## Metaveri Başlık: **How to Find Joy in Your Sisyphean Existence** Yazar: *Arthur C. Brooks* Kategori: #articles ## Altı Çizilenler - Likewise, the 17th-century Christian philosopher Blaise Pascal [wrote](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/18269/18269-h/18269-h.htm) of our “constant unhappiness” and futile efforts to fight it: “Men seek rest in a struggle against difficulties; and when they have conquered these, rest becomes insufferable.” - Instead of feeling desperation at the futility of life, Camus tells us to embrace its ridiculousness. It’s the only way to arrive at happiness, the most absurd emotion of all under these circumstances. We shouldn’t try to find some cosmic meaning in our relentless routines—getting, spending, eating, working, pushing our own little boulders up our own little hills, he says. Instead, we should laugh uproariously at the fact that there *is* no meaning, and be happy anyway. Happiness, for Camus, is an existential declaration of independence. Instead of advising “Don’t worry, be happy,” he offers a rebellious “Tell the universe to go suck eggs, be happy.” - Meet that feeling of despair with a personal motto, such as “I don’t know what everything means, but I do know I am alive right now, and I will not squander this moment.” - Those little things include bringing a small blessing or source of relief to others. - Rather, focus on making space for that poor sap stuck in the wrong lane who’s desperately trying to merge. If you’re sitting at your desk wondering whether anyone would notice if you stopped doing your job, bring the colleague in the next cubicle a fresh cup of coffee, and enjoy the small delight that small kindness brings both of you. - Absurdity tends to sting only when we see it from the “outside” - Confronting the absurd is much more comfortable when you do so with mindfulness. - The pleasure and meaning you can find right now are real; the meaninglessness of the future is not. - You may not agree with Camus’ core assumptions about the world. I, for one, believe that life is *not* meaningless, and that there is a cosmic purpose to my work and yours, that love and life *will* transcend this mortal coil. I believe that we have a divine nature that endows my existence and yours with transcendental meaning. - I suppose I could stay in bed, contemplating one of Kierkegaard’s more depressing existentialist axioms: “With every increase in the degree of consciousness, and in proportion to that increase, the intensity of despair increases: the more consciousness the more intense the despair.” But staying in bed thinking about *that* seems even more Sisyphean.