Retain Wonder For Life by Chasing Absurdity

We all go through moments where we take things for granted and lose our appreciation for life. Although it's understandable, it can be avoided entirely with the help of a fresh perspective; one which chases absurdity and marvels at nature's mysteries.

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With this perspective prioritising getting to know nature and its complexities, the idea is that through an awareness of the complex mystery of nature (ourselves included), mixed with an understanding of our absurd place in it, we can retain our wonder through the seasonal slumps.

So What is our Absurdity?

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Absurdity in this context is the feeling of universal oddity that includes a basic and intense wondering about the sense of things.

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It is difficult for us to come to terms with our temporal ever changing state. However by looking into our absurd predicament, I will argue that we are able to derive a more sustainable sense of meaning, an endless fuel source that can spur us on through thick and thin.

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Look at nature!

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An effective method to bring this reality in the centre of our minds is to pay attention to what usually goes unnoticed: the intricacies in nature. 

For starters, looking at the intricate complexities around us, humbles us, disproving our inner fallacy that we are distinct from these processes. 

You are a part of it, and not an isolated ego.

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Not only does it humble us, the philosopher Spinoza goes as far to say that nature provides us with valuable clues to our role in the universe and it is on us to explore it. 

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Spinoza would encourage this as the more you look, whether it is looking down at the grains in the soil or marvelling at the birds in the trees, the more you realise how grand the mystery is.

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If this understanding is developed, it will invigorate you, sending you on your way to pursue life as a quest for knowledge, revitalised with an awe inspiring enthusiasm to learn more about the mystery.

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Da Vinci, viewed life in this way, a polymath inventor whose forward thinking ideas were fuelled by the mindset that to maximise his prolificacy meant he had to orient himself as if he was on a personal quest for knowledge. He believed that the most-lived life is the inquisitive one, and to show courage over fear in unknown waters is a noble achievement.

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If we are to take this message to heart, we must recognise that there is no harm in trying things out. It is always good to expand horizons as our minds tend to convince us that our perceivable horizon is all there is. Therefore, you must refrain from the belief that everything is already solved. 

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This justifies why it is vital to cultivate curiosity, so as to maintain the explorative side of you which recognises the absurdity of it all. This will mean you will never take this life for granted again.

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Da Vinci's curiosity was also equal to his courage. When this is a harmonious relationship, we possess a child-like awe and wonder. If this inner child is a dim light, we have lost sight of the magic of our absurd situation.

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To rectify this, Albert Camus, a French writer/existentialist offers a quick exercise which he recommends you employ when you feel existential anguish.

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You must zoom out and recognise how many people there are and how little you are in comparison. 

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This thought experiment should bring everything into perspective, making you realise how absurd it is what we choose to fuss over, how pointless our gripes are. 

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Although this realisation can send us into a nihilistic pool of despair and anguish, if we familiarise with the reality, we can embrace our peculiar role in the universe and laugh at it.

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Alan Watts shared this belief, urging us to forget the nonsense that we think is important and feel yourself as the whole process. To Watts, once you connect to the whole pattern of life:

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"We become capable of enjoyment, of living in the present and of the discipline which this involves". 

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This is only possible when we strip all hope of a future reward.

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However, you may ask yourself: Without a future reward, how can I retain enthusiasm?

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The answer is to not look at a reward at all, that is a distraction, but rather enjoy the process so much that the prospects of a reward is just a bonus. This keeps your expectations in check so that you are not distracted by the illusion of an end goal. No end goal keeps you away from stressing over perfection which only serves to demoralise you as when you set yourself an impossible goal, you will find excuses more alluring and will want to quit it altogether.

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As the Chinese work called the secret of the golden flower says...

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"When purpose has been used to achieve purposelessness, the thing has been grasped"

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This is where we can harness the absurdity as when we realise the fleeting nature of our predicament, everything which shouldn't matter to us dies, leaving us with the present moment, a formless state with no agenda.

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Of course this is easier said than done as our finite human nature and powerful ego makes us averse to embracing absurdity. Focusing on our fear of death, this is a powerful force that makes us avoid our reality and in an attempt of desperation, we cling on to hopes and dreams, instilling our goals with an artificial meaning so as to trick our brains to keep us going. 

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This is a finite fuel and when we inevitably lose the motivation, we will not have anything to fall back on. 

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So we suffer from a lack of meaning because we live in denial of the true nature of our existence. We avoid our own mortality; the absurdity that we are floating in space. YOU’RE IT! As Watts would say.

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Therefore loving the process, combined with an overarching understanding of the arbitrariness keeps us in the pocket of the moment.

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If we keep failing to accept our finitude, we must also realise that this fear of death is a form of ingratitude. As the writer Oliver Burkeman reminds us, we're lucky to have (on average) 4000 weeks here and we should be constantly be amazed at the fact our existence was even possible. Humans are almost nothing (not a thing) yet have the most enormous potential. We didn't exist before birth and that felt fine. So take your life less seriously and enjoy it!

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To finish this analysis with a quote by the writer H.P. Lovecraft,

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"The most merciful thing in the world is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity".

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Thanks for reading!

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Brandon

Newel of Knowledge Writer

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Hope you enjoy the new website :)