Sophia is lying in her bed. The kids and her husband are sleeping, and finally she has a moment to think in peace without interruptions. Last Friday she went to the philosophical café. They discussed about the meaning of life. Everybody expressed his ideas and opinions freely and some argued against each other about what meaning and a meaningful life might mean. Sophia participated enthusiastically. She felt free and alive. She loved it. Nevertheless, she wondered whether it is meaningful to just discuss and interchange opinions one night and then continue life as always. On the other hand, she thought: Is it meaningful to continue life as always without gathering with others to reflect about each other´s opinions? Was the philosophical café just the same as going out and chat with friends? Sofia does not feel that way. But she is not able to articulate a distinction. Maybe a philosopher would know how to explain the difference.
Sophia now remembers a quote from Albert Camus that she found in the internet: “Living is keeping the absurd alive. Keeping it alive is above all contemplating it.”
She repeats the sentences twice in a low voice. She reflects. She tries to “contemplate the absurd”. It is absurd that I have to work day after day, and that I have only time to think when I am alone in bed. Why do I yearn to go out to think together with others? Why did I like the philosophical café? Is that pleasure perhaps absurd too? Is there anything at all that is not absurd?
Maybe as Camus said, I should seek what keeps me alive regardless of its absurdity. Instead of looking for an abstract meaning in concrete life, I should seek spiritual or intellectual pleasures, since these seem to make me feel alive. Even if this might be only an illusion. Sophia wonders: Are we essentially our minds? Are porn and sexual fantasies more gratifying than dealing with the physical concrete experience? Does it make sense to seek mainly intense mental experiences?
A storm of images and interconnected ideas come to her mind. Suddenly she notices that there is light outside. The sun is rising. She must prepare the children for school and go to work. Why? Is this what Camus meant by “keeping the absurd alive”? Could there exist a society where we reflect in togetherness most of the time? Who would be in charge of the production, education, health, etc.? Would that not be absurd too? Would I enjoy living in such a world? Sophia would like to continue reflecting about these issues, but that will have to be at some other moment of the day, or the evening.