Transcripts
1. Course Introduction: Hi, my name is John Morrison and I have spent years applying absurdist philosophy to
my life and I would like to share what I've learned
with you in this brief course. In this course you will
learn about Sisyphus, Albert cuckoo and the
foundation of absurdism, as well as a few
pros of living and absurdist life is my hope
that you will finish the course with a new
perspective on why it is you're here and what it is you
should do with your life. The course is broken up into three lessons with the
final project that is designed to
encourage you to think deeply about your
meaning and purpose. I won't pretend to
argue that you'll find your life's meeting during
or after this course. But I will suggest that
it can potentially kickstarted journey
of self-discovery. They may end up pushing you
to consider a life that may look very different than the one that you're
currently living. So join me on this personal
development journey and learn how absurdism can empower you to lead a less stressed and
more fulfilling life.
2. The Myth of Sisyphus: If we're to trust Homer, the first character
and the Sisyphus narrative was a man who was among the brightest and
most judicious of humans. But he would lose the
favor of the Greek gods. Eventually, he was brought to the kingdom of the underworld
where he was subjected to one of the cruelest and
most painful punishments in the annals of mythology. He would struggle
and perspire while carrying a large
boulder up a mountain. Each day, the boulder would
instantly roll back down the slope and a
couple of seconds after Sisyphus
reached the summit, Then after a strenuous
March down the hill, so Sophists would resume
his laborious task. According to legend says
if this would have to put up with this for
all of eternity, carrying out a tiresome
chore till the end of time. So in what way did
specificity in the gods? There are numerous
various accounts. In his essay, The Myth
of Sisyphus, Albert, who appears to favor the
version where specific tests his wife's loyalty and love
as he draws closer to death. According to the
legend, Sisyphus requests that his wife throw his unvaried body onto the
town square after his passing. When Sisyphus passes away and
awakens in the afterlife, he discovers that
his wife is truly carried out his
requests specificities. And since that his wife would opt for a rigid adherence to his word over steadfast love
for his memory and dignity. Deeply depressed, Sisyphus begs Haiti is to let
him out of the underworld so he can reprimand his wife for reasons that we don't
really understand. After complying with her
husband's requests, Sisyphus, wife is immediately faced by the freshly revived Sisyphus who chastise is her for
just doing what he asked. It would appear that
says if this is wife, is the tragic hero in this tail, and I realize it
doesn't make sense, but bear with me on this. Sisyphus rapidly determines he does not
want to go back to the underworld after leaving there and returning to
the land of the living, he comes to appreciate the warmth of the
stone under his feet, the coolness of the waters
and the presence of trees. He betrays Haiti's by refusing to go back
because he wants to stay. Sisyphus doesn't go back to
the world of the dead until Hermes has promptly captured
the freshly release man. And there is this
boulder waiting for him.
3. Albert Camus: You've heard me mention his
name in the previous lesson, but who exactly was Albert? In terms of philosophy, Kim, whose ideas influenced
the development of the absurdism
school of thought. Despite the fact
that he vehemently opposed the label
throughout his life. Some people believe his
writings to demonstrate that he was an existentialist
more than anything else. In 1913, he was born in Algeria. His father would die in World
War one just a year later. And his mother raised
him in abject poverty. When he was 25, he
moved to France to pursue a career as an
author and philosopher. His 1947 work, the plague, which is still relevant today, was written during that time. During the Nazi occupation
of Paris in World War II, he participated in the
French Resistance. He would work to undermine the Nazi occupation of Paris at that time by editing and writing for numerous
underground newspapers, he received the Nobel Prize
in literature in 1957 before unfortunately passing away in a vehicle accident
three years later, chemical establishes his
distinctive School of existential philosophy
using the Myth of Sisyphus as a foundation in his essay, The Myth of Sisyphus,
which debuted in 1940 to his theory later came
to be known as absurdism. And it was influenced
by some of the ideas of the Danish philosopher
Kierkegaardian. According to absurdism,
people battle and internal never-ending search for meaning and fulfillment in life. The universe is apparent. Lack of purpose is directly at odds with
the quest for meaning. The struggle to find meaning in a meaningless universe is at the core of the human condition, which only gets worse the more we struggled
to overcome it. The absurd is the feeling
camera alludes to when we are forced to face the seemingly pointless nature
of our existence. The uncomfortable awareness that any purpose we might have or think we have just exists in
our own hearts and minds. We're born into this world. We fight fruitlessly
for comprehension, and we're eventually
sealed away by death. As a result, life is
an endless struggle to carry out activities that
are basically pointless. It is easy to understand
how you would use the Sisyphus story as inspiration for this
way of thinking. The poor moral is unjustly
tethered to his rock. He will endure suffering
for all of time, working tirelessly
to complete tasks that are pointless and must
unavoidably be repeated. This understanding
is what would lead a person to address
what Albert Camus, who believes to be the most significant
philosophical question. Rather frankly, he states this essential issue and the opening sentence
of his essay, he says there's about one
truly philosophical problem and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living
amounts to answering the fundamental questions of
philosophy is vital to keep in mind that can move
is not necessarily endorsing suicide, but he does
acknowledge that when faced with the
absurdity of existence, he considers it to be
partially legitimate. Any healthy man
according to come, who is capable of
thinking about suicide, even if he never takes it. Like Hamlet who contemplates
to be or not to be. Albert moved,
beautifully muses on the possibility of
ending one's existence. According to come move,
he is more interested in the effects of realizing the
absurd then observing it. He explains that we can
either ignore the absurd, continued to search
for meaning and vein, or reject the absurd and rebel against the purpose
looseness of the universe. He says there is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scoring the metaphysis sophist
is not the ramblings of a crazy guy who said
on self destruction, despite what it might seem
like, this is crucial. Instead, it is a
guide to happiness. According to come move. Sisyphus must slowly descend
to fetch the rock in order to repeat his torment as the boulder rolls
back down the hill, he considers his
punishment at the time, just like a person
must become aware of the absurdity of their
situation in life. And yet we are happiest when we are reflecting on ourselves. By accepting the
ludicrous or the absurd, we are able to accept the meaninglessness of life as well. It is at this point that
we are able to live fully. We can ultimately live in
freedom as our lives become a perpetual fight against the meaninglessness
of the cosmos. The gods who could
have wanted to rule over us vanish all at once, and then universe goes quiet. Our lives become our own, independent of any
other influences. Our destiny turns
into a human issue that can only be
resolved by mankind. Can move, recounts the
atrocities of Oedipus. To emphasize this point, a man who tempted to elude fate, he unintentionally
succumbs to it. Only when he is broken in blind, close to the end of his life does he cry out all his good? Oedipus is accepted
his situation and taking responsibility
for his own deeds. He is now free. According to the formula for the ludicrous
heroes triumph Your Rights. Ancient wisdom confirms
modern heroism. The Sisyphus myth
would seem tragic. He's a man doomed to suffer forever without achieving
anything worthwhile. According to the philosopher, our lives are meaningless
and pointless. Much like Sisyphus is, the cause of human sorrow is our quest for an
unattainable aim. We don't completely achieve freedom until we
acknowledged the folly of life and struggle against the meaninglessness
of the cosmos. If there is no purpose to life, it is enjoyed all the
better we take on the role of our own ship's
captain and storyteller. And we can only say so and our most vulnerable
and uncertain circumstances all as well.
4. How Absurdism Can Improve Your LIfe: So you're probably thinking
that this was a lot of information and what
should you do with it? Is there any practical
application to any of this, similar to how thinking about your own mortality has benefits. Contemplating the absurd can actually potentially
improve your life. Here are five ideas
to consider as you contemplate embracing and
absurdist view of your life. Number one minimizes stress. When we understand that we
have no control over anything, it gets increasingly
difficult to become overly upset about things
that once bothered us. Number two, reduces friction and
interpersonal situations. Recognizing absurdity
encourages a positive can-do. Why not mentality? Or in other words, you can
develop an is what it is approach to most things and stop trying to
force outcomes. Number three enables
you to be more present. When you recognize how
absurd everything is, you spend less time experiencing
stress and anxiety. For fosters creativity. This is probably a result of
playing down the seriousness that is necessary for play
and creative endeavors. When we can approach
creative endeavors without feeling as
constrained as we once were, will always put
out our best work, number five and increases
courage and boldness. This is true simply because you don't take yourself
all that seriously. And a bonus one number six, it prompts you to live a
life of personal meaning. By living a life centered around having IEEE, owning, possessing, influencing, and
controlling people were living in denial. Denial involves fleeing
the human condition in a world that is
otherwise uncertain. We want to cling to safety and assurance through
our possessions. This is obviously absurd. By existing, we engage the human condition
and our creativity, interpersonal interactions,
spirituality, sense of community and stances toward suffering,
death, and sorrow. This is fine, but in reality it's just another
method of escape. So we're left with disobedience. And the face of the
human predicament, we commonly protest
against mortality, indifference, disconnection,
and meaninglessness. By protesting or rebelling
against meaninglessness, we create our own meaning. Now, I can list many more, but I think it would
make more sense for you to begin thinking
of your own. Because at the end of the day, you will always learn more by doing than by being instructed.
5. Final Project: The final project of this course is a simple journal entry. I want you to write
a 250 word entry answering the question, what if I began living my life with the mindset
of an absurdist? This may be taxing for
some of you who haven't responded to a writing
prompts since college, but to others, this
may be rather simple. The goal is to
encourage you to sit down for 30 to 45 minutes and think deeply about all the things that
make you worry, stress, unhappy,
lonely, et cetera, and break apart those reasons why those things
matter to use so much. Now you won't disregard some things as it
makes sense to worry about your children or your health or your
immediate safety. But take time to consider
everything else. What if you found that most of the things
that are causing you so much trouble actually
don't really matter. As you begin the final project. I want to close by saying
how grateful I am that you took this course and I hope
you found some value in it. As you move through the lessons. I wish you well on your personal
development journey and I hope to see
you again soon.
John Morrison, Ph.D., Let's think and live differently
