/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.6805445]

Doesn't the fact that life is absurd make the idea of 'Serious Literature' inherently ridiculous?

[Anonymous No.6805453]

>>6805445
So, you've read the Stranger.

How's kindergarten treating you?

[« Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ » No.6805458]

>>6805445
Yeah, mang.
No language is perfect tho.

[Anonymous No.6805479]

>>6805445
of course its ridiculous.
but then again, what isnt?

[Anonymous No.6805486]

>>6805445

>what is pathos please help me understand I am only young

[Anonymous No.6805592]

>>6805445
>the fact that life is absurd

That isn't a fact.

[Anonymous No.6805597]

>life is absurd

Could someone please spell out what exactly they mean by this? Imagine I'm a ten year old.

Do you mean it's weird? Or what? I really don't understand..

[Anonymous No.6805618]

>>6805453
Lel

[Anonymous No.6805633]

>>6805597
absurdity being how fleeting life is, whereas people take their lives very seriously.
the president shits.
your girlfriend is made of meat and bones
the president will lose his job over a blowjob
you dream of showing up to work naked
people fleeing montezuma and the aztecs were drowned in the river by the gold they were carrying
people think suits and ties make things formal
people care for their cars like infants
there is a drug that suggests more than 3 dimensions
you once did not exist

[Anonymous No.6805637]

>>6805633

And all this is absurd because...?

[Anonymous No.6805655]

>>6805637
its absurd because it doesn't seem to tie together in the least
I can eat cheerios for breakfast or I can eat a bagel. does it matter?
the same could be said for the direction of humanity. what difference does it make?
does it matter I littered that one time when I was 13, out the window. a plastic bottle?
things are absurd because they can be non-sensical and detached from any overarching philosophy or belief about life.

[Anonymous No.6805657]

>>6805633
these things being absurd would suggest a reference world where these things are not the case, compared to which our world is absurd. that is not the case.

what's actually happening is that your model of the real world does not capture all its subtleties. your brain performs lossy compression and sweeping generalizations or just outright handwaves. which is perfectly normal as well - a perfect model of the universe would be the size of the universe.

[Anonymous No.6805665]

>>6805655
let's analyze the concept of 'mattering'. matter to who?

well, to you, ultimately. and that's about it. whether or not it matters to an external party only matters if you think the opinion of that external party matters. so ultimately it's all up to you.

so does it matter? which bits specifically matter, and which bits doesn't? dunno, you tell me.

[Anonymous No.6805691]

>>6805665
yes but see the absurdity doesn't stop. why am I the one to which things should matter? I am at first sight of things a completely "ordinary" member of this circus, no more important than a bug. why shouldn't I ask the bug what I should have for breakfast? the only perceivable consequence is inherent in the world (as in, I punch a wall, i break my hand). and yet it evaporates just as fast. its like all of this is happening in some sort of sealed bubble. i feel the phrase "cosmic joke" relates to the concept of absurdity. things that are seen as "serious" which we are contrasting with absurd, are typically serious in regards to nations, individuals, humanity. etc. murder is "serious" because its "unnatural" etc. war is serious because "the stability of the world economy" matters. it is all reference.

[Anonymous No.6805704]

>inherently

stop

[Anonymous No.6805711]

>>6805691
assuming you don't drink the solipsist cool-aid, there are more than one mattering functions. yours is one amongst six billion.

but it is unique in that it is directly tied to you, and the other ones are tied indirectly. would you prefer to receive $1000 instead of another person picked at random from the other six billion? sure you would. do you care about what you'll have for lunch more than what somebody else has for lunch on the other side of the world? yep.

what you're looking for is an external definition of morality because your brain would prefer not having to figure out its own, since it's hard work and leads to lots of lost calories. others are all too happy to give you suggestions (pick a nonfiction or religious book at random). ultimately, though, you'll still have to use your own judgment.

also, I suspect that whatever answer you come up with at the end, it is not going to be some simple thing that fits within a single sheet of A4. why should it? the entire computing power of the world is equal to like 20 brains at the moment.

[Anonymous No.6805783]

>>6805711
>the entire computing power of the world is equal to like 20 brains at the moment.

citation needed

[Anonymous No.6805853]

>>6805655
>things are absurd because they can be non-sensical and detached from any overarching philosophy or belief about life.

What is life absurd because of that? Do you want everything to be systematized?

Ooh, and I just had a thought - maybe things only look absurd from our perspective because we humans are these tiny little microbes on this one tiny little planet in the corner of a small galaxy in an utterly gigantic universe. In other words we can't see all of what is going on.

[Anonymous No.6805859]

>>6805655
>things are absurd because they can be non-sensical and detached from any overarching philosophy or belief about life.

Why is life absurd because of that? Do you want everything to be systematized?

Ooh, and I just had a thought - maybe things only look absurd from our perspective because we humans are these tiny little microbes on this tiny little planet in the corner of a small galaxy in an unimaginably gigantic universe. In other words we can't see enough of what is going on to make a proper judgement.

[Anonymous No.6805861]

>Dude everything's like so
>WEERD xDDDD
Truly the worst philosophy ever written.

[Anonymous No.6806015]

>>6805633
This is high school level deep
Life is, like, so absurd, man.

[Anonymous No.6807256]

>>6806015
is the concept of absurdity itself high school level deep? what is your personal alternative?

[Anonymous No.6807258]

>>6805445
nah

[Anonymous No.6807268]

>>6805633
reality can be strange, ergo there is no intrinsic meaning/value statements are exercises in futility/uh art is pointless because like uh

[Anonymous No.6807271]

>>6805445

[Anonymous No.6807278]

>>6807256

the physical universe is the farthest gradation of existence from the Ultimate reality. the boundlessness of pure Being aka God is crystallized into inert matter, where life evolves physically, mentally, and spiritually up the concentric circles of consciousness to reunion with the Source.

what you might call absurd, ie the president taking a shit, are just the realities of biological existence in the objective arena that is the universe.

I believe this. You don't have to. But it is just as easy to read ultimate meaning in the universe as it is to tease out some sophomoric babby's first existentialist crisis out of it.

[Anonymous No.6807299]

>>6805445
>fact

[Anonymous No.6807328]

look up definition of absurd and serious

????

go back in time and dont bother making thread

[Anonymous No.6807408]

>>6807278
ok, well there is no doubt that as we move through this progression the past begins to seem absurd. not the biological realities, but our imposed order. so now we see slavery as absurd, we see hunting and gathering as absurd because we've "moved past that". ideally the human society would rapidly evolve to a level of perfect health and harmony. but regardless, there still exists a sense of pointlessness in consequence. in the way that, I can kill someone and I will wake up the next day with no ill effects (if i were so mentally inclined, and the society turned a blind eye). It seems like nothing I could do would truly affect anything.......that is the absurdity. I could go around breaking windows, spray painting cars, poking people in the eye and as long as I got away, I would always return to this "neutral" state. I could fuck 100 virgins and yet the next day remain unsatisfied. There is this strange tendency of everything to "resolve" to some equal balanced state and the past seems to disappear. it doesn't matter now that I once stole a quarter from my teacher's desk. this is just physical reality moving around right? a piece of metal moving from desk to pocket. and we impose the meaning. I understand what you're saying but I feel absurdity is somewhat a distinctly human concept, as animals are not concerned with these thoughts, I guess this is a step in the process of becoming more "aware" of the true nature. however, it is interesting you put this "schedule" out like we are on or off schedule to reunite with "the source". to satisfy my curiosity you'd have to explain why exactly we "fell" from this union in the first place, and what happens, where we go once we arrive.

[Anonymous No.6807521]

>>6807408
makes a bit more sense. i've also felt this feeling. it's amazing how little suggestion we have of the enormity of pain, death, and warfare that has happened in the past when it's a sunny day out and you're out for a bike ride. almost like it doesn't matter, that anything can be "forgotten".

here's my take on your question, and of course I'm still young and this might radically change. i was a fedora atheist just 5 years ago after all:

the universe is moral.

what meaning we impose on physical or abstract objects/systems is either one of two (or sometimes both) functions: moral meaning, or necessity.

necessity is all the absurd shit like rendering service for a few slips of paper, or exchanging your time and energy for those same slips of paper. this universe is the farthest point from pure Source, which is infinite being, infinite consciousness.

mystics liken these modes of being to rates of vibration. matter is inert (its vibration is extremely low whereas the Source's rate of vibration is infinite) it must be manipulated, carried, honed, whatever. and because we must contend with a universe composed of dead, unwilling stuff we impose these absurd but necessary meanings. and presidents take a shit.

murder, the shedding of blood for a base impulse, these are profoundly immoral to us. even though we're all gonna die anyways. things like this are inherently repulsive to us.

oh, well, someone can say it's just evolution yadda yadda yadda. the friendliness of dogs is also (artificially forced) evolution, but it does not mean they're "faking" it any more than a naturally cheerful person is faking it.

in the physical laws that govern this universe are written the seeds of love and joy and profound beauty. to the make the leap from "insinuations of transcendence through love and beauty" -> "God" might be like a big one. I don't think it is.

our reptile brains and our rational brain are the "hardware", and our consciousness is the "software". we are influenced very strongly by our hardware but the software can assert control over unruly impulses with enough grit and willpower.

my point is the universe speaks to us on a level that feels far deeper than chemicals or physical processes.

as for how we fell out of this supposed perfect union, there are different theories according to which system you subscribe to, but as God is the All, then the All must necessarily encapsulate all levels of Being, from the supreme to nonbeing (which accounts for evil, for it is spiritual decay and death, and must subsist on the energy of the Divine)

finally, all levels of being are conscious accordin to their position on the Chain. the lower they are, the dimmer that consciousness is. we have the privilege of being able to comprehend the transcendent but also the danger of giving into all our lower, animalistic selves.