day. In the end, Camus states that the reason behind Sisyphus strength is not false hope, but facing his punishment and challenges.

Camus states “His rock is his thing. Likewise, the absurd man, when he contemplates his torment, silences all the idols... The absurd man says yes and his effort will henceforth be unceasing” (Camus). Meaning Sisyphus is a ridiculous man to look at the rock everyday and think i'm gonna push this rock up this hill even though I will never accomplish anything.

I chose Option #1 as a perfect example of existentialism. In this video there are groups of people partying as if they have no worry in the world. If they drink a little too much they will not necessarily worry about their driving impairment. There were mobs of people gathered that were possibly having disagreements that would lead to nothing of substance, yet the arguments would lead to no resolution. An army was fighting a war? Is the war about land, religion, or a political issue? Whatever the reason may be for fighting the war, does it warrant the loss of lives? A girl text messages a boy as he is walking onto oncoming traffic. Could the boy not have waited to get onto the safe crosswalk to look at the text message, instead of getting hit

On a metaphoric level, Meursault, is convicted of death and is awaiting punishment, is a metaphor for the human situation. On a authentic level, Meursault thoroughly demonstrates the absurd essence of mutiny, privilege, and devotion which are all defined by Camus in “The Myth of Sisyphus”. Meursault refuses to correspond himself with duties, and proclaims his freedom by doing things that he believes is relevant at the given moment. This consist of him smoking and showing apathy at the observance of his dead mother, going to the beach and sleeping with a lady the very next day after his mother’s burial, and making a producing a fake letter for his friend Raymond, who is a pimp out in the streets. His exercise of freedom serves as a mutiny against any shot to place a constraint on his life. His devotion is noticeable in his eager quest of new gratification and new experiences: he loves being

“One does not discover the absurd without being tempted to write a manual of happiness” (Camus). These words help to explain why Sisyphus is happy while he pushes his rock up his mountain and then runs after it after it rolls down again. Through performing the same absurd act repeatedly he discovers what kind of happiness there is the act. After pushing the rock up the mountain so many times he begins to single out the aspects of the action that make him feel happy, and pays no attention to anything else. In this sense, he has created taken the punishment that was given to him and made it enjoyable, and created his own fate.

Although thought deserved, Sisyphus deals greatly with an internal conflict. Unfair to the gods and avoiding the underworld, Sisyphus endures an immense amount of grief from his newly earned punishment. A fight between his inner emotions of happiness and sadness. Sentenced to push a rock for the rest of his live up a hill, it’s believed that Sisyphus won't seek happiness until he accepts his new fate. “The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart”(Camus).

My few years on this planet have been a bit confusing. I have learned of many aspects of life from which one can draw meaning, if indeed such meaning can be drawn. I have also learned that there can be no singular meaning of life to stand for us all, or even any one of us. What I have learned above all is that trying to put words to the meaning of life is a task of absolute absurdity. This is not to be confused with the idea that life has no meaning, for life certainly has meaning. However, there is no single meaning of life to be defined - life is different for us all. Therefore, rather than define life for an entire planet, I shall try to explain what life means as I perceive it, and why it means so.

Camus’s separate work, The Myth of Sisyphus, includes imagery that provides an extended metaphor for this idea. The character Sisyphus begins to roll a boulder to the top of a mountain and upon reaching the summit, the boulder rolls back down. Sisyphus’s repetitive actions symbolize man’s constant need for an answer to the purpose of life, and as the boulder rolls back it acts as man’s responses belying his existence (Stanford Encyclopedia). For Meursault, his abnormal reactions and behaviors warrants discomfort from others. His lack of ambition to find an answer for the main question behind absurdism makes his characterization simple. Meursault speaks what he believes and knows. There are no genuine underlying sinister traits behind Meursault’s being, he simply acts upon his whims. The same whims throw him into an agreement to marry a girl, trap an abusive man’s ex-girlfriend, and kill an Arab man. All of which he does not with the intent to harm, but just the inability to explain why he should not. Meursault most often gives up on trying to explain his beliefs or intentions to those who do not immediately understand, such as his neighbors, lawyer, and

Life as we know it could vanish within seconds. The next day is not promised to anyone that walks on this earth. As we live our everyday lives peacefully, we tend not to think what our mission or purpose in life is. Instead, we think what we must do for that to be a “successful” person. Despite this way of thinking, just think for a second. What makes life meaningful? What is life anyway? These questions dive right into the heart of the philosophical, psychological, and the biological aspects of life and what the true meaning of life is. This is a very arguable topic due to every person’s different perspective on life and what it means to them. In summary, I personally think that life is simply what you make of it and each person’s accomplishments has its own merit