• isaaclyman@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      For anyone who likes the video: definitely read The Myth of Sisyphus by Camus. Exurb1a does a solid job summarizing it, much better than most YouTubers, but skips a lot in order to keep the video short. It’s a very accessible book, especially if you skim the Kierkegaard stuff, and the core of it is strenuously punk and badass.

      Of note: Camus doesn’t just think you should live in defiance of a meaningless universe. He argues that you should live as long as possible, experience as much as you can, repeatedly do what you love most even to the exclusion of everything else. Absurdism is not mere hedonism nor optimistic nihilism; its rebellion is tenacious, passionate, intentional, and incapable of passivity.

      For a followup read, I recommend Oliver Burkeman’s Four Thousand Weeks, which is a great crash course in staring into the abyss.

      • skulblaka
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        5 days ago

        He’s good at that, somehow. Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had that reaction to a video of his.

        • Annoyed_🦀 @monyet.cc
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          5 days ago

          I always thought absurdism is someone with absurd or ridiculous thought, never know there’s more to it than the name itself. Kinda somehow ring through to how i view my life.