camusknew

Camus knew

by Bob on August 16, 2008

I was just meditating on a quote I had originally read a long time ago by Camus.

"There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy. All the rest -- whether or not the world has three dimensions, whether the mind has nine or twelve categories -- comes afterwards. These are games; one must first answer." ---- Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus, "Absurdity and Suicide" (1942)

And ...

The original example of calculator spelling is 5318008, which, when turned over, spells "BOOBIES".

These two concepualisations must mean something profound together.

I also remembered one of my favourite quotes of Blaise Pascal from his Pensees, II VANITÉ, 13-133:

"Deux visages semblables, dont aucun ne fait rire en particulier font rire ensemble par leur ressemblance."

(loosely in English: "Two faces which resemble each other, make us laugh, when together, by their resemblance, though neither of them by itself makes us laugh.")

And again from the brilliant Pascal in his Pensees:

"Let us therefore not look for certainty and stability. Our reason is always deceived by fickle shadows; nothing can fix the finite between the two Infinites, which both enclose and fly from it."

Then again, the late great playwright, Tennessee Williams, who I had met in New York City way back when as we both watched one of his last plays being performed in repertory theatre, once said something like:

"If I get rid of all my demons, all my angels would disappear too".