Embracing the Sacredness of the Absurd
The Spiritual Sundays Newsletter. Volume #6
“Knowledge is power, wisdom brings meaning, contentment, and happiness!”
—————————————————
This newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts, and bonuses, and to become part of my Inner Circle please become a paid subscriber. (Sign up at the end of this newsletter)
—————————————————
On a personal note: Please excuse grammatical errors, typos, repetition, and any general nonsense, and such in this post. I am getting a bit older now, and I have about 20,000 pages of information that must get published before I leave the mortal coil. I simply write and publish more than my humble editors are able to correct. If you find enough errors you are welcome to contact me about being an editor of my work.
Thanks for sharing this newsletter with your friends and associates -
—————————————————
A 3 Minute Read
I am a person of faith. I am also very committed to rational thought, logic and common sense. This provides some element of conflict in my daily thought processes. After all, there is something absurd in knowing that Santa Claus doesn’t exist but that guardian angels do.
Today’s newsletter focuses on the on spiritual and sacred nature of the absurd!
I am a person of faith. I am also very committed to rational thought, logic and common sense. This provides some element of conflict in my daily thought processes. After all, there is something absurd in knowing that Santa Claus doesn’t exist but that guardian angels do.
Rather than attempting to make sense of it all, I’d rather explore the nature of the absurd.
What Is A Simple Definition Of Absurdism?
A philosophy based on the belief that the universe is irrational and meaningless and that the search for order brings the individual into conflict with the universe. “The Absurd" refers to the conflict between the human tendency to seek inherent value and meaning in life, and the human inability to find any in a purposeless, meaningless or chaotic and irrational universe. The universe and the human mind do not each separately cause the Absurd, but rather, the Absurd arises by the contradictory nature of the two existing simultaneously.
What Is The Purpose Of Absurdism?
As a movement, Absurdism attempts to formulate a method of rationalizing those irrational aspects in such an uncertain world. An Absurdist drama questions the significance of an individual's role in his or her own life and the relative importance their actions make on the world at large.
What Are 3 Qualities Of Absurdism?
Common elements in absurdist fiction include satire, dark humor, incongruity, the abasement of reason, and controversy regarding the philosophical condition of being "nothing".
What Is The Antidote To Absurdism?
For me, and the Essential Zen community there is a spiritual beauty and sacredness to the absurd. In acknowledging that common reality is absurd, one can study Koans, Zen stories, and engage the 7 Pillars of Wisdom. While doing this, each of us can find something we are passionate about, embrace it, and use it to give meaning to our lives, while acknowledging that even doing this has an element of absurdity to it.
Let’s go deeper, shall we?
As a philosophy, absurdism furthermore explores the fundamental nature of the Absurd and how individuals, once becoming conscious of the Absurd, should respond to it. The absurdist philosopher Albert Camus stated that individuals should embrace the absurd condition of human existence while also defiantly continuing to explore and search for meaning.
Absurdism shares some concepts, and a common theoretical template, with existentialism and nihilism. It has its origins in the work of the 19th-century Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, who chose to confront the crisis that humans face with the Absurd by developing his own existentialist philosophy.
The aftermath of World War II provided the social environment that stimulated absurdist views and allowed for their popular development, especially in the devastated country of France.
... in spite of or in defiance of the whole of existence he wills to be himself with it, to take it along, almost defying his torment. For to hope in the possibility of help, not to speak of help by virtue of the absurd, that for God all things are possible – no, that he will not do. And as for seeking help from any other – no, that he will not do for all the world; rather than seek help he would prefer to be himself – with all the tortures of hell, if so it must be.
– Søren Kierkegaard, The Sickness Unto Death
In absurdist philosophy, the Absurd arises out of the fundamental disharmony between the individual's search for meaning and the meaninglessness of the universe. As beings looking for meaning in a meaningless world, humans have three ways of resolving the dilemma. Kierkegaard and Camus describe the solutions in their works, The Sickness Unto Death (1849) and The Myth of Sisyphus (1942), respectively.
Is Suicide an Option?
Not really. Suicide (or, "attempting to escape existence"), is a “so-called solution in which a person ends one's own life. Both Kierkegaard and Albert Camus dismiss the viability of this option. Camus states that suicide it does not counter the Absurd. Rather, in the act of ending one's existence, one's existence only becomes more absurd.
So, how do I deal with my own sense of the sacred as well as the absurd simultaneously? Religious, spiritual, or abstract belief in a transcendent realm, being, or idea? How do I embrace a solution in which one believes in the existence of a reality that is beyond the Absurd, and, as such, has meaning? Kierkegaard addresses this. He stated that a belief in anything beyond the Absurd requires an irrational but perhaps necessary religious "leap" into the intangible and empirically unprovable (now commonly referred to as a "leap of faith"). However, pushing back, Camus regarded this solution, and others, as "philosophical suicide".
How does one accept the Absurd? Here is a solution in which one accepts the Absurd and continues to live in spite of it. Camus endorsed this solution, believing that by accepting the Absurd, one can achieve the greatest extent of one's freedom. By recognizing no religious or other moral constraints, and by rebelling against the Absurd (through meaning-making) while simultaneously accepting it as unstoppable, one could find contentment through the transient personal meaning constructed in the process. Kierkegaard, on the other hand, regarded this solution as "demoniac madness".
"He rages most of all at the thought that eternity might get it into its head to take his misery from him!"
The Origins of Absurdism
Absurdism originated from (as well as alongside) the 20th-century strains of existentialism and nihilism; it shares some prominent starting points with both, though also entails conclusions that are uniquely distinct from these other schools of thought. All three arose from the human experience of anguish and confusion stemming from the Absurd: the apparent meaninglessness in a world in which humans, nevertheless, are compelled to find or create meaning. The three schools of thought diverge from there.
Existentialists have generally advocated the individual's construction of his or her own meaning in life as well as the free will of the individual.
Nihilists, on the contrary, contend that "it is futile to seek or to affirm meaning where none can be found."
Absurdists, following Camus's formulation, hesitantly allow the possibility for some meaning or value in life, but are neither as certain as existentialists are about the value of one's own constructed meaning nor as nihilists are about the total inability to create meaning. These Absurdists also devalue or outright reject free will, encouraging merely that the individual live defiantly and authentically in spite of the psychological tension of the Absurd.
Camus himself passionately worked to counter nihilism, as he explained in his essay "The Rebel," while he also categorically rejected the label of "existentialist" in his essay "Enigma" and in the compilation The Lyrical and Critical Essays of Albert Camus, though he was, and still is, often broadly characterized by others as an existentialist.
Both existentialism and absurdism entail consideration of the practical applications of becoming conscious of the truth of existential nihilism: i.e., how a driven seeker of meaning should act when suddenly confronted with the seeming concealment, or downright absence, of meaning in the universe.
The Basic Relationships Between Existentialism, Absurdism and Nihilism
One can ask core and essential questions, knowing that any answer will be absurd!
Is here is such a thing as meaning or value? Yes. Is it is a logical possibility? No.
Is here is inherent meaning in the universe? No? Yes? Maybe? If there is must an individual come to the knowledge of God? No!
Can the pursuit of meaning have meaning in itself? Yes! Can such a pursuit generate meaning for an individual? But will death still render the activity "ultimately" meaningless?Yes? No? Maybe?
Can an individual construct some type of meaning is possible? Yes! That’s because meaning-making in a world without inherent meaning is the goal of existentialism. Now, this meaning would likely and eventually incorporate God, being the creator of the universe and the "meaning" itself. Still, on must face up to the Absurd, which means embracing the transient, personal nature of your meaning-making projects and the way they are nullified by death.
So knowing all this, how can a person resolve the need and desire to seek meaning, the creation of one's own meaning, and even the creation of one's own meaning involving God and the sacred? Easy answer! Embracing the absurd can allow one to find joy and meaning in one's own life, even if the only actual "resolution" is in eventual annihilation by death.
So, what is the basic relationships between existentialism, absurdism and nihilism?
There are many overlaps and tensions between existentialist and absurdist approaches to meaning. While absurdism can be seen as a kind of response to existentialism, it can be debated exactly how substantively the two positions differ from each other. The existentialist, after all, doesn't deny the reality of death. But the absurdist seems to reaffirm the way in which death ultimately nullifies your meaning-making activities, a conclusion the existentialists seem to resist through various notions of posterity or, in Sartre's case, participation in a grand humanist project.
In the end, the only way out of this conundrum is to live a life of love, kindness, compassion, empathy, wisdom, and mindfulness, while doing what we have decided needs to be done. This combines the sacred, the spiritual, and the absurd!
If you enjoy spiritual ideas you might also enjoy this article from the archives of the Spiritual Sundays Series.
——————————————————————————
Author: Hey there. My name is Lewis Harrison, and I created this newsletter. I am a futurist, professional strategist, transformational coach, teacher, and professional problem solver. I am a proponent of entrepreneurism and also a writer and seminar leader. The author of over twenty books, and numerous self-improvement, business success, prepper, and personal development courses, I am the former host of a talk show on NPR Affiliated WIOX91.3 FM.
If you are interested in directly studying strategic thinking with me drop me an email at Lewiscoaches@gmail.com, and let’s start a conversation.