Absurdity!
I’m learning about the Theatre of the Absurd in another class and I think that some of it is quite relevant to this class as well. I’m blogging here to try and sort my ideas about both classes.
What does ‘absurd’ mean? well, I’ve only read a couple things and had a couple lectures on it so far, but here’s what I understand so far: it’s a demonstration that life ultimately has no meaning, that nothing is certain except for death. Meaning is contrived; we put meaning onto things, it’s not ‘natural’ or inherent. For instance, we try and use rationality to decide things. Why do we do that? Rational explanation takes us really far…science takes us really far, but in the end, it does not have all the answers. Neither does religion. These are two of the main things that give life meaning, but they ultimately do not give any meaning, just partial answers.
I’ve learned in this class to question why I read, write, think, and talk the way I do. I’ve been looking for the ultimate meaning behind why I am the way I am. I ask what about my culture makes me who I am, and what I don’t understand about other peoples’ cultures makes me misunderstand them. I’m trying to learn to explore the meanings of words that we take for granted; where they get their connotations, why we use them the way we do, the different meanings we put on them.
Putting the two ideas together…well, maybe it’s not so easy. I guess what I figure at the moment is that because I think we exist as individuals, we can never communicate completely. Every ‘meaning’ we put on things will be different from one person to the next. Why try?
Depressing, but Albert Camus wrote in “The Myth of Sysiphus” that even though life has no meaning, people don’t just kill themselves because of the nature of life. We have life, and life gives us experiences that we enjoy, and why not use life?
This got kind of rambly, but I guess that what blogs are for.