Life is it worth living ?

          Life, every moment of one's life could be summarized in a succession of pain. We are all born into suffering, the child is raised, coached so as to respect the social rules, the teenager knows a terrible existential crisis, the student must work time and time again, every day the adult has to faced the world of work in order to survive, the elderly is facing a slow decline. Furthermore, our time on earth is not a long quiet river. We must faced the illness, life's accidents, wars, depression, despair, poverty, loneliness and the loss of loved ones. So, life is it worth living in these circumstances ?

          Each of our lives could be brought closer to the mythological figure of Sisyphus of Albert Camus. Indeed, Camus describes the nature of life as an eternal absurd restarting. Thus, Sisyphus is sentenced because he had insulted the gods. As a consequence, he is sentenced to push a rock to the top of a mountain. But, each time he arrived at the top of this mountain, the rock tirelessly falls down. So, Sisyphus must start again and again. Actually, this story, Sisyphus' behavior is absolutely absurd. Nevertheless and contrary to our first feeling, Sisyphus is truly conscient. He knows that what he is doing seems, and is, absurd. Thus, there is no sense. Moreover, Camus said that « we must imagine Sisyphus happy ». Indeed, we do not have to look for the happiness felt by Sisyphus into the accomplishment of his punishment, but rather on the meaning of this sanction. This mythological figure is used by Camus so as to illustrate the pointless effort. In fact, Sisyphus only wants to accomplish his forfeiture to defeat it, to achieve his destiny. He is looking for the finality of the castigation while there is not. Moreover, isn’t it the story of our lives, of humanity ? We want to push up our rock into the top of our mountain, time and time again, in order to achieve our fate. However, it is useless, but Camus considers the happiness as a way of living our lives in the awareness of the absurdity of existence. He learned from philosophers like Kafka or Dotoïevski. The consciousness permits us to maintain into control our existences, our time on earth.

          Nevertheless, we have to focus on a fundamental issue which had truly seized Albert Camus. This is the question of suicide. Indeed, if life is not worth living, the better solution could be suicide. According to Camus, suicide is the only serious philosophical issue. This is the story of the futility of life. So, what is the purpose of life, if we are conscient that all we are doing is totally absurd and deprived of sense ? We see no necessity to answer the question of existence. We cannot find our place into this world. A world which is not made for us, humans beings. It is all our ideal which falls down. So, I can observe that the only sense of life seems to be those we invented to it. However, we are not all Sisyphus we have not his courage and dexterity. In our everyday’s life there are other things that eternal sufferings. Plus, human beings are used to give up quite quickly. If we are in this state of mind, what are our solutions ? I think, there are only two : suicide and unconsciousness. Indeed, when we are conscient of the absurdity of existence, how to continue doing, every day, absurd things. I am talking about, for instance, the famous french expression « metro-boulot-dodo ». While we are conscious of that, all we do seems unbearable. The consciousness makes this world worst, a burden. And, what is the value of an incompetent reason if our entirely life is fruitless ? Suicide is a way to make the world quiet, to obtain a piece of peace. The world determines what we are, so, we are its things. We are contained during our whole lives, as far as our thinkings.

«We get into the habit of living before acquiring the habit of thinking ».

          So, Albert Camus rejects suicide. He categorized three ways of life. First of all, there is the absurd hero who faced the absurdity of life. He loves life and he is always looking for the same thing, the same essence of life. It is the figure of Dom Juan which is tirelessly looking for the same women. Then, there is the suicidal which makes the « leap ». He wants to escape of absurdity of life which is destroying him. Finally, there is the believer who is not preoccupied by existential issues. According to Camus, we have to be revolted, to be involved with our conscious in the political, social, questions of our time. Camus was a revolted human being ! And you, who are you ?