Existence is twaddle

Being a pretentious type, with possible hipster tendencies, I am currently wearing a T-shirt which features the face of a Mr Meseeks (from Rick and Morty, that SF-based animated programme which has become something of a hit on both sides of the Atlantic) with the line 'Existence is Pain' beneath the portrait.  This is a reference to the nature of the Mr Meseeks people who merely exist in order to service the needs of those who call upon them.  Once these needs are met then the Mr Meseeks blinks out of existence.  Extended periods of existing and not meeting their required 'use' causes the Meseeks pain.

This did set me thinking about existentialism and some of the key writers in that genre of philosophy and literature.  Especially the French-Algerian Albert Camus who resisted the term 'existentialist' but wrote several works of fiction and nonfiction which appear to best summarise the existential branch of philosophy.

Camus' most famous work (arguably) is The Outsider.  In this novella, the narrator expresses little emotion over the death of his mother and even shoots dead an Arab character with no real motive.  The work emphasises the moral vacuum the narrator inhabits and equates each action as having similar value.

But is existence so very painful and morally sparse?  The first pillar of Buddhism is that 'life/existence is suffering'.  This may be a mis-translation  but it is often seen as the bedrock of Buddhist belief: if we exist we will suffer/experience pain/reject our experience of existing.  The first step of the Alcoholics Anonymous 12 step programme is that 'we realised we were powerless over alcohol' - that, effectively, we were suffering and then the programme expands into another 11 steps which make recovery possible.

From a personal perspective, I can see that we often face discomfort and that for many of us life is a real trial of will and strength.  This is made worse or better by our consciousness, that cursed sense of self which guides us to write poetry or prose, or even to express ourselves in music and art.  Something memorable and powerful comes from these efforts but if consciousness did not exist at all, would it matter that these constructions would not happen?

Dealing with the twentieth century was made worse by the ethical and psychological emptiness presented by Nietzsche's late nineteenth century proclamation that 'God is dead'.  Without an omniscient and omnipotent God, and the afterlife so many hoped for, life could seem meaningless.  The apparent rise in spirituality as a counter balance to this malaise may offer something more for those who inhabit the twenty-first century but it will be interesting to see how this manifests itself as the century progresses and other causes, such as environmentalism and nationalism, take hold of the popular imagination.  Perhaps however wealthy or powerful one becomes then existence will always entail a certain amount of pain.  And perhaps that pain has a use: to remind us that others often suffer more than we do and that we should make every effort to ease that pain and find a new purpose in such endeavours.