Then everything began to reel before my eyes, the fiery gust came from the sea, while the sky cracked in two, from end to end, and a great sheet of flame poured down through the rift. Every nerve in my body was a steel spring, and my grip closed on the revolver. The trigger gave, and the smooth underbelly of the butt jogged my palm. And so, with that crisp, whipcrack sound, it all began. I shook off my sweat and the clinging veil of light. I knew I’d shattered the balance of the day, the spacious calm of this beach on which I had been happy. But I fired four shots more into the inert body, on which they left no visible trace. And each successive shot was another loud, fateful rap on the door of my undoing.
-Meursault “The Stranger”
Just because you do what you want doesn't mean you're free. You can be a slave to your own will. (Italics mine)
-Michael Bauman
Albert Camus and other ‘Existential’ thinkers were incarnate oxymoron's. How could such serious thinkers propound a worldview which was driven by individual whims and not serious thinking? Most people live their lives as if ultimate meaning is defined simply by their actions. They do this without careful reflections; unlike Camus and other existentialist’—they’re consistent.
But what does this have to do with our culture? We [a]mericans would think it absurd of a criminal to admit to a murder in which he could give no real reason for doing it. A mere “I did it because I felt angry” or “I did it because I preferred to not do otherwise” doesn’t quite justify an action like murder. There must be a motive.
How could a murderer just kill someone out of a disconnected feeling? Could a person, imitating Meursault in Camus’ The Stranger, kill someone because he had a migraine caused by heat? Even if someone claimed to do so we'd suspect some ulterior motive; one must have reasons for actions. Whether they are subconscious or not, the reasons are there.
We live an unexamined life. We do things separate from rational. People will watch a movie, go to a party, or spend a large amount of money on some material thing. Yet, most people could not give a rational reason for any of those actions. Or, in choosing to start a serious relationship, if you ask what real attraction is (could it be more than mere feelings?)most cannot give a logical answer. But so what?
If it is absurd for a murderer to not have reasons for his actions, perhaps we need to reflect before we act. Albeit daily decisions aren’t as intrinsically negative as killing someone, we must also keep in mind a murder is the succession of innumerable choices made before it. In the same way, the unreflective things we do make us like children moving our hands toward a hot stove ignorant of the consequences.
I’m not supposing rationale take the place of emotions. In a lot of ways emotions distinguish humans from animals. Instinct is trumped as a firefighter goes into a burning building—which could be his crematorium—in order to save a complete stranger. However, these emotions could become the very animal instinct inside us if they are the main controllers. It must be balanced out with reason. Though reason alone would make us machines--reducing everything to a mere equation-- without it we are slaves to our appetite.
