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Albert Camus, Lecture 4: "One must imagine Sisyphus happy."
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- čas přidán 3. 04. 2020
- A fourth lecture on Albert Camus' The Myth of Sisyphus, with some emphasis on meditation practice as a way of learning to cope with the repetitive and absurd nature of life.
These lectures are pure bliss
Yeah, he's actually not boring. There's nothing but him talking but it's not boring st all. I bet he's a great professor.
Kehinde Onakunle , beyond a shadow of doubt .
@@ChannelRandomMy absolutely .
Totally agree.
Agreed, he even goes on to Nieeeeetzsche. I wonder if he talks about his incel status.
Thank you! I am not even a student although I loved your lectures. It rescued me from all the pretentious and edgy shit on CZcams about Camus. Thanks again.
Well, thanks. Actually, what you're noticing probably comes out my previous incarnation as a computer scientist & engineer. In that domain, we strive for directness and lucidity -- rather than trying to be as pretentious and edgy as possible. So... you're welcome. And thank *you* for taking the time to tell me that. Gratitude. Eric D.
@@EricDodsonLectures I don't actually criticize the whole type of videos or what so called "Pop Philosophy". I like those videos. There are some real good videos there. The thing is, particularly about Camus, they didn't fulfill me and I wanted more. Maybe that's my issue I don't know 😅
@@EricDodsonLectures wow so you are an engineer too.
You are amazing professor.
I am 20 and a computer science student, i hope i will be like you when i grow up.
@@satwikanmol ... Hopefully with a better haircut... ha ha... anyhow, thanks.
@@EricDodsonLectures the hatred of edginess though also keeps people eyes closed from the absurdity of their existence
I find your lecturing style very clear and involving, really love it! Unfortunately, I'm not your student. Is there a way to get an access to the notes?
There are no winners or losers but nature taking its course is such a refreshing realization. The quest for success is no longer a prominent source of fulfillment. Thanks again for this lecture!
What an excellent channel - thank you, Professor Dodson. I'm 69 years old and learning, (probably a bit late!), about Existentialism and its implications regarding personal freedom and responsibility. Thank you again...
Well, if you like this channel, you might also like my main channel, where I'm posting new content semi-regularly. It's called, "Eric Dodson." There's a lot more material there about Existentialism, personal freedom, responsibility, etc. Anyhow... from one Boomer to another, thanks for taking the time to listen. Gratitude. Eric D. P.S. Actually, it's never too late.
“The universe doesn’t care whether you are a winner or not”, this was so accurate that it made me burst into laughter! Great lecture.
You are an excellent teacher! You nave the ability to disrupt "the ball", "the rock", "the boredom" of life. Keep up the lectures - you matter.
Absolutely have fallen in love with your Albert Camus lectures. Life has been incredibly bleak and understanding what these philosophers have been trying to say to us has been helping me continue to hold on. You're an amazing professor; I can't wait to continue watching your other lectures.
What a wonderful series. I'll be listening to more, CZcams has become my philosophical tour and journey tool.
I'm reading the book along with your lectures.
You helped me a lot in understanding his ideas in more depth.
Thank you so much 🌹
Love from Iraq 🇮🇶
Hi Eric, Im still with your lectures and always comming back to the Camus series. I read a comment in another video about a possible video comparing The Fall and The Outsider????.....I vote Yes!
I just finished the myth of sysiphus yesterday. Been reading all of Camus work. I really enjoyed these 4 lectures you did and it really brought home the full scope of what the absurd is and how to live in the face of that absurdity. Really appreciate your thoughtful and clear insights.
Thanks a million. Your lectures allow me to improve my English listening skills and find out interesting things for myself at the same time.
Thank you for your lectures and I’ve finished these four about Camus. The first time I read L'Etranger and La Peste is more than two years ago and that was really a bad time in my college life. I was surrounded by the feeling of absurd both from the books and life itself. Your lectures give me a deeper understanding of the Myth of Sisyphus. Thank you very much.
Came across your first lectures on Absurdism yesterday , glad to say I stayed for the series and enjoyed every bit of it. You are a fantastic educator. I am grateful for the video
I have had some of these very thoughts myself ,so it’s nice to find some people of the same thoughts.
I have really been enjoying your videos.
Cheers for the videos on Camus. Looking forward to diving into Sartre next. Keep up the good work!!!
Who would have thought I would spend my night watching this entire series of videos of a guy sitting in a chair with a funny hat talking my ear off... But it was sublime! Thank you for sharing these. Just found your channel. These are amazing.
This is my philosophy and I didn’t even know it! Or at least mostly, I do believe and have believed since around a few years ago that life in an of itself is worth living with nothing else but the mere privilege of existence.where our thoughts diverge however is that I believe the search for knowledge and progress and forward movement is humanity’s form of rolling the boulder up the mountain. I believe the simple act of living by itself is enough but I also find the deepest and most wonderful sense of meaning in being a part of the human story in however that happens to be. Whether I simply work factory jobs for my whole life I will have provided everyone who receives those products with a service and I will have provided with for my family and made friendships and connections with the other beautiful travelers on this amazing planet. Thank you for the video :) just another reminder that the universe is enchanting
What you have described is the 2nd option that Camus called the philosophical suicide. Secular idea of Life's meaning. Still not relevant to the reality. Don't worry, I don't know anybody who lives according to the rebellious enchantment rules however Ricky Gervais seems to be close in some of his comments...
It was really intense towards the end. I really loved the series of videos on Albert Camus and am looking forward to watching other contents on existential philosophy. Thank you for uploading this on youtube.
Hey Eric, I love the work you put into this.
Thank you!
Thoughts: I imagine Sisyphus' fate to be more about bearing the weight of the boulder than actually rolling it up the hill. To live being to bear the boulder, and suicide to let it roll away. I imagine Sisyphus chooses to push the boulder because he knows that doing so will make HIM stronger while the boulder will always be the same weight. I imagine Sisyphus happy when he, in his titanic strength and iron will, is able to forget that he is even bearing that boulder at all.
Thanks again, and best of luck Eric.
05:50. Ha ha ha...I love the way you described the pandemic and its repetitive absurdity as if it's a hypothetical equivalent to Sisyphus' eternal trek up and down the mountain. You magnificent bastard, you.
I love this last lecture, it all comes together. Very inspirational. Thanks Eric!
I don't see how literal suicide is "agreeing" with the absurdity. The absurdity of life is not a person it is a states of affairs. We see an unfortunate state of affairs, don't want to endure it any longer, and thus commit suicide.
That all seems perfectly reasonable to me.
great lecture was very uplifting for me.
Thank you so much. I have returned to these lectures after first listening to them during the corona apocalypse; they resonate even more now. They are educational and so entertaining. Love what you do.
This series has been very helpful for me, thank you
Hey Eric Dodson, please, if you can, awnser me. (And sorry if I make some english mistakes, I'm a Brazillian, still trying to lern english) :) , one of my favorite physolophers of all time is Albert Camus, but there's something that always let me a little unconfortable. If someone is a slave, that person should just accept that like some part of life? accept that by beeing enchanted by life? I don't know, that thought let me a bit scared, I don't find an awnser for that in Camus's work, so if you can enlighten me I would be verry happy :)
Well, Maybe, if you lived one country over, we could talk in Spanish. But as it is, we'll have to make use of English. Anyhow, the thing I don't think you're getting is that Camus is basically changing the meaning of acceptance, along with the meaning of happiness. Consequently, the trick is to think of "acceptance" in a way where it's paradoxically combined with defiance and resistance. It's a little like how sometimes we're happiest when we're battling against someone or something (think about certain sports, for example, like wrestling or fencing). Your acceptance of that situation, and your happiness within it... is intimately bound up with your struggle. Hence, it's not about acceptance in the sense of being completely okay with whatever happens. So, if you're a slave, your acceptance of your predicament involves defying your enslavement. And the best way of doing that would be... to live as well as you can, whether you're enslaved or not. And of course for Camus, in a sense we're ALL slaves, just because of the fact that we exist as we do. And yes, that kind of acceptance involves a kind of paradox. How can we be defiant of something (like life), and at the same time accept our place in it? But then again, so much of life is paradoxical and contradictory when you think about it. Hope this helps. Anyhow, thanks for the interesting question. Eric D.
@@EricDodsonLectures That helps me a lot. Thanks.
What a gifted teacher .
Thanks for your clarity! Greetings from Uruguay!
Gracias... y saludos desde los EE.UU., y especificamente desde el estado de Georgia (que es en el sur del pais).
Sir Eric Dodson thank you for this series of lectures on Albert Camus. I really had a great time listening to your insights on his philosophy. This would help me a lot in the making of my thesis relative to Camus' thoughts on the absurdity of existence. Again, this has been a really wonderful time listening to you. Cheers on your endeavors as we all continue on forging a meaning out of our lives.
i love that you explain every complicated words like CV TNX
Reading this quote for the first time changed my life a few years ago and I use it as a sort of mantra these days. thanks for making these lectures public!
There’s a lot here that feels very akin to Alan Watt’s philosophy, which was basically eastern wisdom translated for the western mind. But essentially, I’d say our ability to revolt is directly correlated with our capacity to notice (awareness) and appreciate every small thing in life.
Thank you again I love Albert Camus and existentialist philosophy in general personally I'm a Taoist and I find similarities in existentialism therefore it's on my list of things to study . Frederick Nietzsche, Soren kirkegaard , Arthur Schopenhauer, Jean Paul Sartre, and others. I also think there are many parallels in Stoicism as well
I love that this content is freely accessible online
Thank you. This is was great lecture for me to understand Albert Camus.
Thank you, Eric. Your lectures help clarify so muck of Camus writings. You keep my attention. Let your hair grow.
I read Sisyphus a while ago and now watching these lectures while simultaneously reading (and thus understanding more fully) The Stranger is euphoric
Absolutely marvellous teaching
Camus redefines what an unchallenged mind might categorize as “happiness.” There is a certain romanticism that can be derived in personal suffering, exploration, or absurdity. It might not be romantic in and of itself, but it may become romantic in its ability to reveal the limitations of oneself and to appreciate even the monotony and in that appreciation, there is a novel quality that reinvigorates and diminishes that previously perceived monotony. Camus simultaneously observes life’s absurdity, but also appreciates its simple pleasures, which may appear to be paradoxical superficially, but upon further inspection, provides an insight into Camus’ complexity. His work is a new venture for me, as I am trying to configure some sense to this nonsensical and cruel world, and yet, I am uplifted by his cognition. Surprisingly, as a born and raised Catholic, I find meaning in an existence proposed by him as godless and absurdist. I face a cognitive dissonance that threatens to severe me to pieces and yet, if I were to reconcile the disharmony rather than severe it, I am afraid I will be left in infinitesimal fragments. How do you suggest that I consolidate my thought processes and beliefs? On another note, I was attempting to rationalize suicide after many years of suffering and I sought after a philosophical approach on taking the next step and I find that Camus’ writings have proven to be invaluable to me. To many people, philosophy may appear to be as an anachronism or as a fashionable artifice, but to me, personally, it is a process to achieve a slight insight into reality for what it truly is for each of us, whatever that may be because we each have our own perfectly distinct permutation of life. Consequently, due to my own experiences and how my mind has been able to interpret them, Camus appeals to me and I have become a spectator to myself. I have faced myself in the mirror of reality and not the distortion of my mind’s propensity to absorb suffering alone and dismiss all else. Now, I am able to understand that happiness is not as unobtainable and stagnant in ordinary life, as I previously believed. Happiness cannot be constrained by an operational definition, as the human condition is full of complexities and trivialities. A resonant quote that has aided me on my journey to reprogram my worldview is Alexis Carrel’s “ Man cannot remake himself without suffering, for he is both the marble and the sculptor.” In a sense, when Camus asserted that Sisyphus is content and not miserable in his perpetuity and by finding and appreciating the simplicities in his supposed bondage, he has liberated himself philosophically, even though his tangible being is condemned to be a slave to his affliction his mind has rebelled and has dominion over his entirety, whether it be his sense of self, his perception, or his body because he no longer even perceives his affliction as an affliction. He has proclaimed himself over his torturers, the gods, and has made himself the god of his own universe, a triumph that can elevate his condition from suffering to happiness. A triumph that I hope to achieve. I am terribly sorry for the Russian novel I have just left completely unwarranted, but I find it hard to organize my thoughts with fewer words, even though brevity often enhances the meaning or beauty of an entity. I love your lectures and I wish more professors taught in coincidence with your methodology. Please post more soon and if it isn’t too inconvenient, what philosophical essays or literature do you recommend? What philosophers do you recommend for an inquisitive enthusiast, in regards to epistemology, ontology, emergentism and the mind-body problem? I am, once again, sorry for pestering you with a million questions, but I am merely curious. I hope that you stay safe during the pandemic and achieve all that you wish to achieve during this time. I hope you enjoy the remainder of your week. 😊
enjoyed
Dude old video but I've got to give it up to you for the sweet Bush reference at 8:17 ish...Love Camus, Love Bush...good lecture...props...I'm a 40 years old random dude from Maine who lives in Oklahoma, who loves french existentialism...props my dude.
Well, thanks. Yeah, I'm a pretty big fan of '90's & early '00's rock. And the rock band I'm in plays a fair amount of it, too. Anyhow... I'm glad that you enjoyed the video. And thanks for taking the time to watch it. Gratitude. Eric D.
@@EricDodsonLectures Thats awesome....I was a vocalist in a Band for many years...several bands really...the most successful was Helen Keller a sort of post hardcore very screaming band...blink 182 drums...noisy (heaviest of their songs) Nirvana meets, Norma Jean....with a comic flair...successful like we play shows with a couple hundred people...it was awesome...I'm gonna check out your other stuff...thanks for the reply.
Thank you @EricDodsonLectures. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to your series of Albert Camus philosophy lectures. Your explanations are very helpful in understanding the core of the philosophy.
These studies are very relaxing, among other attributes. Thank you.
Your accomplishments may not matter to” life” or the universe but they sure matter to other humans. Status means many more opportunities. We should be called human DOINGS instead of beings. Out of boredom comes creativity often not depression . Looking at our ancient history, survival was a full time reality but now many things are guaranteed overall like food and safety. So humans seek to be busy, partially to avoid the absurd but also because we are curious creatures with minds that will always seek to understand, whether it be science of this strange thing called life. Good lectures. Thank you
Highest respect for you
Camus defines the feeling of absurd as this clashing product of coveting meaning in an universe that's chaotic and without one so to deal with it you either commit suicide, appeal to religion (which is another way to commit suicide metaphorically) and living with it and accepting it. Now I think Camus uses the myth of sisyphus, particularly the boulder, as an analogy to the feeling of the absurd as the sisyphus has to roll the boulder forever we should also "roll" and live with the "absurd" feeling until our deaths and that's enough to make us happy.
Camus didn't say that rolling the stone should make us happy, he said that scorn and revolt against the absurd life are basically parallel to happiness and that living a happy life and accepting the absurdity of life at the same time is what the absurd man does. But don't take this comment too seriously I might be misrepresenting Camus's ideas, I need to re-read and learn more myself.
@@noahzemans585 i don't know about that, the way I interpreted it was that revolt and scorn against absurd life translated in 2 ways I mentioned in the comment, and that the 3rd way is not to scorn and revolt at all and to accept it, and when we accept it and learn to live with it is that we can truly be happy I think at least, that's where the sisyphus comes in as an anology and the boulder would be the feeling of the absurd. I don't know I also might be missintepreting tho so dont take my words seriously either
I think today, you saved my life.
Excellent video. Thank you.
Thanks for the enchanted moments, just one more follower, just one more online course, not so easy to expand this idea of the enchanted moment and of an happy Sysiphus that is really open to go deeper in every atom of the stone... Read some of Camus books on my youth and your lectures made me remember of all the moments we believe to be the most absurd and enchanted situations and then just to find out you could go deeper and deeper even in the same readings... Well done mister
Excellent Professor
Thank you so much! This was amazing.
What a great speaker
Thank you for this lecture.
In my suggested I see your lecture on Fyodor Dostoryevski....I'm definitely watching that...I love crime and punishment
Thank you from a Absurdist mystic
It is funny how it is similar (obviously not exactly...) to buddhism's life is pain and once you accept it is, no longer as painful...is interesting...I love Camus.
Man these lessons great teacher🎉
I find a great deal of similarity between the philosophy of Camus and the biblical book of Ecclesiastes. Repetition, futility, randomness, meaninglessness and ultimately finding happiness almost in spite of life. Has anyone ever done a comparison of the two?
Thank you. That helped and I wil forever rember the pandemic quarantine as the repetitive example
Thank you sir for this excellent lectures. It was really helpful:)
Thanks you so much for your clear, up to date and in depth explanation! Hope you will post more videos like this!
I'm not a student ,but I'm learning how to be a student of life... thanks to this video.
Thank you for this.
Thank you sir.
Many thanks for your lectures Professor. So in the end, we all want to be happy and it's definitely easier to achieve that state by choosing the 2nd way... Philosophical suicide. To be (or pretend) that you are enchanted by everyday activities is a task for a looney. I fully agree with Camus analysis of Life's absurdity, but in practice I can't move forward from the nihilistic stage that thisunderstanding brings. Good luck for others anyway!
I would love copies of the class notes !
Excellent lecture. Thank you for posting these.
Thanks for the content, an amazing starting point to star studies!
Thank you for your clarifications
Thank you again 👌
Thank you for these lectures! As it has been previously said in the comments, you are exceptionally clear. You give many examples regarding how a certain concept should be understood and you pay a lot of attention to which words may seem too pretentious and may confuse us. That's great.
I have a question though, and maybe you or anyone who sees this could help me. I still don't understand Camus' solution, if I can call it that. I mean I understand it theoretically, but I feel like more or less all I hear about it is some kind of lip service because it seems kind of contradictory. Why is Sisyphus happy in the first place? Only to spite the absurdity of his existence? Well, wouldn't that be some kind of philosophical suicide, too? Finding meaning in spiting the meaninglessness of existence? And if it's not about finding meaning in it, then why do it in the first place? Why endure the crushing awareness of the absurd? Also, when someone says ”you don't need a reason/meaning to live; you just live”, is that not some kind of acceptance? Some kind of ”it is what it is and I should at least have some good time or try to minimise the pain”? But Camus' philosophy does not encourage acceptance, right? That would also be some kind of philosophical suicide. How could someone ever be an embodiment of Sisyphus without contradicting oneself and all that we know about human motivations? If you spite your condition, you must have a reason to, right? You must find it meaningful. In the previous lecture, there was that example of the prisoner who was put in isolation and afterwards he defied his very sentence by claiming that he actually enjoyed the vacation. But how does his situation parallel our lives anymore, if he enjoyed it? Part of the absurdity of existence is that it is not enjoyable, or at least not on the long run (because there can be peaks of genuine enjoyment, but they fade away fast). I really do not understand how and why someone could or would ever want to live the life of the absurd man. Or maybe the question ”why” is nonsense in this context in the first place. But that does not solve the problem
Thank you for these lectures🙏🏼
Fascinating, thank you.
Hello, I randomly got recommended your Camus lectures and I love them! English is not my first language, but you have a way to explain abstract concepts clearly and efficiently. You refer to notes in several of your videos (I assume that those notes are for your students). Would there be a way to get those notes to follow the lectures along a little better? As much as I'd like to enroll in a class, I don't even live in the US :p
Ps: Thanks for the lectures, they have been eye-opening
Beautifully explained
This lowkey a therapy session
Marvelous professor! 🤩
Great set. Thank you so much.
i would love to be your student. i found your videos while trying to write an article about camus. i enjoyed them a lot and i hope one day i can enroll in your classes, even tho i'm in saudi arabia. wishing you everything good
Thank you so much for these videos
Hello Eric: I would add that Sisyphus, being a lower god, manifests all of our beloved human traits especially during his descent to the underworld and the overbearing toil of his futile labour. Why well think of the everyday workman, the woman who takes a break from their seemingly futile work in a cubicle or whatever. They can explore their intellectual freedom in whatever way they choose like I am doing now writing to you and hoping for some feedback. People during their 'downtime' can have a smoke or chat with a friend or do nothing but stare into the abyss! It is that moment of lucidity that Camus prizes and we must hold dear that sets us apart from the indifference and the remoteness of the universe or that friend you can never hook up with when you need him or her most. That is my special moment of freedom and will always trump the necessity of being in the world, whether a force higher than me put me here and despite my inability to change the fact that I'm already in the world. I have to accept it and move on for now at least! Love your talks! Jack
I pushed a stone up a hill, & as it rolled back down I noticed it gathered no moss.
I have only just discovered philosophy and Camus, I have just finished reading the Myth of Sisyphus. I really appreciate this lecture series being available, are there full versions of the notes you have on screen available at all ? Also would you recommend Sartre as a good next reading point ?
"having to breathe your whole damn life" 💀
If there are no winners or losers, if the “fight to become great” is no longer needed, how don’t we end up in a nihilist predicament?
I think that Camus wanted to underline the absurdity of life and to be strong, like Sisyphus, laugh in the face of adversity. If nothing matters, then everything CAN matter, it’s up to us (nietzschan ubermansh) to decide to make it worthwhile.
But if our incentive for not commiting suicide is yo defy the absurd world and live well, then doesn't that mean that the meaning that stops suicide is existential defiance?
It was mentioned that without meaning, suicide will follow. So if he describes a reason for not killing oneself, he's providing atleast a principle for/as meaning in life.
It would be nice to have a talk with this guy I like philosophy but I don't know much about it
> If life doesn't care whether you're a winner or not, maybe you're really free.
Kinda. Still gotta pay the bills, though.
Thanks for the wonderful lectures; I've enjoyed all four! So, in a nutshell, when life gives you lemons... make lemonade?...
Did you just start singing “machine head “ by BUSH? 👍🏻💯🎯🔥😁🤣🎯🎯👩❤️💋👨❤️
Yeah. Caught. I have a great love for music of that era.
I'm reminded of one of Solomon's observations from the Proverbs: "The foolishness of man (i.e., his rejection of the sovereignty, the authority, and the laws of God) subverts his way, and (then) his heart rages against that Sovereign (my edits)." Of course one has to accept (believe?) the account of man's disobedience and resultant fall with it's consequences to accept this insight. But in light of what Camus (et al.) asserts, it makes some sense. It is therefore not the "gods" or God (yes, that one...) who put us into this predicament; it is we ourselves, but originally, the first man or couple. In the day you transgress, you will die. Sure, it takes something of a leap of faith to embrace this; but isn't that what Camus (et al.) proposes?
One must contribute to the Save Sysiphus fund.
Sir, there is a Eric Dodson in CZcams. Is that yours?
Probably. Actually, there are several Eric Dodson's on CZcams. One is an MMA guy. Another is a preacher of some sort. But I'm proud to say that with unwavering perseverance over several years, I've now become the most popular Eric Dodson on CZcams. And yeah, the Eric Dodson channel is mine. If you look at the last 30 to 40 videos... it's definitely me. Anyhow, thanks for asking... Eric D.
Hair's good man, looking like a rockstar.
It is seemingly a "slap happyness"
A vida é absurdissima...trying to grasp 😊
There are grand ambitions...(some of the those are mostly capitalist BS) but enjoying the little things is the best thing I've done with my life...smiling and even enjoying the daily toil is helpful for everyone in my opinion...not being complacent to the subjugation of the world, but fighting when you need to but still enjoying the struggle...that's where you find happiness in living...life itself is amazing...even if you are just making a bologna sandwich...you can find meaning in that...it does not need grandeur...
"Success obtaining slave", such deep words! But i still feel that somewhere camus might have contradicted himself, to "defy" the absurd seems like a fun solution, to "fight" the ruling party kind of thingy, but in reality, this isnt a ruling party, it just "IS", we dont go around defying our body lets say cuz we wanted to have 7 hands, but rather we "accept" what we have, then strive towards obtaining what we might desire without a lack of appreciation of we still have, the very idea of finding joy in every iota of this universe originates with first accepting it the beautiful way it is, what do you think sir ?
Embrace boredom.
Hi Eric. I read from the comments that you are an Engr and a Com Scientist. Your lectures about Philosophy and Psychology were awesome. I am just wondering how did you transition from being an engr to philosophy??