Existentialism

I woke up this morning feeling very low and I thought that Albert Camus' Existentialist masterpiece, The Stranger was very appropriate. Existialism posits that we, as individuals, are completely free and thus alone. Our experiences are ours alone and the univese is absurd. A more extensive look at this philosophy can be found here. The general feeling is the pointlessness of everything. By the time I finished work, I was feeling a little better. I did laundry when I got home and then went to a bookclub meeting where we discussed The Time Traveller's Wife. From the perspective of the main character Henry, who suffered from the genetic malady Chrono-displacement, a condition that causes him to jump through time unwillingly, especially during times of stress I would guess that he would be a strong proponent of Existentialism. He was unable to change the past, so I imagine he suffered from despair and so the universe as an absurd game. The story was a tragedy in the true Greek sense of the word. Having said all of that, I thought it was a very good book and would recommend it.

Life is absurd but you have to live it and to borrow from another philosopher, Friedrich Nietzche, "That which does not kill you, makes you stronger."