The myth of absurdity : a critical examination of Albert Camus' The myth of Sisyphus from a Buddhist perspective

Abstract

This thesis is an evaluation of Albert Camus' essay The Myth of Sisyphus from the point of view of Buddhism. Essentially, Camus' existentialism will be compared and contrasted to the Buddha's teaching of Enlightenment. Based upon the Buddha's "Four Noble Truths" the claim will be made that Camus' "three certainties of existence" (one, the human desire for happiness, lucidity, unity and eternal life; two, the universe's inability to fulfil that desire; and three, the "absurdity" and "existential anxiety" that arises from the confrontation between desire and reality) are fundamentally erroneous. According to the Buddha, the universe is one loving nondual consciousness and the "illusion" of division is in fact a creation of an elaborate dichotomizing perceptual process. Through meditation the individual attains a technique that allows him/her to see through the illusion created by dualistic perception and experience the truth of an ultimately loving nondual universe; hence, the enlightened individual no longer identifies with, clings to, or is preoccupied with their private desires, the universe becomes completely fulfilling and "existential anxiety" comes to an end. This thesis makes the claim that Albert Camus' philosophy is based on a premature conclusion about the nature of reality that is drawn from a limited perceptual strategy. Nevertheless, this thesis will argue that in Camus' early essays, Noces, he seems to have transcended this dualistic tension created by perception and to have rested, at least for a brief moment, in nonduality. However, the argument will be made that because Camus did not have the benefit of meditation, he was unable to abide there.