Concepts of Absurdity and Anxiety - Assignment Example

Looking at absurdity as springing from anxiety makes one realize that many of the absurd things we do or see happen because of fear or apprehension of consequences and of things to come.

“Tomorrow, he was longing for tomorrow, whereas everything in him ought to reject it. That revolt of the flesh is the absurd” (14). Many people tell themselves that tomorrow will be better only to get through the day. This is another absurdity of life. Everyone hopes for something better but they know that this is just wishful thinking. I think this is interesting because it is consciousness telling itself that tomorrow will be better than today, however, it is as if the conscious mind knows that it is lying to itself. Hence, this “revolt of the flesh” is absurd because consciousness telling itself lies is absurd.

“But what is absurd is the confrontation of this irrational and the wild longing for clarity whose call echoes the human heart” (21). The world is often irrational yet the heart longs to make sense of it all. Thus what I think is meant here is that the incompatibility of the irrational reality of things and the clarity that people desire is, in itself, an absurdity. This incompatibility leads to absurd situations where people try to make sense of something only to maintain their sense of clarity. I think this is important because this “irrational” and “clarity” exist in everyone’s conscious mind. We are all trying to reconcile things with our personal beliefs and form things to fit into our own views. In this way, we feel we are making life more significant and becoming closer to who we think we really are.