We live in a world where daily, we think does our life has meaning. We see social media post about people making short stories, writing poems, blogs, and other things. You might be one of those guys who is reading this blog because one of your friends posted it on Facebook with a caption ‘Tried another one’. We have art referencing art rather than reality. We consume more memes about the corona-virus than the actual information. All of these make it difficult to understand what is authentic and what is real in this world. And by extension is any of it meaningful.
As this question reaches your head of finding meaning most of us will find meaning in religion and restore our faith. Then there is a group of people who won’t. They will still keep their thinking tank on. They will soon reject the idea of essentialism, i.e. the idea that we are born with a certain purpose in our lives and turn into a darker and dread world i.e. existential crisis.
Existential Crisis is a phenomenon when a person frequently wonders whether or not life has any inherent meaning or purpose. A person may also question their existence within a world that might seem meaningless.
Now when a person is in a state where he realizes that the universe in itself has no meaning at all, one of the sexist philosophers of the 20th Century Albert Camus proposes 7 possible responses;
- Suicide
- Distraction
- Denial
- Be an Actor
- Be an Artist or Creator
- Politics
- Acceptance
Suicide is one of the options which is rejected by many thinkers of our time. Since most of the philosophers of our time when discussing the idea of suicide, the certainty of death frightened everybody. As the famous Tyrion Lannister said, “Death is so certain, where life is full with endless possibility”. On the other hand, there are people Stanley Kubrick suggesting that if you are under tremendous mental torture or physical pain the only solution to both of those situations is a 9mm Full Metal Jacket. Now can a person’s existential dread be that pain is a thing that needs your attention? You can also reject the proposal of Stanley Kubrick altogether or might find it interesting. All I can say like the article, do check the other options available.
Fig: The death scenes of Full Metal Jacket
Source: Full Metal Jacket
Distraction is not thinking about all of these and fill life with food, drinks, and sex. Root for fame, be a Kardashian. Fill your life with luxury. Travel the world, see new things, post your pictures on Instagram and Facebook. Play the new Arcade video games and buy the new action figure. Though these things are thought to be less fulfilling there is actual metric to judge why so! End of the day it is also an option one can choose if it makes life less painful.
Fig: A sophisticated party
Source: Eyes Wide Shut
Denial means the rejection of the premise. Saying that life does have meaning. There can be two approaches to doing this. One you can be religious saying that God gives our life meaning. Or you can agree with the existentialists who says we get to give our life meaning. Our choices make our life meaningful. Most of the people in this world subscribe to some form of denial when they confront the absurdity of the universe.
Fig: Jean-Paul Sartre
Source: fineartamerica.com
Be an Actor. “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages.” This quote from ‘As you like it’ perhaps explains this response the most. We just need to pretend that life has meaning, just by acting out different roles in our lives. Act like a good student, good son or daughter, good lover and all these will give your life contentment. Meaning in this response is irrelevant.
Fig: Deadpool
Source: www.lunachrisseasfilmstudies.blogspot.com
Be another kind of Artist. As we acknowledge the fact life in of itself doesn’t have meaning. The creator or creation didn’t give any meaning to it. We create and give that creation a meaning. This type of person ends up becoming painters, writers, inventors of different things. There is a miss conception that people create things for the betterment of humanity. But most inventors on this planet created different things simply because they can. This creation which has meaning is kind of works as a substitute for the meaningless world.
Fig: This painter painted himself painting himself who is painting himself back
Source: www.waitwoot.com
Get Political. One can also find meaning in their lives fighting for a greater cause or simply wanting power. One can aim for becoming the President or ruler of a nation. Or one can take part in a protest. One can find meaning in serving the nation, taking a stand, against the lifelong oppression going on in their or other people’s lives.
Fig: French Revolution
Source: www.pinterest.com
Acceptance. Quentin Tarantino after a perfect shot, occasionally he takes another shot, and while he does that the whole crew screams with the reason why they are taking another shot. The whole crew screams “We Love making movies”. The acceptance of meaninglessness of the world then living in the world meaning to love the act of living. The act itself has no meaning, its product will not have a meaning, the impact will be zero. Nothing will ever matter but still, you are doing it, because the act itself makes you happy. Not because of the recognition afterward, not because it has some meaning. Just because you are free to do it and you are doing it because you like doing it. One can argue that we never chose our life to be the way it is, so you never love what we are doing. In response to it, Camus says, “Become so very free that your whole existence is an act of rebellion.” The rebellion which Camus talks about is not a rebel against the government or parents. It is a rebellion against the Universe itself. One must confront the meaninglessness of the universe and then act freely because nothing they do will ever give life or anything meaning.
Fig: Sisyphus
Source: www.pinterest.com
After reading these different categories of responses, you might find yourself subscribing to more than one option, which is fine. No rule book suggests you can’t have more than one response. The point is there are no right and wrong responses because at the end of any of the responses has any value that means even the meaningless world is starting to generate meaning, suggested a design to live a life.
Then, why are we reading this article? Well, Socrates said, “An unexamined life isn’t worth living”. On the contrary, one can argue what is the point of thinking all of these, it is better not to think about all of these things.
At the end of the day, the writer of the blog titles his article “Wubba Lubba Dub Dub” which translates to “I am in great pain, please help me”.
