Faith: A Journey Into Certainty

7 Pages 1710 Words

Faith: A Journey into Certainty

The general focus of The Myth of Sisyphus is what Camus calls "the absurd." He states that we will either discover the meaning through a leap of faith, by placing our faith in a higher being, or else we will conclude that our life has no meaning. He quickly addresses the idea by questioning if we come to the conclusion that life is meaningless does that lead someone to commit suicide. If life has no meaning does that lead you to conclude that life is not even worth living? Camus does suggest a third idea; that we can accept and live in a world without meaning or purpose. “Living in the absurd is a matter of facing this fundamental contradiction and maintaining constant awareness of it,” as stated by Camus. Facing the absurd does not necessarily bring about suicide, but the opposite, allows us to live life to the fullest.
He identifies three characteristics of the absurd life: revolt, freedom, and passion. Revolt is the state in which we must not accept any answer or reconciliation in our struggle. Freedom is the state in which we are absolutely free to think and behave as we choose. The last of the three is passion which I feel relates to me the most is the state in which we must pursue a life of rich and diverse experiences. Camus goes on to give four examples of the absurd life: the seducer, who pursues the passions of the moment; the actor, who compresses the passions of hundreds of lives into a stage career; the conqueror/rebel, whose political struggle focuses his energies; and the artist, who creates entire worlds. Absurd art does not try to explain experience, but it simply describes it. The three characteristics of the absurd life previously stated are all states of consciousness that can be found in the Bible, two with minor representations I want to focus on are revolt and passion. Revolt is the fool who wanders of looking for reasons to explain that which he can’t see or un...