Philosophical Spotlight: 5 Life Lessons We Can Learn From Existentialist Thinker Albert Camus

Life Lessons From Albert Camus Philosophy.

Albert Camus was a 20th Century French existentialist thinker. He reshaped philosophy and existentialist thought by attributing to the absurdism in living.

As an ambassador for the individuals freedom of choice, Albert Camus underlined the concept of personal empowerment. In doing so, his philosophical thinking painted a bleak, but optimistic outlook into coping with the absurdity of life.

In this modern and maddening world,

Here are 5 elements to walk with from the revolving life and philosophy of Albert Camus:

1. LIFE IS MEANINGLESS, BUT NOT MISERABLE

Life is meaningless, Albert Camus Philosophy.
  • Like most existentialists philosophy, Albert Camus would agree that life is utterly meaningless. To further on this quote he epically defined meaning as:
    • “The literal meaning of life is whatever you’re doing that prevents you from killing yourself.” — Camus
  • As bleak as it seems, Camus was actually a very upbeat, and optimistic individual:
    • Ironically, he acquired a taste for the finer things in life, as he rather enjoyed maintaining his image, dress, and style.
    • He was also a very sociable person, and it would probably be an understatement to simply state that he was quite popular with the ladies.

2. WE MUST CREATE OUR OWN MEANING

We must create our own meaning. Albert Camus Philosophy.
  • Although there is an absurd meaninglessness of life, he firmly believed it a necessity for us to continually search for meaning.
    • In this regard, Camus was a firm believer in creating subjective meaning within your own life, regardless of meaninglessness.
  • Camus largely attributed his own happiness to this personal philosophy.
    • Though he FIRMLY believed in meaninglessness OUT THERE– He created a life that was ultimately meaningful to him, DOWN HERE.

3. PLAY SPORTS AND ENGAGE IN COMPETITION

Play Sport, Engage in Competition. Albert Camus Philosophy.
  • The very basic foundation of his moral code was derived from sport, sportsmanship, and team spirit:
    • At a young age, he was a goal keeper for the Racing Universitaire d’Alger (R.U.A). — A former multi-sport team of Algeria.
    • Their football team competed for the North African Cup — a small territorial football competition bordering few select European, and African countries.
  • Though brief, organized sport largely shaped his personal life. He attributed a large amount of weight to the importance of socialization through organized sport.
    • “Everything I know about morality and the obligations of men, I owe it to football.” — Camus
  • He was very appreciative of camaraderie in the pursuit of a common goal. Not to mention the sense of determination, and communal bravery that was met in overcoming adversity and challenges.

4. PERSPECTIVE IS EVERYTHING

Perspective is everything. Albert Camus Philosophy.
  • Given the nature of existentialism, it really paints a very negative outlook on what we are faced with in living. But in the bleakness, Camus is able to maintain a flicker of light through the sense of hope.
    • Though ridiculously grim, we can choose to overcome these daunting concepts in order to live happy, and fulfilling lives.
  • In this regard, he finds great positivity, by embracing the negative aspects in living. A perfect, and harmonious balance of the natural.
    • He also founded the Revolutionary Union Movement and Europe, which aimed to literally shed light on the lighter side of surrealist/existential thinking.

5. ACCEPTANCE IS KEY

Acceptance is key. Albert Camus Philosophy.
  • In addressing the possibilities of coping with the nature of absurdity, Camus builds on three main strategies.
    • Suicide:
      • He viewed this as an irrational physical escape from living the madness. Camus firmly dismissed this as a feasible solution. He stated that this would only add to the absurdity of experience.
    • Finding faith:
      • Through typical, or other unorthodox means of transcendental belief. Camus identified such beliefs as philosophical suicide a metaphysical escape from dealing with the absurdity.
    • Acceptance:
      • By actively falling into the physical and mental trials of living and absurdity, you cultivate the most freedom for yourself as an individual. Bound by no moral judgments in this life, you can be personally selective in cultivating meaning. You create yourself, and your living experience. The comfort of control in the uncontrollable event of things. This was Albert Camus’ core belief in how to live life.

“When life gives me lemons, I make beef stew” — Andy Milonakis

BONUS

6. HIS DEATH WAS INTERESTING

An interesting death. Albert Camus Philosophy.
  • At 46, he died in an automobile accident on January 4, 1960.
    • He was a passenger driving with his publisher– Michel Gallimard. Camus was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident, while Gallimard passed away 5 days afterwards.
    • Though there is really nothing to say regarding the tragedy of a car accident, The contents of his lined pocket illustrate an interesting concept:
      • His pocket contained an unused train ticket that he deferred in using at the very last-minute. He opted to hitch this “deadly” ride with his publisher instead.

It can be ascertained that Camus was supportive in the sense of control brought on by the ability to make choices within our lifetime. But in this regard, what can be said about fate, free will, and determinism. Is it coincidentally an interesting story to tell, or something fated/fundamentally orchestrated?

In any case,

Albert Camus‘ had a profound impact on 20th century philosophy, as the concepts of his words continue to shape thinkers of today.

In hoping to take something from his ideas, feel free to share or build on this list by commenting below.

Happy Thinking,

Littermature.


Self Help Journaling

Ebook, Audiobook, Journaling Crash Course

Make It Stick, Write It Down. A Journaled Philosophy.
CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

F*ck Mindfulness: Mindfulness Is Nonsense When We Force It.

glass-hourglass-hours-39396

Mindfulness Is Nonsense Once It Becomes Self-Defeating.

For the sake of this post, and how I am feeling in this particular moment, I will say it and spell it out again: mindfulness is nonsense.

Don’t get me wrong, I am all for appreciating the mindfulness of a moment as I practice some form of mindfulness, awareness, and meditation daily. Likewise, I purposely try to incorporate it into every facet of my life to capture more of the moment.

Well What’s your f*king problem then?

My issue is that when we set the intention to be mindful in our experiences, we may become expectant to achieve a specific state for ourselves. Inevitably, things get lost in translations with our own skewed expectations.

Mindfulness is nonsense when our focus is aimed at being mindful, as opposed to the experience itself.

In other words, labelling our actions as mindful can limit our experience in observing things the way that we intend to experience them.

I have talked about labels before, but to spell it out mindfully,

“Once you label me, you negate me”

Screenshot (22)_LI.jpg

As soon as we call it something, it is limited to nothing more than that.

This is true to experience as well.

As soon as we intend to be mindful in our experiences, we limit our experience to whatever preconceptions we have of a mindful experience.

Some of MY OWN LIMITING preconceived attachments to mindfulness:

  • Road to Happiness
  • Zen
  • Slow controlled breathing
  • Easy, neutral state

There is more to experiencing the moment than this, but can you see how the ego’s intentions can potentially trap us with such an inhibited experience?

A crude labelling example:

Let’s imagine ourselves going out to an event, any event, and we suddenly find ourselves experiencing it negatively. We find the event so bad that we put a label on it, let’s call this a shit time.

Once we put our mind to those words, we limit ourselves to nothing more than what a shit time stands for in our mind.

We can try to force our way out of it, to be happy about it, but it’s still going to be a shit time.

In walking away from the event we will say:

“Today was a shit time out”

And the next day at the water cooler we will say:

“Yesterday was such a shitty time.”

And later on down your life line, you will say:

“I went to that thing once, It was…” Well, you get the point!

Mindfulness Isn’t Always Nonsense, It’s Beautiful Too!

Conceptually speaking, mindfulness can completely immerse us in our moments.

But things can become rather skewed when our mindful practice conflicts with our urges to be more mindful, which only takes away from the experience itself.

We can become too self-aware, where we may try to control our perception of things in the moment, when the whole basis of mindfulness is surrendering to that moment to experience it.

The ego steps in with its own pre-conceptual contributions to the experience in how it wants things to turn out for itself. This is self defeating, as the original intentions of mindfulness, is to dissolve the ego, and surrender to the moment.

Mindfulness is nonsense when our intentions aren’t clear enough. Therefore, it is important to understand why we choose to practice mindfulness in the first place.

For example:

Someone who experiences a lot of negative emotions may finds themselves frequently depressed. Such a person may then turn to mindfulness training in hopes of becoming happier. Truly, this is great, to an extent.

Take that crude example again; You remember, right!?

That “shitty time”:

We receive negative feedback from the experience during the event. For Example:

  • We’re at a restaurant, and the waitress accidentally dropped a meal on our lap; “Grr, it burns and my clothes are stained!”
  • We’re at a festival, and there is too many people here; “Grr, large crowds make us uneasy.”
  • We’re at a bar, and the music playing isn’t up our alley; “Grr, this song sucks.”
  • We’re having breakfast in a cafeteria, and someone just pissed in our corn flakes; “Grr…”

etc…

The issue can come in play when we experience this negatively and try to change our experience to suit our goal…

So,

[Insert Sh*tty Experience Here]:

“This is a sh*t time”

Turns into:

“This is a sh*t time– But…

I’m going to paint this smile on my face,

Because I just want to have a great time, and be happy!”

Screenshot (21).png
Fake It Till You Make It?

In this instance, we steadily assume a controlling aspect over our experience in order to achieve a result for happiness.

As we try to bring an awareness or focus onto a more “positive” light, we neglect the negative. And in this example, embracing the negativity is generally the heart of the moment.

True mindfulness is letting yourself flow from moment to moment, and if it calls for it, through contrasting emotion. Awareness is being able to identify this process happening within ourselves in our immediate perception of experience. Being mindful then, is taking it in and accepting it how it comes. And if you find yourself rejecting it, doesn’t mean it to be mindless.

Shitty experiences can still be mindful.

Mindfulness Is Nonsense: If It’s Shit, Let It Be Shit!

Huffing and Puffing Towards a Solution-The Power Of Negative Thinking

Ultimately, our INTENDED practice can hang us up. Actually, It is better practice to simply bring awareness to recognizing a moment for what it is how it finds us.

Keep rolling with that shitty time!

Even if it means living in it all day and night. Live in the shit until it starts to change on its own. And if it doesn’t, keep trying new things until it does.

Mindfulness is nonsense otherwise, when we find ourselves purposely tainting, or forcing our experience to illicit a particular result; a feeling, emotion, or state.

Of course, mindfulness is appreciated most when we experience it alongside some state of bliss, however, we can’t shy away from, or avoid our negative emotions in hopes of instantly transforming them into positive ones.

The human experience means balance, whether it’s basking in the beautiful sun for hours or rolling around in the shit for a few days.

With experience,
Littermature.

Self Help Journaling

Ebook, Audiobook, Journaling Crash Course

Make It Stick, Write It Down. A Journaled Philosophy.
CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE