Accepting Life or Rebelling: Which Attitude to Choose?

How to live life in ways that minimize regrets in its final stages, just before we die? When one watches older people arriving near end of their earthly existence, it’s a question that resonates with heightened force. Perhaps in our daily rush between professional responsibilities and family duties, we don’t find time to ponder it. Yet it’s worth realizing that our well-being late in life depends largely on how we lived earlier.

As Edyta Geppert (b. 1953) sang, ”As was life, so is death”, pointing to a fundamental correlation between them. Choices we make today will ultimately forge the balance of gains and losses in our lives before death. Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961), the renowned psychiatrist, described this:

In the face of death, life always reminds us of the passage, the running of a wound-up clock that must, of course, stop eventually. We are never more convinced of life’s passing than when someone’s life comes to an end before our eyes, and never does a more earnest and painful question about the meaning and value of life arise than when we witness the last breath leaving a body that was still alive just moments ago. 

Therefore, it’s prudent to take care of the quality of our existences well in advance.

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From an ethical standpoint, life presents a significant challenge to each individual, serving as a test and examination for every human being. Seneca (4 BC–65 AD), the philosopher and a prominent orator, emphasized the pursuit of leading a good life as a skill to be mastered, though attaining this varies in practice. We can passively accept what happens or choose an active attitude, shaping the course of our existence. This active approach reflects contentment and acceptance while also embodying rebellion and disagreement when facing situations that contradict our value system. As Socrates (469–399 BC) ascertained, a person determines whether they is leading a superficial and shallow life or one of integrity and decency.

In the present, we can find ourselves in situations that demand a well-defined ethical stance. Some may choose a passive, convenient path, conforming along with the majority, yet certain circumstances call for a more resolute attitude. How to navigate this contemporary world and minimize regrets on the approach of life’s end? Albert Camus (1913–1960), the eminent existentialist and Nobel laureate in literature, provides an intriguing response to this question. Camus has much to offer to individuals who may feel bewildered and uncertain about adopting life attitudes. He strongly emphasizes the need to acknowledge and accept life’s inherent absurdity while simultaneously maintaining a continuous rebellion against it. This refined balance, according to the philosopher, requires moral courage and lets us to fend off resignation in facing the inevitable absurdity of things. In embracing those absurdities while persistently rebelling, we bear witness to our humanity and take a stance of engagement and purpose. Camus’s insights offer crucial guidance to those navigating existential complexities in today’s world.

Life’s Absurdity

We frequently find ourselves dissatisfied with the world we inhabit. Despite our striving and effort, our endeavors can feel futile, leaving us to question why our ardent pursuits go unrewarded. Seeking understanding, no explanations arises, which leads to bitterness, sadness, and occasional fury. A pervasive sense of frustration, disappointment, and incomprehension can engulf us. Camus adeptly assesses this state of affairs, highlighting the question of any purpose in human existence as the most critical existential problem.

Every individual craves a sense of purpose in their actions, a natural and fundamental human need. We want our efforts to hold meaning, yield specific benefits, gain recognition and appreciation from others, and contribute to the greater good. However, daily lived reality often presents a stark contrast. Camus refers to this as the absurdity of existence: the dissonance between intention and reality. “Absurdity arises from comparison. Absurdity is primarily a dissonance, neither of the elements being compared comes first or second. It arises from their confrontation.”

The key question we must confront, as Camus highlights, is how to transcend this situation. Faced with feelings of meaninglessness and a lack of understanding – the sense of absurdity regarding our efforts and their outcomes – it becomes vital to consider how to overcome this for our well-being. One can choose perpetual dissatisfaction, blaming others for everything, nurturing years of discontent, disappointment, and anger, but ultimately, what purpose does that serve? We may meet such individuals in life: brimming with venom, bile, and malice, harming those around them with unkindness and a hostile demeanor.

When Camus asserts that “the absurd is meaningful only to the extent that we do not agree with it,” he draws attention to a critical aspect of this issue: awareness. We mustn’t deny, mitigate, explain away, or evade the painful situation that’s led to a sense of absurdity. Instead, forthright acceptance is necessary, to keep repression from shifting things into the subconscious, from which our demons later emerge. “The aim is to live and contemplate within this internal conflict, to discern whether one should agree or withhold consent.”

Suicide Isn’t a Solution

Why does Camus emphasize the importance of awareness and acceptance in the face of life’s absurdity so emphatically? It’s because he adamantly rejects the option of suicide, which can seem an attempt to escape an intolerable situation. For Camus, the issue of suicide holds immense significance. In moments of utter meaninglessness, disappointment, and weakness, many people plunge ever deeper into despair. They lose their sense of life’s purpose and see suicide as the single way to free themselves from burdensome struggles. Camus, well aware of this human mechanism, strives to prevent it.

Absurdity should not be denied; instead, it must be accepted and acknowledged, for it inevitably exists as an intrinsic part of our lives. Suicide, meanwhile, represents surrender. It entails abject resignation from everything, including life’s good, beautiful, and truthful aspects. By recognizing the presence of absurdity – life’s inevitable disappointments, failures, and setbacks – we can strive to live with them and seek alternative solutions, rather than escaping reality irrevocably through an extremely radical decision. This embodies an individual’s moral courage: not capitulating in the face of meaninglessness but boldly confronting it, as Camus eloquently puts it: “To make the absurd live, above all, means to look it in the face.”

Rebellion as an Ethical Stance

How to confront the daily experience of meaninglessness and achieve a sense of purpose? Camus offers a compelling solution: rebellion is essential. “Consciousness and rebellion are the refusal and the opposite of resignation”, he explains. Embracing this dissenting attitude provides an alternative to succumbing to despair or resorting to suicide. When faced with situations we can’t accept, the internal sense of disagreement becomes a defining moral aspect. Camus reminds contemporary individuals that many circumstances are beyond our control and provoke a sense of absurdity and frustration. However, rational assessing our ability to change a situation is crucial. Some situations may be inherently senseless and must be accepted, yet this it doesn’t mean we should just swallow our disagreement. Rebellion, as Camus states cogently, “bestows value upon life. Encompassing the whole existence, it restores its greatness.”

To illustrate further, Camus invokes the mythical Sisyphus, condemned by the gods to an eternity of rolling a stone uphill only to watch it roll back down then return to repeat the task. Its futility lies in the perpetual repetition of this futile effort. In interpreting the story of Sisyphus, Camus seeks to convey a profound message. Let’s contemplate the idea of Sisyphus finding contentment. Perhaps, after one of his countless attempts, he came to realize that his task would never succeed. He might have embraced the absurdity of his fate, abandoned hope, and thus defied the gods who expected eternal suffering from him. Deep in his consciousness, Sisyphus understood that lasting happiness was beyond his reach. According to Camus, this realization represents his moral victory over the gods. “Hence flows Sisyphus’s silent joy. His fate belongs to him, his rock is his rock.”

In conclusion, Camus interpreting Sisyphus’s fate holds valuable insights for people today. Many of us experience moments akin to Sisyphus, feeling like we’re pushing a boulder uphill in different aspects of life. And the outcomes of our endeavors can echo those of Sisyphus, bound to failure, defeat, and the need to start again, without much anticipation of success. Camus teaches us when confronted with setbacks not to succumb to despair or withdraw from life. In various situations, we must acknowledge our lack of control and humbly accept this reality. However, that acceptance shouldn’t translate to abandoning aspirations and dreams; we must persist and continue trying. According to Camus, it might be better to act without hope, as that can shield us from the bitter sting of disappointment if we fail. Yet the action remains crucial. Engaging with life is a testament to our humanity. Sisyphus exemplifies unwavering determination despite the gods’ expectations. He persists endlessly, demonstrating perpetually that his strength and moral superiority lie in his perseverance. Sisyphus teaches us that rebellion can manifest through steadfastness actions. It’s worth being resolute. Under certain circumstances, it’s precisely within that stubbornness that moral triumph may be concealed.

Sources:

Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays, Warsaw 1999 

Carl Gustav Jung, The Rebis or the Philosopher’s Stone, Warsaw 1989 

Seneca, Thoughts, Kraków 1987