How do you interpret this?

[*Deidre*]

At any street corner the feeling of absurdity can strike any man in the face. - Albert Camus

I ran across this quote today, and thought I'd ask you all here what does it mean to you? Is it meant to be taken in a grander way, that life is rather absurd, at the end of the day? Curious as to how you might interpret it on your own.

[robvalue]

Yes, I'd take it to mean life is extremely absurd, and this fact can dawn on us at any time. We brush it off, carry on with our business, then get hit with it again.

[*Deidre*]

Yes, I'd take it to mean life is extremely absurd, and this fact can dawn on us at any time. We brush it off, carry on with our business, then get hit with it again.

Suddenly, I feel comforted by this notion, and perhaps ...it also means that we take life too seriously? But, how about people who live in poverty, abuse, in the cross fire of war, etc...certainly, they don't see life as absurd...unless the unfairness of life, can be seen as ''absurd?'' Do you know what I mean?

[downbeatplumb]

I generally feel absurd when I have to watch some military thing. All that marching, saluting and ten....wait for it, wait for it.... shun business just seems ridiculous.

[ApeNotKillApe]

I occasionally have moments where I zone out and experience a brief few seconds where I'm overcome with an almost transcendent awareness of things as they truly are. We are insects, out of control and utterly alone.

[abaris]

I ran across this quote today, and thought I'd ask you all here what does it mean to you? Is it meant to be taken in a grander way, that life is rather absurd, at the end of the day? Curious as to how you might interpret it on your own.

Knowing Camus' work, I guess that's exactly what he meant. He probably had his share of absurd encounters in his own time. And taking the streetcorner quote literally, what's more absurd than people seemingly talking to themselves? Or virtually everyone staring at and fiddling with a small screen all of the time, at any occasion?

That's but one of the absurdities of our times.

[robvalue]

Yes, I'd take it to mean life is extremely absurd, and this fact can dawn on us at any time. We brush it off, carry on with our business, then get hit with it again.

Suddenly, I feel comforted by this notion, and perhaps ...it also means that we take life too seriously? But, how about people who live in poverty, abuse, in the cross fire of war, etc...certainly, they don't see life as absurd...unless the unfairness of life, can be seen as ''absurd?'' Do you know what I mean?

Yes, I think some people do take life too seriously and end up missing a lot of enjoyment because of it.

I agree, absurdity is more likely to descend on those of us safe enough to spare it a thought. Those poor people fighting for their lives and living in misery probably just don't stop long enough to think it.

I've always thought life is absurd, as we're just plopped here with no instructions, or any idea what is really "real" or what's going on. We just have to get on with it. But I accept this, and try to make the best of it.

[Angrboda]

At any street corner the feeling of absurdity can strike any man in the face. - Albert Camus

I ran across this quote today, and thought I'd ask you all here what does it mean to you? Is it meant to be taken in a grander way, that life is rather absurd, at the end of the day? Curious as to how you might interpret it on your own.

I believe the sense in which he means it is that life is utterly absurd, but most of the time we manage to evade coming face to face with this fact, because it is an uncomfortable realization. Thus we use various subterfuges to avoid coming to this realization in our every day life. Sometimes these subterfuges are unsuccessful, however, and we come face to face with the absurdity of existence; we are ambushed by this uncomfortable realization that nothing means anything.

[robvalue]

I do have such moments, very distinctly.

I stop, and I think, "What? What the fuck? What is going on! None of this makes any sense!"

It lasts a little while, then I get distracted and it fades. I'm sure that cycle will continue throughout my life.

[*Deidre*]

At any street corner the feeling of absurdity can strike any man in the face. - Albert Camus

I ran across this quote today, and thought I'd ask you all here what does it mean to you? Is it meant to be taken in a grander way, that life is rather absurd, at the end of the day? Curious as to how you might interpret it on your own.

I believe the sense in which he means it is that life is utterly absurd, but most of the time we manage to evade coming face to face with this fact, because it is an uncomfortable realization.  Thus we use various subterfuges to avoid coming to this realization in our every day life.  Sometimes these subterfuges are unsuccessful, however, and we come face to face with the absurdity of existence; we are ambushed by this uncomfortable realization that nothing means anything.

This is an excellent observation of it all, and it reminds me of a thought that has been recurring lately for me...and that is...I've been thinking of my grandmother a lot lately, and how she won't be at my wedding this year. And how I have pushed away love and the idea of marriage, and then now that I am getting married...she won't be there. Someone who meant the world to me, won't be there. And then I think, she was here one day...and then poof...gone. And it's as though she never lived at all, and only exists in my memories, now. Of course, she touched many lives, but it is in these moments that I think of how absurd it is that I get sad that I didn't fall in love sooner...or get married sooner...and she would have been there. That much of our own negative thoughts and such come from absurdity. That we create gravity in a situation where none need to be. I think of all the people who came before us, and their lives mattered certainly, but it's as though they never lived at all. That we are here for a brief time, and then gone...and in my faith perspective, I see all of this slightly different than i did as an atheist, but...it still doesn't change the fact that there is a sense of absurdity to it all. Belief in a deity doesn't really remove that human feeling.