WEBVTT 1 00:00:11.320 --> 00:00:14.160 There are moments in life when everything around you seems 2 00:00:14.160 --> 00:00:18.440 to crumble, The goals that once seemed so clear become confusing, 3 00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:22.199 and what you pursued with so much effort completely loses 4 00:00:22.239 --> 00:00:26.079 its shine. Who hasn't asked themselves in a moment of 5 00:00:26.120 --> 00:00:29.839 deep doubt, am I living the life I really want? Or? 6 00:00:29.879 --> 00:00:32.880 Am I just following a script that isn't mine? What's 7 00:00:32.960 --> 00:00:37.039 left when the old certainties fall? These questions don't arise 8 00:00:37.079 --> 00:00:40.640 by chance. They're like echoes of a deeper truth, a 9 00:00:40.640 --> 00:00:44.079 call that resonates inside you, inviting you to look in 10 00:00:44.119 --> 00:00:47.920 the mirror and face the only person who really matters you. 11 00:00:48.920 --> 00:00:52.960 And there, in that silence, you realize that the answers 12 00:00:52.960 --> 00:00:56.920 you carried simply stopped working. This isn't your fault, it's 13 00:00:56.960 --> 00:00:59.920 not a moral failure. It's just the moment when reality 14 00:01:00.079 --> 00:01:03.280 stops matching what you expected from it. Some people spend 15 00:01:03.280 --> 00:01:07.079 their entire lives avoiding this moment. Some people build layers 16 00:01:07.120 --> 00:01:11.400 and layers of busyness, of narrative, of invented purpose, of 17 00:01:11.480 --> 00:01:15.519 goals that seem important but deep down serve only as distraction, 18 00:01:16.319 --> 00:01:18.519 just so they don't have to look at this emptiness 19 00:01:18.519 --> 00:01:21.840 head on. And it works for a while, It can 20 00:01:21.879 --> 00:01:27.719 work for years, even decades. You wake up, work, consume, relate, 21 00:01:28.200 --> 00:01:31.719 build things, destroy others, and all of this keeps you 22 00:01:31.799 --> 00:01:33.920 busy enough not to have to ask the question that 23 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:38.680 really matters. Until it doesn't work anymore. Until something happens, 24 00:01:39.079 --> 00:01:44.400 something crumbles, maybe a loss, maybe a deep disappointment, maybe 25 00:01:44.480 --> 00:01:47.920 just the accumulated exhaustion of pretending that all of it 26 00:01:47.959 --> 00:01:51.359 made sense, And you find yourself face to face with 27 00:01:51.439 --> 00:01:54.400 a question you can no longer ignore, a question that 28 00:01:54.439 --> 00:01:58.480 cuts through all the distractions and justifications you built. And 29 00:01:58.560 --> 00:02:02.079 now what when the old certainties fall, when the meaning 30 00:02:02.079 --> 00:02:05.200 you carried like a shield dissolves into thin air. What's 31 00:02:05.280 --> 00:02:07.719 left of you? Where do you go when there's no 32 00:02:07.760 --> 00:02:10.439 longer a clear place to go, when there's no longer 33 00:02:10.520 --> 00:02:13.520 a script, a map, a promise that everything will work 34 00:02:13.560 --> 00:02:16.960 out if you just follow the right steps. Albert Camu 35 00:02:17.039 --> 00:02:20.159 spent his entire life looking at this question, not to 36 00:02:20.199 --> 00:02:23.120 answer it with a comforting solution, not to give you 37 00:02:23.159 --> 00:02:26.360 a new purpose wrapped in beautiful words, but to show 38 00:02:26.400 --> 00:02:29.400 that perhaps the question itself is the beginning of something 39 00:02:29.439 --> 00:02:33.840 more honest, more real, more worthy than any easy answer 40 00:02:33.879 --> 00:02:37.879 you could come up with. Starting over. For Camu has 41 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:41.199 absolutely nothing to do with finding a new meaning that 42 00:02:41.240 --> 00:02:44.039 replaces the old one. It has to do with learning 43 00:02:44.080 --> 00:02:49.000 to live truly without any meaning at all. When meaning crumbles, 44 00:02:49.319 --> 00:02:52.159 when that structure that kept everything in place simply falls, 45 00:02:52.479 --> 00:02:56.199 the first instinctive reaction, almost automatic, is to try to 46 00:02:56.240 --> 00:03:00.439 rebuild it as quickly as possible. It's desperately natural, it's 47 00:03:00.439 --> 00:03:03.599 deeply human. You look for a new belief, a new 48 00:03:03.680 --> 00:03:08.080 narrative that explains you, a new purpose that justifies your existence, 49 00:03:08.439 --> 00:03:10.800 that gives you reason to keep waking up every day. 50 00:03:11.599 --> 00:03:14.960 Maybe it's a philosophy that promises clarity. Maybe it's an 51 00:03:14.960 --> 00:03:18.599 ambitious goal that gives you focus. Maybe it's a relationship 52 00:03:18.639 --> 00:03:22.199 you project as salvation, as if another person could fill 53 00:03:22.240 --> 00:03:25.240 the whole that opened inside you. And for a moment, 54 00:03:25.879 --> 00:03:28.639 for a few weeks or months, it seems like it 55 00:03:28.719 --> 00:03:32.400 really works. It seems like you found the answer, that 56 00:03:32.479 --> 00:03:36.599 you finally discovered what was missing, that everything makes sense again. 57 00:03:37.280 --> 00:03:41.120 But the truth, the hard and inconvenient truth, is that 58 00:03:41.159 --> 00:03:44.560 you just traded one illusion for another. Because the problem 59 00:03:44.599 --> 00:03:47.080 was never in the old belief that fell in the 60 00:03:47.120 --> 00:03:51.199 promise that wasn't fulfilled in the meaning that dissolved. The 61 00:03:51.280 --> 00:03:54.879 problem is that you're still looking for something external, something 62 00:03:54.919 --> 00:03:59.520 outside of you, some transcendent guarantee to justify your existence, 63 00:04:00.159 --> 00:04:03.240 to validate your presence in the world. You're still trying 64 00:04:03.240 --> 00:04:06.039 to fill a void that, perhaps, and this is hard 65 00:04:06.039 --> 00:04:09.560 to accept, doesn't need to be filled at all. Camue 66 00:04:09.560 --> 00:04:13.199 calls this the denial of the absurd, which is the 67 00:04:13.240 --> 00:04:18.079 desperate attempt to escape the human condition by building artificial meanings, 68 00:04:18.519 --> 00:04:23.160 inventing comforting narratives, pretending that there's a definitive answer waiting 69 00:04:23.199 --> 00:04:27.079 somewhere when perhaps, and listen to this carefully, there is 70 00:04:27.120 --> 00:04:30.439 no answer at all. Starting over isn't going back to 71 00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:32.720 what already fell and trying to put it all together 72 00:04:32.759 --> 00:04:36.920 again with slightly different pieces. It's not finding an improved version, 73 00:04:37.480 --> 00:04:42.000 more sophisticated, more convincing of the same lie. It's accepting 74 00:04:42.439 --> 00:04:46.439 deeply and radically that perhaps life doesn't need any justification 75 00:04:46.560 --> 00:04:51.199 to keep happening. The absurd in Camus's philosophy is this 76 00:04:51.399 --> 00:04:56.360 violent clash between two completely irreconcilable forces that coexist within 77 00:04:56.439 --> 00:05:00.680 human experience. On one side, you have the d rooted 78 00:05:00.680 --> 00:05:04.720 desire for meaning, for clarity, for answers that explain everything, 79 00:05:05.040 --> 00:05:08.600 for a coherent narrative that transforms your life into something 80 00:05:08.680 --> 00:05:12.519 understandable and meaningful. On the other side, you have a 81 00:05:12.560 --> 00:05:16.720 world that remains completely indifferent to this desire, a universe 82 00:05:16.720 --> 00:05:19.639 that follows its own physical laws without caring at all 83 00:05:19.720 --> 00:05:24.160 about your existential anxieties, a reality that simply doesn't respond 84 00:05:24.199 --> 00:05:27.680 when you scream for meaning, You scream and the world 85 00:05:27.720 --> 00:05:32.160 stays silent. You search for a greater purpose, a transcendent reason, 86 00:05:32.439 --> 00:05:36.199 an explanation that finally makes everything make sense, and life 87 00:05:36.240 --> 00:05:42.319 simply continues indifferent, giving you absolutely nothing. This fundamental disconnect, 88 00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:45.839 this irresolvable conflict between what you want and what the 89 00:05:45.839 --> 00:05:49.800 world offers. That's the absurd. And the first thing you 90 00:05:49.839 --> 00:05:52.759 need to understand is that it's not a tragedy. It's 91 00:05:52.800 --> 00:05:56.920 not a diagnosis of terminal despair. It's not an existential 92 00:05:56.959 --> 00:06:01.360 death sentence. It's just the real condition, naked and raw, 93 00:06:01.959 --> 00:06:04.560 in which all of us live, whether we admit it 94 00:06:04.680 --> 00:06:09.279 or not. And recognizing this, looking at the absurd without blinking, 95 00:06:09.800 --> 00:06:13.399 without looking away, without running to the first comforting illusion 96 00:06:13.439 --> 00:06:17.920 that appears, this doesn't end life. It doesn't paralyze you, 97 00:06:18.639 --> 00:06:22.800 it doesn't destroy you. On the contrary, it's right there 98 00:06:23.079 --> 00:06:27.839 in that brutally honest recognition that starting over becomes genuinely possible. 99 00:06:28.439 --> 00:06:30.879 Because as long as you're desperately searching for a meaning, 100 00:06:30.879 --> 00:06:33.160 the world will never give you. As long as you're 101 00:06:33.199 --> 00:06:38.319 waiting for reality to finally justify, you, validate, you explain you, you're 102 00:06:37.800 --> 00:06:41.759 going to live in permanent and unsustainable anguish. But when 103 00:06:41.839 --> 00:06:45.680 you accept, really accept, deep in your soul, that perhaps 104 00:06:45.680 --> 00:06:48.639 there is no meaning at all. When you stop expecting 105 00:06:48.720 --> 00:06:53.920 reality to owe you something, something fundamental changes inside you. 106 00:06:53.920 --> 00:06:56.680 You stop living in function of an answer that will 107 00:06:56.720 --> 00:07:00.199 never come, and you start living simply because you're alive. 108 00:07:00.920 --> 00:07:03.680 The absurd isn't the end of the journey. It's the 109 00:07:03.720 --> 00:07:07.360 firm ground, the solid base on which true starting over 110 00:07:07.439 --> 00:07:11.600 can happen. But why exactly does emptiness scare people so much? 111 00:07:12.360 --> 00:07:15.639 Why does this absence of meaning provoke such a visceral fear, 112 00:07:16.160 --> 00:07:19.360 so deep that most people would do anything to avoid it? 113 00:07:19.920 --> 00:07:25.600 Because emptiness brutally removes all distractions, all justifications, all comfortable 114 00:07:25.720 --> 00:07:29.079 narratives you use to avoid having to look directly at yourself. 115 00:07:29.680 --> 00:07:33.240 When you had a clear meaning, a defined purpose, a 116 00:07:33.360 --> 00:07:38.120 narrative that explained your life. You could justify yourself. You 117 00:07:38.160 --> 00:07:40.680 could wake up every day and tell yourself that you 118 00:07:40.720 --> 00:07:43.600 were doing all of that for something greater, for a 119 00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:47.319 reason that transcended your own doubts and fears. You could 120 00:07:47.399 --> 00:07:50.959 use that purpose as a protective shield against the fundamental 121 00:07:51.040 --> 00:07:56.639 uncertainty of existence. But when meaning falls, when that structure crumbles, 122 00:07:57.120 --> 00:08:03.199 what's left is you completely naked, without excuse, without protection, 123 00:08:03.959 --> 00:08:08.199 without any guarantee. And that scares you deeply because you 124 00:08:08.279 --> 00:08:11.439 realize something you maybe always knew but never wanted to admit, 125 00:08:12.160 --> 00:08:15.120 that there was never any guarantee at all. There was 126 00:08:15.199 --> 00:08:18.680 never a definitive script written in the stars. There was 127 00:08:18.759 --> 00:08:22.120 never absolute security waiting at the end of the road. 128 00:08:22.480 --> 00:08:26.560 You were always alone, facing your own life, always radically 129 00:08:26.600 --> 00:08:30.199 responsible for your choices, always carried the weight of your 130 00:08:30.199 --> 00:08:33.799 own existence. The difference is that now you know this 131 00:08:33.960 --> 00:08:39.200 consciously and inescapably, and knowing this hurts not because life 132 00:08:39.240 --> 00:08:43.360 is inherently cruel or malevolent, but because the illusion of protection, 133 00:08:44.039 --> 00:08:47.399 the fantasy that someone or something was taking care of you, 134 00:08:48.000 --> 00:08:53.399 finally disappeared. The fear doesn't come from life itself, from reality, 135 00:08:53.600 --> 00:08:56.919 as it is It comes from the total absence of 136 00:08:56.960 --> 00:09:02.120 external justifications, from the lack of transnit guarantees. It comes 137 00:09:02.120 --> 00:09:05.639 from realizing that you're radically free, that nobody's going to 138 00:09:05.720 --> 00:09:08.559 save you, that no narrative is going to protect you, 139 00:09:09.039 --> 00:09:12.519 and that this terrifying freedom doesn't come with any instruction manual, 140 00:09:12.919 --> 00:09:15.519 no step by step guide on how to live correctly. 141 00:09:16.039 --> 00:09:19.240 There's no immediate relief for this. There's no pill that 142 00:09:19.279 --> 00:09:24.240 dissolves this anguish instantly. There's only the choice, renewed every day, 143 00:09:24.559 --> 00:09:27.600 to face this reality or flee from it to yet 144 00:09:27.639 --> 00:09:31.879 another temporary illusion. And here's something absolutely essential you need 145 00:09:31.919 --> 00:09:36.000 to understand about Camu's thinking. Starting over in his view, 146 00:09:36.480 --> 00:09:40.440 isn't finding answers. Let that become crystal clear in your mind. 147 00:09:40.919 --> 00:09:44.879 He's not offering an existential solution wrapped in beautiful words. 148 00:09:45.480 --> 00:09:48.919 He's not promising that you'll finally discover life's secret meaning 149 00:09:49.159 --> 00:09:52.000 if you just look closely enough. He's not saying there's 150 00:09:52.039 --> 00:09:54.600 a deep truth waiting patiently to be revealed to you. 151 00:09:55.240 --> 00:09:58.600 Starting over in the commusion sense means accepting in a 152 00:09:58.679 --> 00:10:01.840 radical and definitive way that perhaps there is no solution 153 00:10:01.960 --> 00:10:04.960 at all to the problem of existence. It means stopping 154 00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:09.080 the search. It means recognizing that insisting on definitive answers, 155 00:10:09.519 --> 00:10:14.200 on totalizing explanations, on narratives that finally make everything make sense, 156 00:10:14.840 --> 00:10:18.960 is just another sophisticated form of fleeing from reality. Because 157 00:10:18.960 --> 00:10:23.039 as long as you're obsessively seeking a definitive explanation, an 158 00:10:23.200 --> 00:10:27.720 ultimate meaning, an answer that finally solves the mystery, you're 159 00:10:27.759 --> 00:10:33.080 not living. You're postponing life. You're waiting, always waiting for 160 00:10:33.159 --> 00:10:36.720 the magical day when everything will finally make sense and 161 00:10:36.759 --> 00:10:40.000 you can start living for real. And that day doesn't come. 162 00:10:40.600 --> 00:10:44.600 It never came, it never will come, because it doesn't exist. 163 00:10:45.399 --> 00:10:50.440 Camu's focus is an explanation. It's not intellectual understanding. It's 164 00:10:50.480 --> 00:10:55.360 not the construction of meaning. The focus is posture. How 165 00:10:55.360 --> 00:10:58.200 do you position yourself before a life that doesn't owe 166 00:10:58.279 --> 00:11:02.240 you any answer, that doesn't promise you any reward, that 167 00:11:02.320 --> 00:11:07.120 guarantees you absolutely nothing. That's the only question that really matters. 168 00:11:07.679 --> 00:11:11.519 And the answer doesn't come in words, in concepts, in theories. 169 00:11:12.080 --> 00:11:14.600 It comes in the way you live each day. And 170 00:11:14.720 --> 00:11:18.600 here we need to make an absolutely crucial distinction, because 171 00:11:18.600 --> 00:11:22.440 many people confuse these two completely different states and end 172 00:11:22.519 --> 00:11:25.639 up lost in the middle of the road. Despair and 173 00:11:25.759 --> 00:11:29.360 lucidity are not the same thing at all. They're radically 174 00:11:29.360 --> 00:11:33.200 opposite responses to the same condition. You can look directly 175 00:11:33.240 --> 00:11:36.759 at the absurd, at the total and definitive absence of meaning, 176 00:11:37.360 --> 00:11:40.720 at the complete and unchanging indifference of the universe regarding 177 00:11:40.759 --> 00:11:44.759 your existence, and give up. You can simply tell yourself, 178 00:11:44.879 --> 00:11:47.840 in a defeated whisper or a silent scream, that if 179 00:11:47.879 --> 00:11:51.000 nothing makes sense anyway, if there is no purpose at all, 180 00:11:51.440 --> 00:11:55.399 if the universe doesn't care, then nothing really matters. Then 181 00:11:55.440 --> 00:11:58.240 it doesn't matter whether you do anything or nothing at all. 182 00:11:58.919 --> 00:12:02.600 Then why keep trying? Why wake up tomorrow? Why even breathe? 183 00:12:03.120 --> 00:12:06.480 You can surrender internally in a complete way, let the 184 00:12:06.519 --> 00:12:11.000 emptiness consume you entirely, without resistance, stop acting because it 185 00:12:11.039 --> 00:12:14.480 seems there's no reason at all, no valid justification to 186 00:12:14.600 --> 00:12:18.399 move to keep trying to persist in this strange thing 187 00:12:18.639 --> 00:12:23.080 called life. This is despair in its purest form, its 188 00:12:23.120 --> 00:12:26.600 passive and total surrender before the absurd. It's letting the 189 00:12:26.639 --> 00:12:31.399 absence of meaning paralyze you completely, its transforming lucidity into 190 00:12:31.480 --> 00:12:34.960 a pretext for inaction. But you can also and this 191 00:12:35.080 --> 00:12:39.240 is Camue's radical and revolutionary proposal. Look at the absurd 192 00:12:39.679 --> 00:12:44.120 with exactly the same brutal honesty, with the same penetrating clarity, 193 00:12:44.480 --> 00:12:48.919 without looking away even a millimeter, and completely refuse this surrender. 194 00:12:49.639 --> 00:12:53.559 You can recognize with total clarity, without a shadow of doubt, 195 00:12:54.000 --> 00:12:57.559 without space for self deception, that there is no meaning 196 00:12:57.600 --> 00:13:02.000 given by reality, that the universe doesn't owe you absolutely anything, 197 00:13:02.559 --> 00:13:06.639 that there's no transcendent purpose waiting patiently for you somewhere 198 00:13:06.639 --> 00:13:09.519 in the cosmos, and still consciously choose to live with 199 00:13:09.600 --> 00:13:14.480 genuine dignity, with total presence, with real intensity. You can 200 00:13:14.559 --> 00:13:18.039 accept that life has no ready answer and continue anyway, 201 00:13:18.600 --> 00:13:22.279 not because you discovered some sophisticated psychological trick to make 202 00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:25.919 everything easier and more bearable, not because you've found a 203 00:13:25.960 --> 00:13:29.039 secret loophole in the absurd that allows you to escape it, 204 00:13:29.320 --> 00:13:32.840 but simply because you chose to continue. This is lucidity. 205 00:13:33.399 --> 00:13:37.360 It's the conscious, deliberate, daily refusal to light to yourself 206 00:13:37.399 --> 00:13:40.720 about the human condition. It's looking at the truth without 207 00:13:40.720 --> 00:13:44.480 blinking and keeping walking anyway. Camu doesn't deny the pain, 208 00:13:45.320 --> 00:13:48.679 he doesn't deny the anguish, he doesn't deny the weight 209 00:13:48.720 --> 00:13:53.159 of existence. He doesn't say everything will be okay, that 210 00:13:53.279 --> 00:13:56.840 you'll find peace, that life will become light and easy, 211 00:13:57.559 --> 00:14:00.600 but he firmly refuses the idea that the absence of 212 00:14:00.679 --> 00:14:06.799 meaning automatically requires despair. Continuing to live doesn't require naive optimism. 213 00:14:07.159 --> 00:14:11.000 It doesn't require blind faith in something greater. It doesn't 214 00:14:11.039 --> 00:14:15.559 require hope in future rewards. It requires only radical honesty 215 00:14:15.600 --> 00:14:19.440 before the human condition. It requires only the firm and 216 00:14:19.519 --> 00:14:23.279 conscious decision not to lie to yourself, not to flee 217 00:14:23.320 --> 00:14:27.240 to comforting illusions, to remain present before reality as it is. 218 00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:32.120 This is commusion revolt, and you need to understand exactly 219 00:14:32.159 --> 00:14:36.159 what this means, because the word revolt can create enormous 220 00:14:36.200 --> 00:14:40.559 confusion if you don't pay attention. When Camu talks about revolt, 221 00:14:40.960 --> 00:14:44.159 he's not talking about explosive rage against the world, that 222 00:14:44.320 --> 00:14:46.919 kind of fury that makes you want to break everything. 223 00:14:47.639 --> 00:14:51.120 It's not loud external rebellion. It's not going out screaming 224 00:14:51.159 --> 00:14:55.159 in the streets against cosmic injustice. It's not protesting against 225 00:14:55.200 --> 00:14:58.399 the universe or trying to change it by force, as 226 00:14:58.440 --> 00:15:00.759 if you had the magical power to bear reality to 227 00:15:00.799 --> 00:15:03.480 your will just because you want it to be different. 228 00:15:04.159 --> 00:15:08.759 It's something infinitely more subtle, deeper, harder to capture in words. 229 00:15:09.320 --> 00:15:15.080 It's an intimate decision, completely silent, deeply personal, and radically 230 00:15:15.120 --> 00:15:18.600 every day not to lie to yourself about the true 231 00:15:18.679 --> 00:15:23.360 human condition. It's waking up every day and choosing brutal honesty, 232 00:15:23.799 --> 00:15:26.759 even when the lie would be more comfortable. It's looking 233 00:15:26.840 --> 00:15:30.440 in the mirror and recognizing that you're alone facing existence 234 00:15:30.639 --> 00:15:35.000 without trying to invent imaginary companions. It's breathing inside the 235 00:15:35.080 --> 00:15:38.799 void without trying to fill it desperately with artificial narratives. 236 00:15:39.279 --> 00:15:42.799 It's looking at the absurd, at the complete absence of meaning, 237 00:15:43.039 --> 00:15:45.919 at the total indifference of the universe, and saying, with 238 00:15:46.039 --> 00:15:49.600 absolute clarity, I won't pretend there's meaning when there isn't. 239 00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:53.279 I won't build comforting illusions to protect myself from the truth. 240 00:15:53.639 --> 00:15:57.120 But I also won't give up. I won't surrender. I 241 00:15:57.159 --> 00:16:01.639 won't let the void paralyze me. Gusture a specific way 242 00:16:01.679 --> 00:16:04.720 of being in the world, a way of positioning yourself 243 00:16:04.759 --> 00:16:10.320 before existence. Revolt doesn't change external reality. It doesn't make 244 00:16:10.320 --> 00:16:14.159 the universe less indifferent. It doesn't solve the fundamental mystery 245 00:16:14.200 --> 00:16:17.840 of existence. It doesn't make the world start making sense, 246 00:16:18.519 --> 00:16:21.279 but it completely changes the relationship you have with all 247 00:16:21.279 --> 00:16:24.639 of this. You stop being a passive victim of the 248 00:16:24.679 --> 00:16:29.679 absence of meaning, someone who suffers helplessly before cosmic indifference. 249 00:16:30.519 --> 00:16:34.679 You become someone who chooses consciously and deliberately to keep 250 00:16:34.799 --> 00:16:39.120 living with lucidity despite everything. And this choice doesn't need 251 00:16:39.240 --> 00:16:44.200 external justification. It doesn't need a greater reason to validate it. 252 00:16:44.200 --> 00:16:48.559 It's sufficient in itself. Revolt is the central axis, the 253 00:16:48.600 --> 00:16:53.720 fundamental core of commusion starting over. It's what transforms paralyzing 254 00:16:53.720 --> 00:16:58.879 emptiness into a space of authentic freedom, living without external appeal. 255 00:16:59.440 --> 00:17:02.799 What exactly does this mean in everyday practice. It means 256 00:17:02.840 --> 00:17:06.799 completely stopping expecting validation from any instance outside your own 257 00:17:06.799 --> 00:17:10.799 immediate experience. Stop seeking approval from the world, as if 258 00:17:10.799 --> 00:17:12.720 the world were a judge that needs to approve you 259 00:17:13.359 --> 00:17:16.680 from God, as if there were a cosmic entity evaluating 260 00:17:16.720 --> 00:17:19.440 each of your choices from the future, As if some 261 00:17:19.559 --> 00:17:23.480 improved version of yourself would finally validate you from society, 262 00:17:24.200 --> 00:17:27.000 as if collective norms and expectations had the power to 263 00:17:27.079 --> 00:17:30.279 determine the value of your life. From your family, as 264 00:17:30.279 --> 00:17:32.880 if you needed to fulfill the dreams they projected onto you, 265 00:17:33.279 --> 00:17:35.720 from your friends, as if their opinion defined who you 266 00:17:35.799 --> 00:17:40.079 really are, from any external authority, real or imaginary, that 267 00:17:40.160 --> 00:17:42.960 you created in your mind as having supreme power to 268 00:17:43.079 --> 00:17:46.839 judge whether your life is worthwhile or a complete waste. 269 00:17:46.880 --> 00:17:50.519 It means recognizing, in a radical way to the last consequences, 270 00:17:50.920 --> 00:17:53.200 that life doesn't need to be justified to be lived, 271 00:17:53.799 --> 00:17:57.319 that existing doesn't require permission, that being here doesn't depend 272 00:17:57.400 --> 00:18:00.839 on you meeting some predefined criterion. You don't need a 273 00:18:00.880 --> 00:18:05.599 greater reason, grandiose and transcendent that explains why you're taking 274 00:18:05.680 --> 00:18:08.519 up space in the universe. You don't need a cosmic 275 00:18:08.559 --> 00:18:11.519 purpose that validates your presence in the world, as if 276 00:18:11.559 --> 00:18:14.119 the universe were keeping a record of who deserves to 277 00:18:14.160 --> 00:18:17.519 be here. You don't need a heroic narrative that transforms 278 00:18:17.519 --> 00:18:21.519 your life into something worth telling, into something that impresses others, 279 00:18:21.839 --> 00:18:25.480 into something that leaves a legacy. You're simply here now, 280 00:18:25.720 --> 00:18:31.240 at this exact moment. You exist. You're alive. You breathe, 281 00:18:31.680 --> 00:18:35.759 your heart beats, your mind thinks, your eyes see, and 282 00:18:35.839 --> 00:18:40.119 being here existing just because breathing, because breathing is what 283 00:18:40.160 --> 00:18:44.680 living bodies do. Feeling because feeling is inevitable thinking because 284 00:18:44.720 --> 00:18:48.799 thought happens acting, because life is necessarily movement. This is 285 00:18:48.839 --> 00:18:53.039 already sufficient in itself. It doesn't need additional justification coming 286 00:18:53.039 --> 00:18:57.039 from outside. It doesn't need external validation that gives you 287 00:18:57.079 --> 00:19:01.599 permission to continue. This isn't euphoric liberation that makes you 288 00:19:01.680 --> 00:19:05.000 dance in the streets feeling like you finally discovered life's secret. 289 00:19:05.680 --> 00:19:09.359 It's not a magical and illuminated revelation that suddenly makes 290 00:19:09.400 --> 00:19:14.920 everything light, easy, and weightless. It's a sober, realistic condition, 291 00:19:15.599 --> 00:19:20.279 sometimes even uncomfortable and heavy. It's realizing that action, any 292 00:19:20.319 --> 00:19:24.160 action you take by itself, without needing to lead anywhere, 293 00:19:24.720 --> 00:19:29.000 is already enough. You act because you're alive, because life 294 00:19:29.039 --> 00:19:34.079 is by definition movement, flow, constant change, because existing is 295 00:19:34.160 --> 00:19:38.279 necessarily doing something, even if it's just existing, even if 296 00:19:38.319 --> 00:19:41.480 it's just remaining. Not because action will take you to 297 00:19:41.519 --> 00:19:44.599 some special place in the future, to some promised reward 298 00:19:44.599 --> 00:19:48.480 that will finally make everything worthwhile, to some glorious final 299 00:19:48.559 --> 00:19:52.359 state of fulfillment where you can finally say I made it. 300 00:19:53.000 --> 00:19:55.960 Not because there's a brilliant achievement waiting patiently at the 301 00:19:56.079 --> 00:19:58.240 end of the road, ready to redeem you from all 302 00:19:58.240 --> 00:20:02.000 the anguish, but simply because acting in one way or 303 00:20:02.039 --> 00:20:05.240 another is what you do when you're alive. It's the 304 00:20:05.359 --> 00:20:10.359 very nature of existence. Life stops needing external justification to 305 00:20:10.359 --> 00:20:15.799 have permission to continue, and this, paradoxically and deeply liberating 306 00:20:15.839 --> 00:20:19.160 for those who can accept it, is exactly what allows 307 00:20:19.200 --> 00:20:22.480 it to really start happening without the oppressive chains of 308 00:20:22.519 --> 00:20:26.920 impossible expectations you carried. But pay very close attention here, 309 00:20:27.480 --> 00:20:30.200 because this is one of the most misinterpreted points of 310 00:20:30.240 --> 00:20:34.519 Camus's thinking. He's not talking about common hope, the hope, 311 00:20:34.559 --> 00:20:37.319 you know, the hope that sustains you day to day. 312 00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:40.000 He's not telling you to keep your head up and 313 00:20:40.079 --> 00:20:42.839 hope everything gets better, that the future will bring the 314 00:20:42.880 --> 00:20:46.440 missing answers, that there's something grand and wonderful waiting for 315 00:20:46.480 --> 00:20:49.319 you if you just hang on long enough. He's doing 316 00:20:49.359 --> 00:20:52.839 exactly the opposite of that. The hope he criticizes and 317 00:20:52.880 --> 00:20:56.119 rejects is the one that projects meaning into the future, 318 00:20:56.519 --> 00:20:59.400 that places all of life's significance in something that's yet 319 00:20:59.440 --> 00:21:03.039 to happen, That hope that says hang in there, now, 320 00:21:03.720 --> 00:21:08.680 endure the difficult present, because up ahead, at some indefinite future, moment, 321 00:21:09.319 --> 00:21:13.319 everything will make sense, everything will be worth it, everything 322 00:21:13.359 --> 00:21:17.440 will reveal itself as part of a bigger plan. This hope, 323 00:21:17.680 --> 00:21:21.559 for Camue is a sophisticated and dangerous form of fleeing 324 00:21:21.599 --> 00:21:25.640 from reality, because while you're waiting for the future, while 325 00:21:25.640 --> 00:21:28.279 you're projecting all the significance of your life to a 326 00:21:28.319 --> 00:21:32.359 moment that hasn't arrived yet, you're not living now. You're 327 00:21:32.400 --> 00:21:36.640 postponing life. You're refusing the only moment that really exists, 328 00:21:36.920 --> 00:21:40.039 which is this present moment. You're denying the only thing 329 00:21:40.079 --> 00:21:44.119 you really have, which is now. I'm not emotionally condemning 330 00:21:44.200 --> 00:21:47.839 those who hope. I'm not saying it's morally wrong. I'm 331 00:21:47.880 --> 00:21:51.400 not judging anyone. I'm just showing as clearly as possible 332 00:21:51.920 --> 00:21:54.960 that this hope fundamentally prevents you from starting over in 333 00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:59.039 the Commusian sense, because starting over requires that you remain here, 334 00:21:59.640 --> 00:22:05.559 totally present, without fleeing to future promises, without comforting guarantees, 335 00:22:06.200 --> 00:22:10.319 without the illusion that there's something better, something more meaningful, 336 00:22:10.920 --> 00:22:15.440 something finally satisfying, waiting for you somewhere in time. What 337 00:22:15.640 --> 00:22:21.680 exists is now, this moment, this breath, this reality, and 338 00:22:21.759 --> 00:22:25.599 either you accept this completely or you keep fleeing indefinitely 339 00:22:25.640 --> 00:22:29.319 to the next temporary illusion. And when you accept, when 340 00:22:29.359 --> 00:22:32.240 you really stop fleeing and accept the condition as it 341 00:22:32.319 --> 00:22:36.200 is without trying to soften it or romanticize it, something 342 00:22:36.279 --> 00:22:42.359 deeply interesting and unexpected happens inside you. Freedom appears, But 343 00:22:42.480 --> 00:22:45.880 pay attention because it's not the freedom you imagine. It's 344 00:22:45.880 --> 00:22:48.680 not the freedom from movies or self help books. It's 345 00:22:48.720 --> 00:22:51.400 not a magical power that suddenly gives you the ability 346 00:22:51.640 --> 00:22:55.720 to do absolutely whatever you want without consequences. It's not 347 00:22:55.799 --> 00:22:58.759 a sudden capacity to fulfill all your desires, as if 348 00:22:58.839 --> 00:23:02.559 you found a magic lamp. It's not a liberating euphoria 349 00:23:02.799 --> 00:23:07.079 that makes you feel invincible, powerful, capable of conquering the world. 350 00:23:07.799 --> 00:23:10.759 The freedom that appears when you accept the absurd is 351 00:23:10.799 --> 00:23:15.000 something completely different, something much more sober and much more real. 352 00:23:15.640 --> 00:23:19.400 Freedom appears as an empty space, as an absence, as 353 00:23:19.440 --> 00:23:21.960 the dissolution of all the chains you didn't even know 354 00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:25.400 you were carrying. Think about this for a second. When 355 00:23:25.400 --> 00:23:28.880 there's no meaning given by reality, when there's no purpose 356 00:23:28.960 --> 00:23:34.240 imposed by some external authority, whether it's God, society, tradition, 357 00:23:34.880 --> 00:23:37.440 or any other instance you imagine has power over you, 358 00:23:38.200 --> 00:23:41.079 When there's no pre established script you need to follow 359 00:23:41.160 --> 00:23:45.240 faithfully to be considered successful or valid. What exactly is left. 360 00:23:45.559 --> 00:23:50.400 You're left completely naked, without imaginary obligations you created in 361 00:23:50.440 --> 00:23:53.799 your own head based on what you think the world expects, 362 00:23:54.319 --> 00:23:57.759 Without existential debts you never really incurred, but carry as 363 00:23:57.759 --> 00:24:01.000 if they were real, Without the oppressive and constant need 364 00:24:01.039 --> 00:24:04.799 to be something specific, to fulfill some determined social role, 365 00:24:05.240 --> 00:24:08.880 to achieve some predefined objective, just to justify your presence 366 00:24:08.920 --> 00:24:11.599 in the world, to prove you deserve to be alive. 367 00:24:12.400 --> 00:24:15.519 Life stops owing something to the world, you stop owing 368 00:24:15.519 --> 00:24:19.680 something to the universe. This freedom is deeply heavy because 369 00:24:19.680 --> 00:24:22.880 it doesn't come with clear direction. It doesn't come with 370 00:24:22.920 --> 00:24:25.799 a map that shows you the right path. It doesn't 371 00:24:25.839 --> 00:24:28.599 come with a ready meaning that tells you exactly what 372 00:24:28.720 --> 00:24:33.640 to do. But it's real, it's authentic. It's the genuine 373 00:24:33.680 --> 00:24:38.359 freedom to choose without expecting reward, to act without guarantee 374 00:24:38.359 --> 00:24:42.759 of success, to live without external validation. It's not comfortable, 375 00:24:43.000 --> 00:24:45.599 it's not easy. It's not what most people imagine when 376 00:24:45.640 --> 00:24:49.480 they think of freedom. But it's honest, it's true, and 377 00:24:49.559 --> 00:24:53.000 maybe it's the only freedom that really exists. The only 378 00:24:53.000 --> 00:24:57.400 one that doesn't depend on comforting illusions now, and this 379 00:24:57.519 --> 00:25:01.720 is absolutely critical to understand Camukh correctly. You need to 380 00:25:01.759 --> 00:25:05.480 pay very concentrated attention to this specific point, because it's 381 00:25:05.519 --> 00:25:08.680 exactly here that one of the biggest and most dangerous 382 00:25:08.759 --> 00:25:13.519 confusions about all commusion thought happens, a misunderstanding that completely 383 00:25:13.559 --> 00:25:17.599 destroys his proposal. Living without given meaning doesn't mean at 384 00:25:17.640 --> 00:25:21.079 all inventing an artificial purpose to fill the void that remained. 385 00:25:21.720 --> 00:25:26.240 This is an extremely common confusion, absurdly widespread, and deeply 386 00:25:26.359 --> 00:25:29.599 dangerous for the real understanding of what Camu is proposing. 387 00:25:30.359 --> 00:25:34.119 Many people read Camu, or read about Camu in summarized 388 00:25:34.160 --> 00:25:38.319 and superficial texts, or hear someone talking about him without 389 00:25:38.359 --> 00:25:41.799 really having dived into the work, and come away with 390 00:25:41.880 --> 00:25:45.079 the completely mistaken impression that he's saying something along the 391 00:25:45.119 --> 00:25:49.240 lines of since the world doesn't give you meaning, create 392 00:25:49.279 --> 00:25:54.319 your own personal meaning. Invent your unique and non transferable purpose. 393 00:25:55.160 --> 00:25:58.720 Be the heroic and self determined author of your own 394 00:25:58.759 --> 00:26:04.160 existential narrative. Actively build meaning through your conscious choices and 395 00:26:04.200 --> 00:26:07.920 deliberate actions. Transform yourself into the creator of your own 396 00:26:07.960 --> 00:26:14.480 symbolic universe. No. A thousand times no absolutely and categorically 397 00:26:14.519 --> 00:26:19.119 no completely. No. Doing exactly what I just described would 398 00:26:19.119 --> 00:26:22.680 be just trading an external illusion imposed by the world 399 00:26:23.240 --> 00:26:26.920 or by God or by society for an internal illusion 400 00:26:27.400 --> 00:26:31.359 created by yourself, but equally illusory. It would just be 401 00:26:31.440 --> 00:26:34.599