The Theme Of Freedom In Albert Camus's The Myth Of Sisyphus

In the essay, The Myth of Sisyphus, Albert Camus makes quite interesting and meaningful claims about the characteristics that he thinks make up life. He uses the notion of absurdity to explain this, which is what he states as the meaninglessness, repetitive, and purpose-lacking qualities that compose life. In addition to this, he also discusses various ways in which an individual lives their day-to-day life in contrast with how they should change the way they do so in order to have a truly liberated lifestyle. This is accomplished by facing or confronting the absurd. He believes that this proper lifestyle consists of the concept “living without appeal” which has the consequences that are known as “revolt,” “absurd freedom,” and passion for

As Camus states, “now if the absurd cancels all my chances of eternal freedom, it restores and magnifies, on the other hand, my freedom of action” (58). When we realize this freedom, that is not the freedom of the outside or eternal world, however inner freedom, the freedom that makes up our individual experiences, we are enlightened by the absurd. We cannot know if humankind is free in regard to metaphysical freedom, however the acceptance of this ignorance in not knowing, provides a sense of liberation from what Camus calls “enslavement to the illusion of purpose.” Believing that people are too consumed with the future before they have their moment of conscious awakening in regard to the existence of the absurd, we forget about what really matters: the present. Camus is concerned that if one lives with solely their future or purposes in mind, they will disregard the beauty of living life in the moment as that what is

In our society today, many people are motivated by their futures and making something out of themselves. From the get-go, we are asked by many people in our lives ranging from family and friends to figures of authority such as teachers the very question: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Purposiveness is deeply engraved in our world, and although it can act as a motivating agent, it is very detrimental in distracting one from living life in the moment as it is our moments that we live that make up our lives as a whole. We are not guaranteed a future; thus, we cannot be certain of it. However, because we have not confronted the absurd, we continue to work and live for our futures in order to pursue our goals revolving around money and success. “A man wants to earn money in order to be happy, and his whole effort and the best of a life are devoted to the earning of that money. Happiness is forgotten; the means are taken for the end” (76). We are so consumed with these goals, that what matters more, such as happiness is lost in what is not even certain. The only thing certain is that in the grand scheme of things, life truly has no meaning, and we will constantly be conflicted to believe in this or to find some type of meaning somewhere or reconcile. But, this is just escaping from the fact of the inevitable death that waits for us, which does not do us any good, so why