Life is strange and full of surprises. At times, situations can be confusing and the harder we try to comprehend them, the more contradictory they appear. Either things go wrong or luck is not on your side. You and I aren’t the only ones, a lot of philosophers and thinkers have thought about it for generations.
Carl Sagan, an American astronomer, planetary scientist, and science communicator. puts it like this:
The universe seems neither benign nor hostile, merely indifferent to the concerns of such puny creatures as we are.
Meaning, the universe doesn’t really care if we find purpose in our lives or not, it is neither friendly nor unfriendly just indifferent.
You are a tiny little piece of dust in this universe, one of my favorite quotes, don’t really know who said it though but reminds me everytime that everything we do simply doesn’t matter.
So, how can make sense of it all?
First off the word “absurd” doesn’t mean “weird” or “crazy” like we use in our day-to-day speech. Rather, it is our desire to find the meaning of life in this chaotic world.
Even though we aren’t born with a built-in-purpose that doesn’t mean we are completely lost.
Albert Camus, a French philosopher, author and journalist famously said:
One must imagine Sisyphus happy.
Sisyphus is a character from Greek mythology who is condemned to roll a boulder up the hill for eternity. But everytime he’s almost at the top, the bolder rolls back down. Camus argues that even though he’s bound to it, Sisyphus accepts the absurdity and finds joy in the struggle itself.
The key takeaway is in finding happiness in the little things, like our daily tasks, spending time with family, friends and loved ones. Even though life doesn’t provide you with a clear cut purpose, we can still make it meaningful by choosing how we respond to the absurdity.
Remember, when life hands you a lemon, turn it into lemonade.
I leave you with a quote by Franz Kafka:
Don’t bend; don’t water it down; don’t try to make it logical; don’t edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly.
Tomorrow’s dawn heralds the Singularity