quotations about absurdism
The absurd does not liberate; it binds. It does not authorize all actions. "Everything is permitted" does not mean that nothing is forbidden.
ALBERT CAMUS
"The Absurd Man", The Myth of Sisyphus
The Absurdist Chasm is the gap between our primitive selves gaining knowledge about the underlying nature of reality and our evolution into a form that can simultaneously behave at the human and fundamental levels. Absurdism isn't the bridge, but it's the next best thing. It's the tool that allows us to honestly see both sides (human experience and reality) and to live within the chasm without losing either our integrity or our sanity.
DANIEL MIESSLER
"Free Will and the Absurdist Chasm", January 3, 2016
Absurdism is about saying the unsayable, imagining the unimaginable, and still making sense.
JOSH GOLDING
Maverick Screenwriting
Absurdism is a name for a way of responding to a world which no longer makes sense. It doesn't start or end with Europe in the 1950s, though dominant culture would have us think so. I believe that Absurdism may be found in every corner of the world wherein people find themselves alienated from ... what they had perceived as truth.
ALESHEA HARRIS
interview, Huffington Post, June 20, 2016
Our escape from the absurd takes us down some strange paths. From motorcycle gangs to consumer culture, we are replete with escapist strategies -- but such solace affords only a temporary respite from the icy indifferent stare of the universe.
STEPHEN C. SMALL
"Brief Lives: Albert Camus", Philosophy Now, September 21, 2015
Absurdity has a momentum you can surrender to. As does exhaustion.
GLEN DUNCAN
By Blood We Live
Absurdism is virtually a philosophy, as it views life as hopeless. Individuals are alone in a meaningless universe. Language does not lead to communication.
JIM PATTERSON
Stage Directing: The First Experience
Of course, believing that the whole world is just one big, absurd, unpredictable mess doesn't really lend itself to any desire to change things. I would be lying if I said I didn't have dark days when I thought that things could never possibly improve. My ultimate desire to make the world a better place outweighs those negative thoughts, but my embracement of the absurd gives me a safe place to turn when I feel exhausted by the horrors of the world. Thanks to Lemony Snicket, Douglas Adams, Kurt Vonnegut, Franz Kafka, and Tom Stoppard, among others, I can laugh at the bad days until the good ones come along.
KRISTIAN WILSON
"How Absurdist Books Like 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' Help Me Make Sense of the World", Bustle, May 17, 2018
It is to be believed because it is absurd.
TERTULLIAN
De Carne Christi
At times people draw associations that, far from producing plausible interpretations, instead produce results that mystify or puzzle due to their novelty or absurdity. When results of this type are seen as threatening, others may react negatively with anger, outrage, or puzzlement. The incongruity that is brought into existence by the creative thinker is, in this case, too much to be intellectually tolerated.
JOHN MARMYSZ
Laughing at Nothing: Humor as a Response to Nihilism
When we come face to face with our lives, we see, clearly, that it makes no sense. We see the ridiculous in it all. But, we live our lives as if we do not see. We continue our lives as if we know not that life is absurd.
HENRY ANUMUDU
"Henry Anumudu: Life & Its Complexities", Bella Naija, January 16, 2017