“A man can be himself only so long as he is alone; and if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom; for it is only when he is alone that he is really free.”
― Arthur Schopenhauer
How can one not be troubled by what we have been sold by the society. School education, financial chase, the urge to be “doing well” when we grow up, and embracing the validation. The certificate of hard work and toil to achieve; it is all celebrated. In this social circus, we all play our part. The orchestra that beats its tunes and we queue up to be like Us, or like others. An accomplishment with its very earthly essence is a void, a blip in the face of universe.
Camus famously said we ask the universe the meaning of life and it replies with silence. He acceded that with the Sysphian nature of our life. Perhaps, it is best for humans to be under the spell of mass hypnosis and not find the mental bandwidth to question life and its meaning. To be driven by emotions of greed and fear; to be able to find a reasonable standing in the society, be a part of a scroll exercised by the consumer. To be consumed, and be the consumer. We are both. And who is trading us, or is it a conveyor belt that keeps rolling and we merrily go round and round.
To be a rebel is not easy. Tolstoy, a great writer and a rich aristocrat, abhorred capitalism. He dissolved his great estate to present it to peasants and worked with them. He was repelled and faced problems. To swim against the stream is not easy. The one with less wants more; the one with more wants more and fears to lose what he has. All of us, those earthly mortals, preserving our illusions, and its aftermath. All of us, who either stoned the awakened, or made them gods.
To be of the society might be the biggest challenges for the nihilist; or perhaps his only path. Who knows?
I felt ashamed of myself when I realized life was a costume party; and I attended with my real face – Kafka
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