zerostao Posted November 12, 2018 1 hour ago, Marblehead said: Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal. in anarckia, that is considered a cardinal sin 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marblehead Posted November 13, 2018 Yeah, being normal isn't all that noteworthy anyhow. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
silent thunder Posted November 13, 2018 Heh... normal. that's an elusive one for me these days. I'd sidle up next to Robert Anton Wilson as he says: “The normal is that which nobody quite is. If you listen to seemingly dull people very closely, you'll see that they're all mad in different and interesting ways, and are merely struggling to hide it.” My version is "Normal is that which seems to exist, until you spend enough time nearby and get to know it a bit." And that's perfectly lovely to me. IF I were to encounter normal as implausible as it seems these days, I'd be as surprised as I would be disillusioned. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marblehead Posted November 13, 2018 We never hear from or about normal people. I do think they exist though. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marblehead Posted November 19, 2018 There is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zerostao Posted November 25, 2018 Violence is both unavoidable and unjustifiable. Virtue cannot separate itself from reality without becoming a principle of evil. We are all special cases. Ah, mon cher, you must have the essence of indifference to endure absurdity. Law, by definition, cannot obey the same rules as nature. We call first truths those we discover after all the others. the absurd is the essential concept and the first truth. I know of only one duty and that is to love. one quote is not from Camus 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dawei Posted November 25, 2018 On 11/10/2018 at 5:20 AM, Marblehead said: What a question. I can't suggest that it is Daoism as from my readings of him I was never inspired to think that he ever knew anything about Daoist Philosophy. He may still have been in his existentalistic mentality at the time of writing that. I think it is fair to suggest that he was headed toward that path. But something broke him out of that path. I like to think that it was his becoming more influenced by Nietzsche. Human life is absurd but still worth living. Whether he knew of Daoism or not, he reflects some of that dualistic thought... as in The Myth of Sisyphus: At the heart of all beauty lies something inhuman There is no sun without shadow, and it is essential to know the night Happiness and the absurd are two sons of the same earth. They are inseparable What is called a reason for living is also an excellent reason for dying 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dawei Posted November 25, 2018 Some of Camus' works online: The Myth of Sisyphus The Stranger The Plague The Fall The Possessed Resistance, Rebellion and Death 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marblehead Posted November 26, 2018 (edited) Too many have dispensed with generosity in order to practice charity. Edit to add: This requires a deep understanding of the two concepts in order to appreciate what he has said. Edited November 26, 2018 by Marblehead Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zerostao Posted April 5, 2020 On 11/25/2018 at 6:00 PM, dawei said: Some of Camus' works online: The Myth of Sisyphus The Stranger The Plague The Fall The Possessed Resistance, Rebellion and Death I may read Camus' The Plague this week. I have a paperback copy. Not too long a read judging a book by its cover. May yield useful I sights. What the heck 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Smelly Goatz Posted April 9, 2020 The Myth of Sisyphus The Plague The Fall I just read these. The Plague is very interesting. I would recommend reading the Myth of Sisyphus last...or not. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
S:C Posted April 24, 2021 You make the mistake of thinking you have to choose, that you have to do what you want, that there are conditions for happiness. What matters - all that matters, really - is the will to happiness, a kind of enormous, ever-present consciousness. The rest - women, art, success - is nothing but excuses. A canvas waiting for our embroideries.' I can only find it in a certain struggle with its opposite - a stubborn and violent struggle. Beyond the curve of the days he glimpsed neither superhuman happiness nor eternity - happiness was human, eternity ordinary. What mattered was to humble himself, to organize his heart to match the rhythm of the days instead of submitting their rhythm to the curve of human hopes. Just as there is a moment when the artist must stop, when the sculpture must be left as it is, the painting untouched - just as a determination not to know serves the maker more than all the resources of clairvoyance - so there must be a minimum of ignorance in order to perfect a life of happiness. Those who lack such a thing must set about acquiring it: unintelligence must be earned. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
