An Absurd Reasoning

The absurdism or the absurdity of the world scene leads us to Camus yet again, for it was Camus who developed absurdism as part of his existential philosophy. And the realization of the absurdism or absurdity of the world scene begins when one begins to think. The realization stems from thought and from the act or the practice of thinking. To think is to have one’s assumptions about everything “undermined.” To borrow from Camus: “Beginning to think is beginning to be undermined. Society has but little connection with such beginnings. The worm is in man’s heart. That is where it must be sought. One must follow and understand this fatal game that leads from lucidity in the face of existence to flight from light.” 

If it is in fact all about meaning, yet there is no meaning to be found, and yet to cease in probing or searching for meaning amounts to suicide, then it follows that logic has its limits as well. To borrow from Camus: “It is always easy to be logical. It is almost impossible to be logical to the bitter end.” Thought eventually “reaches it confines.” And when thought reaches its confines, we realize the absurdity of everything. To borrow from Camus: “At any street corner the feeling of absurdity can strike any man in the face.” 

Yet, absurdism leads to an awakening of sorts. The journey and the struggle towards the realization of absurdity leads to weariness, and then the weariness inevitably leads to a recovery of sorts. The weariness puts us in a position to recover. And it is through the recovery when the awakening occurs. Consciousness is then elevated. To borrow from Camus: “In itself weariness has something sickening about it. Here, I must conclude that it is good. For everything begins with consciousness and nothing is worth anything except through it.” Consciousness leads to the absurd. Yet, despite the realization of the absurd through elevated consciousness, man is in search of “unity” to borrow from Camus. There is a “nostalgia for unity” which is at the heart of thought. Thought itself and the history of thought is the striving for unity or union, and with it comes the feelings of regret and helplessness for having not achieved its true aim and goal. To borrow from Camus: “If the only significant history of human thought were to be written, it would have to be the history of its successive regrets and its impotences.” 

True knowledge, therefore, begins and ends in the heart. When the world becomes absurd through thought, all that is left is feeling and the contents of the heart. Everything else is “construction” to borrow from Camus. But what the heart does is alienate one from oneself. To borrow from Camus: “This very heart which is mine will forever remain indefinable to me. Between the certainty I have of my existence and the content I try to give to that assurance, the gap will never be filled. Forever I shall be a stranger to myself. In psychology as in logic, there are truths but no truth.” And whatever truth we reach about the world, it can only be “approximate.” Even science can explain the world only through an “image” to borrow from Camus. And if science can explain the world only through the image of an electron revolving around a nucleus, it follows that the world is in fact absurd. Man, through his intelligence, ends up in a situation whereby “a horde of irrationals has sprung up and surrounds him until his ultimate end.” On the other hand, the realization that all is absurd gives everything its “lucidity.” As Camus said: “In his recovered and now studied lucidity, the feeling of the absurd becomes clear and definite.” But none of it can stop the heart from seeking clarity and union. Human decency stems from the heart’s desire and longing for clarity and union. To conclude, and to borrow from Camus: “I am speaking here of decency. But I want to know beforehand if thought can live in those deserts.”