Absurdism is art that acknowledges the inherent absurdity of human existence. Why are we here? Who knows? What’s the point of any of it? That’s the neat part: There is no point! A man gets sentenced to death because he dozed off at his mother’s funeral.
The purest vein of absurdism is a Beckett play that’s never been put to stage. It consists of two guys sitting in large Oscar-the-Grouch-style garbage cans, spending three acts sighing.
Absurdism is the belief that the entire universe is completely random, irrational and meaningless, so any attempts to try and understand anything are also meaningless.
Believing that a room, full of billionaires, understands your life and has your best interest at heart. Believing that a person who is a compulsive, serial liar, is telling the truth.
Dorothy Parker’s Resumé feels like an appropriate definition tonight:
“Razors pain you; / Rivers are damp; / Acids stain you; / And drugs cause cramp. / Guns aren’t lawful; / Nooses give; / Gas smells awful; / You might as well live.”
People’s need to find meaning in a world that continues to prove it has no inmate meaning, natural justice or preordained order.
That is not to pass a bad judgement on this pursuit of meaning. In fact, the opposite: we must pursue meaning, the absurdist says, despite living an absurd reality. To give up the pursuit is to give up what makes life worth living.
Comments
it’s a philosophy based on the juxtaposition of humans search for external meaning, in a universe that is inherently lacking in external meaning.
Absurdism is art that acknowledges the inherent absurdity of human existence. Why are we here? Who knows? What’s the point of any of it? That’s the neat part: There is no point! A man gets sentenced to death because he dozed off at his mother’s funeral.
The purest vein of absurdism is a Beckett play that’s never been put to stage. It consists of two guys sitting in large Oscar-the-Grouch-style garbage cans, spending three acts sighing.
Why did the absurdist cross the road?
Banana!
Absurdism is the belief that the entire universe is completely random, irrational and meaningless, so any attempts to try and understand anything are also meaningless.
Believing that a room, full of billionaires, understands your life and has your best interest at heart. Believing that a person who is a compulsive, serial liar, is telling the truth.
Dorothy Parker’s Resumé feels like an appropriate definition tonight:
“Razors pain you; / Rivers are damp; / Acids stain you; / And drugs cause cramp. / Guns aren’t lawful; / Nooses give; / Gas smells awful; / You might as well live.”
People’s need to find meaning in a world that continues to prove it has no inmate meaning, natural justice or preordained order.
That is not to pass a bad judgement on this pursuit of meaning. In fact, the opposite: we must pursue meaning, the absurdist says, despite living an absurd reality. To give up the pursuit is to give up what makes life worth living.