Mapping Absurdity
Entry 1 9:10 a.m. He had bought a large map representing the sea, Without the least vestige of land: And the crew were much pleased when they found it to be A map they could all understand. -Lewis Carroll, "The Hunting of the Snark" Absurdity. Futility. The inexorable need to make a mark. The inescapable fact of death. I run to philosophy when I am lost, hoping it will provide me with a path to follow. Hardship, disappointment, loss, we all face these things. I believe, like Camus, that if we embrace the absurdity of our condition, we can find a purpose in a life devoid of meaning, in an unregarding universe. The contracts I negotiate today will be replaced when I have left, and will go on being replaced and forgotten long after I am gone, until the world is drowned in the next diluvial event. If I can find acceptance in this impermanence, this markless life, I can shed the crushing malaise, that is always waitin...