How to live in an absurd world and not go crazy

In 1942, the philosopher Albert Camus wrote an essay "The Myth of Sisyphus"Which talked about the most important, in his view, the question:" Is it worth working life to be lived? ". After considering all the circumstances, it is absurd. We are aware of this in the rare moments when our ideas about the world suddenly stop working, when the routine actions and efforts are beginning to seem meaningless.

On the one hand, we are building a reasonable plan for your life, and on the other - are brought face to face with an unpredictable world, which does not correspond to our ideas.

This is the absurdity of our existence: the absurd to be reasonable in an unreasonable world. From this follows the next big problem.

Can be called their own ideas about the world of "eternal", but we still know that our lives when something ends.

If the main components of the problem - it is mind and irrational world, then, Camus says, it is possible to cheat and get around it by removing one of the two.

The first way - to ignore the meaninglessness of existence. Despite the obvious evidence it can pretend that the world is stable, and to live in accordance with distant goals (pension, the afterlife, human progress). According to Camus, in this case, we can not act freely, because our actions are tied to these goals. And they often shatters on the unreasonable world.

The second way to avoid absurdity - to refuse a reasonable argument. Some philosophers do this by declaring the mind useless tool (eg, Lev Shestov and Karl Jaspers). Others say that the world is subject to the divine plan, that people just do not understand (Kierkegaard).

Both of these methods Camus considers unacceptable. But also suicide for a philosopher not an option. From his point of view, this is a desperate gesture of final adoption of the contradiction between the human mind and unreasonable world.

Instead of all this, Camus suggests three things:

• Permanent riot. The philosopher believes that we need all the time to fight against the circumstances of our existence. Never admit defeat, even death, although we know that it is inevitable. Permanent revolt Camus calls the only way of presence in the world.
• Denial of eternal freedom. Rather than become slaves to the eternal ideas of the world, you need to stick to the mind, but be aware of its limitations, and to apply it flexibly in every situation. That is, the freedom to seek here and now, not in eternity.
• Passion. This is the main thing. We must love all things in life, and strive to make it as a more fulfilled as possible.

The absurd man is aware of his own mortality, but still does not accept it. He knows about the limitations of the mind, and still cherishes them. He feels pleasure and pain, and trying to live them as much as possible.

Let us return to Sisyphus. In the ancient Greek myth he went against the gods and was punished for it. He is doomed to constantly push the stone up the hill, which again and again falls down.

Yet Camus calls it happy. Philosopher says that Sisyphus - the perfect model for us. He has no illusions about his situation and his senselessness, but he rebels against the circumstances. With every drop of stone it takes a conscious decision to try again. He pushes the stone again and again and realizes that this is the meaning its existence.