Camus on Freedom Happiness and Suicide in Myth of Sisyphus-22!

1.0. INTRODUCTION

Around 1.5% of all deaths in the world are caused by suicide (Fazel & Runeson 2020). Every year, more than 800,000 people attempt suicide – approximately one per 40 seconds according to the World Health Organization, 2002. Camus sets out to answer the question he considers the most important in philosophy, Myth of Sisyphus. He asks: Does believing in the absurdity and meaninglessness of existence always lead to suicide? Camus begins by describing the absurdity of our dependence on tomorrow’s wish, but every day we are pushed towards death and that it is our last enemy. People live their lives as though they don’t know the possibility of dying. The world, stripped of its romanticism, is an oversea, atypical, and inhumane place. Real understanding is impossible. Technology and rationality cannot give an explanation. In the end, their memories end up in meaningless abstractions and metaphors. This is the absurd condition. Once it is recognized, it becomes an obsession, the most distressing of all.

Camus discusses freedom and explains phrases that are infused with kindness. We like the idea that you are not bound. We find it offensive that the idea of being un-loose is being promoted. This is often presented to us as a polarity. Unfastened expression, freedom of speech, democracy and free will on one hand, and repression,censorship, and autocracy on another. We must protect the former from those who seek to suppress them. Camus also argues that there is freedom for everyone to choose between the options of what to do/think/reject/etc. One thing, then another. Then there’s the “Absurd freedom.” (Camus 1957). Plato’s philosophy states that people do not have equal intellectual ability to make morally sound and ethical choices. Plato claims (that sounds logic even to modern thinkers), that each human being is endowed with a particular talent, and should be assigned a job. He concludes that only certain people are capable of ruling. (Ulrich, 2015). It is impossible to live our daily lives as if there are no resources in the universe. It is impossible to create our own fake. It’s intrinsic. It’s intrinsic. We can only choose a path that fits our ethical framework and offers some measure of success, then move forward. Camus’ endorsement of this was filled with meaning. Although it may seem very different from a conversation about freewill, the pursuit of intrinsic meaning in all things is actually quite similar. (Daniel, 2018).

Camus says that happiness and absurd are closely related in his view of happiness. Both are connected to the idea that rationality and destiny are our own. That there is hope. And that our lives are purely what we make them. Sisyphus knows his fate as he descends the mountain. Camus concludes that Sisyphus should be considered happy. However, research suggests that happiness and sadness can result from the choices we make in life. These are called behavioural styles. Certain behavioural and cognitive patterns can cause emotional patterns that align with how happy we feel each day. Gallup’s research shows that there are many things that can cause people to be unhappy. However, five main causes of global unhappiness according to Gallup’s research are poverty, broken communities and hunger, loneliness, and a scarcity of good jobs.

17% of Americans find it difficult to make ends meet with their current income. Broken communities don’t help: 2 billion people are so unhappy in their lives that they won’t recommend their neighborhood to anyone. (Jon, 2022). “You won’t be happy if your search continues for happiness. “You will never live if your search for the meaning and purpose of life is unsuccessful.” (Camus 1957). Camus concludes that there are three possible outcomes from fully acknowledging the absurd. These include suicide, freedom, happiness, and the core problems facing humanity today.

2.1 SUICIDE and MYTH OF SISSAPHUS

The increased pressures faced by humanity is making suicide more common in today’s society. We tend to use the term suicide too loosely, without realizing that suicide has a special reason and logic behind it. Emile Durkheim states that suicide is used to describe all deaths that are directly or indirectly caused by a positive or negatively motivated act of the victim. (Pickering & Walford, 2011). Durkheim distinguishes between four types of suicide: egoistic suicide (altruistic suicide), anomic suicide (fatalistic suicide)

Camus begins “An Absurd Thinking,” his first essay in The Myth of Sisyphus with the words: “There is only one serious philosophical problem. That is suicide.” The fundamental question of philosophy is to decide whether life is worth living. The rest, such as whether or not the universe has three dimensions or whether or not the mind can be divided into nine or twelve categories, will come later. These are games. One must first answer.” (Camus 1942). Camus recognizes that it is important to not die from our own will. Because our acceptance of the absurd causes us every day to take what we have and give it away. Camus is an example of how suicide can be repudiated. The absurd man can drain the entire thing daily and then deplete himself. He is absurd because of his extreme anxiety.

Camus refers to our human lives in a similar way to Sisyphus’ torture. He was sentenced to roll the same stone up a mountain and have it fall down again until the end. Sisyphus was subject to component punishment because he had once escaped from the underworld and lived on this planet for a few years. He is now back in the underworld, fulfilling his meaningless mission. Camus uncovers the absurd, and he reveals how to deal with it heroically.

Camus nods toward Durkheim and tells us suicide has been most effectively handled as a social phenomenon. He is also concerned about the relationship between suicide and individual thought. Camus identifies the problem with life’s meaninglessness and how absurdity can make our lives seem a mess. The absurd can be tolerated, however. Camus wrote that the absurd is no more than wordplay. He concluded that just because there is no ultimate, it doesn’t mean that life isn’t worth living. It doesn’t mean that there is no fee for dwelling because there isn’t universal purpose or reason.

2.2. CAMUS AND HAPPINESS

Camus suggests that Sisyphus might even approach his assignment with pleasure. He may feel moments of despair or sorrow as he looks back on the arena that he has left, but he also hopes for or dreams for happiness. The sorrow and despair that Sisyphus felt about his fate vanished when he accepted it. Camus suggests that accepting “crushing truths” such as the futility and eternity of his destiny can make them less crushing. Camus suggests that happiness and absurd are closely connected. Both are linked to the idea that the world and our fate are personal. Sisyphus knows his fate as he descends the mountain. Camus concludes that Sisyphus should be believed to have been glad. Camus argued that Camus sees existence as a constant war without any desire. To escape this absurd contradiction, it is possible to try to ignore or avoid the struggle and hopelessness that define our lives. Camus’s unmarried condition for the absurd man was that he keep full awareness of the absurdity and absurdity of his role. There was struggle and toil as Sisyphus pushed his rock up the mountain. He was aware of the moment Sisyphus climbed up the mountain, unassisted from his burden. He knows he will fight for his life and that this struggle is futile. This consciousness is the exact same consciousness an absurd human can have on this existence. As long as Sisyphus remains conscious, his fate is not exceptional or worse than ours. If we can escape our fate by wishing or believing, happiness will be found.

The very nature of life could make it unhappy. Happiness could also be an illusion created by denial. If we are to believe that Sisyphus was happy, then we should accept the context of actual happiness. Camus believes that the most important component of human experience is human experience. This is true. He must show that people can be happy based on their knowledge and not their inability to enjoy happiness if he wants to prove that happiness is real. We must be able to find happiness without having faith, hope or any other means of escaping our current existence if happiness is true. The Myth of Sisyphus, which is essentially a complex attempt to prove that this is possible, ends with the following premise: If true happiness is possible, Sisyphus must be satisfied.

2.3. CAMUS AND FREEDOM

Camus, in his book “The Rebel”, argues that “Every human being is free but freedom is relative to other people; one must accept limits, moderation and ‘calculated risk’ as well as absolutes that are anti-human. (Camus 1951). Camus reiterates the fact that the best certainty in life is man’s desire for harmony and absolutes. It is impossible to decrease this intentional to a rational, reasonable principle. To deal with the absurd, one must always understand these records. This is a form freedom in which man can live with only what he knows. Camus examines the concept of freedom on the topic of the absurd. Camus says that before a man confronts absurdity, he lives his daily life as if he were free. He contemplates the future, sets goals for himself, and has possibilities. The certainty of death can undermine all of these. Suicide may be a way to eliminate absurd freedom. It is therefore not an acceptable answer. The concept of freedom is closely linked to the notions of autonomy and responsibility. Freedom implies personal responsibility. It gives you the responsibility. . . . I am responsible for my actions. . . “I want to be the person I want to be.” (Svendsen, 2014).

In his essay “Two Concepts of Liberty,” Isaiah Berlin (1958), a British philosopher, made a distinction between negative liberty and positive liberty. Negative liberty is the absence of restrictions on or interference with an agent’s ability to act. A greater “negative freedom” means fewer restrictions on action. Berlin linked positive liberty to self-mastery. This is the ability to control one’s destiny. Negative liberty should not be restricted.

CONCLUSION

Kierkegaard views life as deeply absurd due to its central lack in meaning. According to him, we should take “a leap in faith”, essentially arguing the belief that God will eventually give our lives meaning. Camus is against this type of escapism. He claims existentialists “deify the things that crush them and find reasons to hope in those that impoverish them” (Erik Van Aken 2019, 2019). Camus suggests that you get outside, enjoy the sun, take a walk along the beach, play football, go to a cafe with friends, and refuse to give in to melancholy. Camus believes that life is worth living and should be enjoyed. Camus urges us to smile at the absurd, even though it is difficult to face meaninglessness.

REFERENCES

1. Albert, Camus (1942). The Myth of Sisyphus, and Other Essays. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
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