Comic #2813: 2013-01-29

Description

Here’s the transcription of the text from the comic:

IN THE PREFACE OF THE 1955 EDITION OF "THE MYTH OF SISYPHUS" CAMUS WRITES:

The fundamental subject of “The Myth of Sisyphus” is this: it is legitimate and necessary to wonder whether life has a meaning; therefore it is legitimate to meet the problem of suicide face to face. The answer, underlying and appearing through the paradoxes which cover it, is this: even if one does not believe in God, suicide is not legitimate. Written fifteen years ago, in 1940, amid the French and European disaster, this book declares that even within the limits of nihilism it is possible to find the means to proceed beyond nihilism. In all the books I have written since, I have attempted to pursue this direction. Although “The Myth of Sisyphus” poses mortal problems, it sums itself up for me as a lucid invitation to live and to create, in the very midst of the desert.

I LIKE THIS VIEW. I FIND IT VALUABLE.

YEAH! SUCK ON THAT, DESERT OF NIHILISM!

AND YET, I CAN'T HELP BUT WONDER IF SCIENCE WILL ONE DAY MAKE HUMANS IMMORTAL.

(A graph is depicted here, titled "Average Lifespan vs Time," showing an upward trend over time.)

AND THOSE PEOPLE, NOT SO DIFFERENT FROM US…

WILL LOOK BACK AT THIS PHILOSOPHY AS JUST ANOTHER ANCIENT THEOLOGY, AND SAY…

"WHEN THEY REALIZED THEY WERE IN THE DESERT, THEY BUILT A RELIGION TO WORSHIP THIRSTINESS."

(A scene shows several figures in a desert, acting out rituals around what appears to be a source of water, with a focus on one individual looking towards a group.)

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