Absurdism

[Angrboda]

Not only does it work for religious views, but it makes good points when applied to political views. Mankind will more than likely never find a political system that makes everyone happy. So ultimately politics is an absurd proposition, but that does not mean we should not try..who knows.. someone may actually succede. Until then Humanity is doomed to bicker and cut each others throats over even some of the smallest differences in politics.

I would think this is an example of letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. The fact that political change (or conservation) is difficult does not mean it is not worth the effort -- unless you embrace absurdism to the point that getting shipped off to the gulag doesn't matter to you. I think most of us would rank living under Obama, GW Bush, Hitler or Stalin in a definite order; some political circumstances are definitely preferable to others, if only from a personal comfort standpoint.

Regardless, per absurdism in particular, I can't help but suspect that absurdism as stated is somewhat self-contradictory. I don't have a complete handle on the question, but it seems that you are making a value judgment about value judgments in general -- namely that they are meaningless; if so, then your observation itself falls prey to the same objection it is making about other value systems. There is a philosophical position that displays the same quixotic nature, unfortunately I'm coming up empty at the moment. I suppose, if I think of it....

Regarding your indifference to gods and the afterlife, I recently asked theists in a theist oriented forum whether the absence of an afterlife, provably so, would change the way they live this life. The question was turned around on me, would I change if an afterlife was proven? I can't think that I could avoid changing -- the cost is simply too high. I think it would be profoundly irrational not to do so. And I think the same motivations which prompt one to leave a burning building, exit a tub of scalding hot water or remove one's hand from a hot stove would apply. In the case of an eternity of suffering, even more so. Perhaps I'm just morally weak. Perhaps, but I think there's more involved.

In a sense, the question of absurdism reminds me of the question of why some people -- who lack a belief in a god -- identify themselves as atheist, while others having the same attitude towards gods either don't identify as atheist (wouldn't do so for reasons aside of stigma), or identify as agnostic. I have to wonder a) what the function of the label is (for you), and b) what the function of your absurdist beliefs serve. I guess the question could be summed up in asking whether you behave differently as a self-conscious absurdist, than you would if you didn't have this "idea" of the way things are. If you behave differently because of absurdism, then I would suggest that you aren't fully absurdist. I don't think, anyway.

In terms of the overall question of absurdism, I discount it for myself in two ways. First, as a Taoist, I don't believe the universe is "indifferent" to our actions (either in terms of itself, nor in terms of the consequences for ourselves); in some sense, I'm not a "good" Taoist in that I depart in some substantial ways from what I see as paradigm Taoist behavior, and perhaps that has consequences for my values and behavior (if I were in the classic Taoist painting of The Vinegar Tasters, I would probably not be smiling). Second, I believe that evolution has hard-wired us such that we are not fundamentally indifferent to our existence. Whether we find the dictates of our biology meaningful in some larger sense, they are meaningful in a more immediate and local sense. This is not to say we shouldn't either encourage or discourage certain biological imperatives, but that our doing so ultimately reduces to satisfying one particular imperative or another; even ascetics deny themselves for "dirty" reasons. (I'm not going to launch off into questions of zen or wabi sabi, I've babbled enough -- especially for one who sees little contradiction in talking about the ineffable )