Albert Camus’ Absurdism: Life is Not a Problem to be Solved

how would you outsmart the one force no one can escape death itself in inar bergman's the seventh seal we're invited into a chilling world where a knight faces more than just the end of life he's forced to confront the universe's deafening silence but beyond his chess game with death lies a deeper struggle a battle within Antonius block the Knight isn't just fighting to survive he's grappling with his own buried Darkness what Carl Yung calls the shadow grows stronger with every step he takes as block searches for meaning he's not only confronting death he staring into

the terrifying absurdity of existence itself blocks clearly not asking for much just a glimpse of the Divine a whisper from the universe to ease his Restless soul but staring into the abyss has its perks maybe it doesn't answer your deepest questions but it sure wakes you up faster than any cup of coffee ever could Albert kamu believed that life's greatest struggle lies in confronting the Absurd the realization that our search for meaning will always be met with the universes indifferent silence in the seventh seal Block's chess game with death symbolizes this absurdity yet jungian perspective

offers another layer while block wrestles with the Absurd externally internally he faces his shadow the hidden darker parts of his psyche according to Yung these traits buried and ignored gain power the more we run from them therefore Block's battle is twofold a desperate attempt to find meaning in a meaningless world as kamu described and a confrontation with the hidden Darkness within himself only by facing both can he hope to understand the truth of his existence kamu suggests that in the face of an indifferent Universe we must accept that there is no external meaning the Absurd

lies in our Relentless pursuit of answers in a world that remains silent yet Yung provides a different path while the external world may refuse to provide meaning our internal world can reveal deeper truths Yung believed that facing our shadow the parts of ourselves we refuse to acknowledge is crucial to understanding who we are if you want to explore your own shadow start by reflecting on moments when you felt triggered irrationally angry or defensive these moments often point to the aspects of yourself you're trying to avoid but even after exploring these inner truths as Camu would

remind REM us the Absurd still lingers the universe may not offer answers but Yung believed that the act of confronting your inner Darkness brings personal meaning kamu would argue that even in a meaningless World The Challenge is to create your own meaning from the inside out and ah yes the Absurd at its finest searching for meaning like it's a pair of lost Keys only to realize the universe doesn't even own a door frustration captures a universal tension Alber kamu in his philosophy of the Absurd focuses on the external our desire for meaning in a universe

that offers only silence it's as if we're playing a game where the rules are absent and blocks chess match with death perfectly captures this existential struggle every move he makes is an attempt to extract meaning from a world that remains indifferent echoing camus's assertion that the Absurd arises from this confrontation between human need and the un reasonable Silence of the universe yet car Yung presents another perspective one that shifts the focus inward for Yung meaning doesn't emerge from the external world but from the depths of our unconscious his concept of synchronicity suggests that our internal

World creates patterns and meaningful coincidences answers not from the indifferent universe but from within ourselves where kamu finds absurdity in the outer silence Yung finds purpose in the mysterious work ings of the inner mind as kamu eloquently states in the myth of Copus man stands face to face with the irrational he feels within him his longing for happiness and for reason the Absurd is born of this confrontation between the human need and the unreasonable Silence of the world the Absurd as kamu describes it is the clash between our desire to find meaning in life and

the universe's total indifference imagine spending hours asking someone important question questions only for them to remain completely silent that's how the Absurd feels a frustrating unanswered search for meaning according to Carl Gustaf Yung there may be another dimension at play one that operates within us as block wrestles with the Silence of the universe Yung would argue that perhaps the answers he seeks are not external but internal yung's concept of synchronicity suggests that when the external World fails to offer Clarity our unconscious mind steps in creating meaningful coin incidences moments where the inner and outer worlds

align consider this after struggling with a tough decision you randomly pick up a book or article and the first passage you read resonates perfectly with your current dilemma as if guiding you toward a solution Yung called this synchronicity a mysterious alignment of inner thought and outer reality that leaves you questioning the nature of meaningful coincidences you know there are plenty of facts in in in the observation of the unconscious where you come across uh cases of very peculiar kind uh of parallel uh events namely that say I have a certain thought um or a certain

uh definite uh subject uh is occupying my attention to my interest at the same time something else quite independently happens that portrays just that uh thought yes now this is nonsense you know from look at from a causal point of view that it is not nonsense is made evident by the results of R's experiments uh there is a probability uh it is something more than chance but there's another struggle at play in yung's view Block's search for answers isn't just external it's a deeper internal quest to reconcile his conscious desires with the darker unconscious parts

of himself the shadow meanwhile kamu would argue that blocks search for meaning in an indifferent universe is doomed from the art for kamu the external World offers only silence while Yung believed that true meaning comes from within block is forced to confront both The Emptiness of the world around him and the hidden Darkness within his own [Music] [Music] soul [Music] for in other words while we strive to lead meaningful lives and follow a reason reasonable path the world remains indifferent to our desires kamu suggests that one way to cope with this is by recognizing religion

as a comforting illusion however for kamu this illusion is a false hope a way to avoid confronting the Absurd in contrast Yung might reason that this illusion may also be a projection of our own unacknowledged darkness the shadow we refuse to integrate [Music] the film vividly illustrates how Illusions born of fear and ignorance can give rise to evil people mutilating their bodies in Desperate repentance convinced the plague is God's Wrath and a town torturing and executing a young girl claiming the Black Death is the work of the Devil Within her from yung's perspective such evil

is a projection of the Shadow our own repressed Darkness onto others because we fail to confront it within ourselves the atrocities that block Witnesses self-mutilation the persecution of the girl are not just acts of desperation they are the external manifestations of Humanity's Collective Shadow a refusal to acknowledge and integrate our inner Darkness while kamu would interpret these Horrors as the natural consequence of Humanity's futile search for meaning in an indifferent and chaotic World Yung saw them as the tragic result of neglecting the unconscious allowing the shadow to seep into reality and corrupt our actions once

more our protagonist turns to despair but his Squire Yun refuses to follow unlike block y doesn't waste time searching for answers where none exist his pragmatism is his shield where block asks Grand questions about God and meaning yons sees survival and laughter as the best antidote to absurdity yunk approach may seem cynical but it's also freeing instead of grappling with unanswerable questions he chooses to live in the moment where block seeks meaning in every shadow yö simply accepts the darkness for what it is part of life but not the whole of it according to kamu

the only way to confront this absurdity is by resisting Despair and embracing what he call the Absurd hero one who finds strength and Defiance in a world without meaning in yungan terms true growth comes from resisting the urge to project our shadow onto others and instead integrating it into our Consciousness this for Yung is the path to individuation the journey toward becoming whole as kamu insightfully remarks in the myth of Copus this universe henceforth without a master seems to him neither sterile nor futile each atom of that stone each mineral flake of that nightfill mountain

in itself forms a world the struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart one must imagine Copus happy just as Copus finds meaning in his struggle yö The Squire embodies a similar Defiance in the face of a chaotic world but where Camu absurd hero finds strength in embracing the futility Yun confronts life's meaningless trials with biting cynicism and humor mocking the very emotions others would cling [Laughter] [Music] to ah ever the ROM Mantic while yö mocks love and dismisses its significance with his cynicism his perspective mirrors the existential Defiance that kamu

speaks of finding humor in the darkness yons like kamu absurd hero rejects Grand ideals but remains grounded in the moment using wit to cope with the harshness of Life despite the horrors of Life kamu argues that we can still find moments of beauty and humor and these moments help us make the best of a meaningless World similarly Yung believed that through individuation embracing the shadow we can find meaning in the chaos of life and while finding Beauty and humor in chaos May provide temporary relief kamu also warns that in today's world even the act of

admitting happiness comes with a challenge he notes that happiness especially in a world full of suffering and Injustice can often feel naive or out of place yet for Block thoughts of Happiness are distant echoes overshadowed by the crushing absurdity that consumes him the strength Camu speaks of no longer offers Solace to block leaving only emptiness for Fore fore for kamu would caution against the illusion of Happiness especially in a world rif with suffering but in a Twist of irony He suggests that we can still find strength and meaning in accepting this very absurdity mean [Music]

[Music] the crushing absence of meaning the Eerie Silence of a world indifferent to human suffering and blocks spiraling despair bring him to the threshold of his own soul a crucial moment in his journey toward individuation in yungan terms this despair is necessary for it forces block to confront his shadow but what if kamu is wrong what if our despair is misplaced and there is a God or a meaning to be found sir and kagad believed that reason alone cannot lead us to the truth instead He suggests a leap of faith as kard insightfully noted in

in his journals it is perfectly true as philosophers say that life must be understood backwards but they forget the other proposition that it must be lived forwards and if one thinks over that proposition it becomes more and more evident that life can never really be understood in time simply because at no particular moment can I find the necessary resting place from which to understand it backwards in other words Life's a bit like a chess game you can only understand your strategy in hindsight but during the game you're just making moves and hoping for the best

kard reminds us that while life is understood in hindsight we are compelled to live it Forward navigating uncertainty as we go as he notes in fear and trembling what the self now lacks is surely reality so one would commonly say as one says of a man that he has become unreal but upon closer inspection it is really a necessity the man lacks for it is not true as the philosophers explain that necessity is a Unity of possibility and actuality no actuality is a Unity of possibility and necessity nor is it merely due to lack of

strength when the soul goes astray in possibility at least this is not to be understood as people commonly understand it what really is lacking is the power to obey to submit to the necessary in oneself to what may be called one's limit therefore The Misfortune does not consist in the fact that such a self did not amount to anything in the world no the Misfortune is that the man did not become aware of himself aware that the self he is is a perfectly definite something In This Moment block realizes that death holds no secrets only

the unyielding Silence of the inevitable the answers he sought were never to be found in the external world or through divine revelation instead he is left staring into the very absurdity that has shadowed him avoid reflecting the universe's indifference as kamu would say from a yungan lens the true battle was never with death but within himself the final game is not about escaping fate but about facing the deepest recesses of his own soul the shadow he can no longer deny as kamu reflected on the clash between humanity and the Universe I said that the world

is absurd but I was too hasty this world in itself is not reasonable that is all that can be said but what is absurd is the confrontation of this irrational and the wild longing for clarity whose call echoes in the human heart [Music]