Albert Camus (7/11/13 -4/1/60) - The Smoking Philosopher

Ah Mr Albert Camus, see him up there, he did not smoke because it was a luxury or even  pleasurable he smoked because it was  just part of something he did. The writer is almost as famous for his love of Gauloises as he is for his novels. For Camus, smoking was not just a mere pastime; it was an act rich in symbolic undertones. He believed it was a subtle manner of self-expression, akin to a silent proclamation of one's existence. 

Drawing from his words, it seems Camus viewed smoking as a silent yet profound assertion of one's being, reminiscent of a solemn vow made to oneself amidst the enveloping silence of the night. It was as if each puff was a whispered secret, a quiet affirmation of his presence in a vast, indifferent universe. In a world that often seemed void of meaning, the act of smoking for Camus appeared to be a personal ritual, a small but significant way to ground oneself amidst existential chaos.

He even named his cat Cigarette, Absurdity as philosophy, this was his way. He describes his whole philosophy in an essay The Myth of Sisyphus http://www.vahidnab.com/sisyphus.pdf

Despite several attacks of tuberculosis with which he was first diagnosed aged 17, an illness that had little or no hope of cure at the time and living in poverty he  kept on smoking. For him life itself and therefore humanity was irrational, he was labelled an existentailist but he rejected this..

Albert Camus was born  on the 7th of November 1913, in extreme poverty, in  Mondovi, French ruled Algeria, to an illiterate mother who was partially deaf, who lost his father in the horror that was World War 1, despite tremendous disadvantages by the age of 44 he was collecting the Nobel Prize for literature.

On all accounts  he was of a sensitive nature, a seeker of maximum unity. An admirer of revolutionary syndicalism, anarchists, conscientious objectors, and all manner of rebels. Standing against totalitarianism in the form of Stalinism and fascism, and was never afraid to speak his truth.

In 1934 he joined the Communist Party, but his relationship with the party was difficult and would remain ambivialent throughout his life. In 1934 he married Simone Hie, a morphine addict and in 1938 he became a journalist, writing for an anti-colonialist newspaper after dropping out of the University of Algiers.
He moved to Paris in 1940, looking for work with the leftist press,  married again, to a pianist and mathematician named Francine Faure,  and had two twins Catherine and Jean in September 1945,and found himself  a teaching post. In 1943 he joined Combat  a clandestine resistance cell, working underground, helping with smuggling activities and acts of sabotage.
He became the editor of Combat's magazine in 1943 where he deveoped his philosophies and strong moral convictions, and it was during this period that he published works that extended his ideas. He wrote ' This heart within me I can feel, and I judge that it exists. This world I can touch, and I likewise judge that it exists. There ends all my knowledge, and the rest is construction.'

He became associated with the French Anarchist movement, and wrote for several anarchist publications like  Le Libertaire, La Revolucian Proletarienne and Solidaidad Obrera. His real concerns  were for the plight of the ordinary man, not just in France or in Algeria, a search for solidarity, a humanity that does not divide.
His novels. The Ousider (1942) and his anti-fascist allegory, The  Plague (1947)  and The Fall (1947)  to his essay on revolt, The Rebel that  served as powerful moral and philosophical critiques of society have  become pivotal texts for me to reach over the years

Though people of the left accused him off drifting away,  because he strongly critisized elements of communist doctrine,  he remained a man of the left.In 1949 he founded The Group for International Liasons with the Revolutionary Union Movement, through which he wanted to show the world the more positive aspects of surrealism and existentialism. He labelled nihilism as the most disturbing problem of the twentieth century, 

In his essay The Rebel  he paints a terryfying picture of ' how metaphysical collapse often ends in total negation and the victory of nihilsm, characterised by a profound hatred, pathological destruction and incalculable death. Another theme that remained with him was his pacifism.

And whatever your opinion of the man he became obsessed with the human condition and its many forms.He accepted it's contradictions, and that's good enough for me, just because  life defies logic, and is irrational, does not mean it is less valuable or means that it does not need to be defended.
Towards the end of his life, human rights in particular were what essentially preoccupied him, and when the United Nations welcomed fascist Spain as a member under Franco he resigned from his work for UNESCO. He worked with imprisoned Algerians, and  it was his persistent efforts 'to illuminate the problem of the human conscience in our time'  were one of the main reasons he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957,in 1957 was awarded the Nobel Prize of Literature.

On 4 January, 1960, this writer, intellectiual, and  philosopher skidded of the road  in an absurdist car accident.and was killed instantly, he was buried in the Loumarin, Vacluss, Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur, France.

At the time his philosophical writings, which  continued the themes explored in his novels - the absurdity of the human condition and the necessity of rebelling against it, were not popular with critics, but his words and their power live on. Does the realization of the absurd reguire suicide? " No" Camus answered it requires revolt. " The struggle itself is enough to fill a man's heart."
Long have I been an admirer of this man who was not afraid to preach justice, to reconsider his stance, to take candour and reflect, to be as honest as he thought best .After all there is no authority but yourself.
This great man, this visionary of the absurdity of life,  who expressed so articulately that human life  is rendered ultimately meaningless by the fact of death, his themes of the alienated stranger, or outsider, the rebel in revolt, tempered by his own experience, showed to us the readers, the individuals paths where we can truly be free.
He has undoubtedly become one of the most profoundly original thinkers of the modern age. For him the urge to revolt was one of the ' essential dimensions' of the human race, seen in man's continuous struggle against the conditions of his existence, through solidarity and our shared humanity.
It was his persistent efforts 'to illuminate the problem of the human conscience in our time' that were one of the main reasons he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957, and I for one am very grateful to have discovered his enduring words, that  continue to flow with inspiration.

So thanks Albert, whose ideas I have often found represented in the world around me, peppering them and illuminating them. He was also a goalkeeper of rare promisews a talented player who was often praised for his passion and courage. He was forced to give up football at the age of 17 after contracting tuberculosis. However, he remained a fan of the sport throughout his life. .
In the end he accepted lifes contradictions, he once remarked ' life is absurd and death renders it meaningless - for the individual. But mankind and its society are larger than one person'.
Right off to light myself a cigarette.

" Thus I draw from the absurd three consequences, which are my revolt, my freedom, and my passion" -  

from, Albert Camus's famous celebrated essay The Myth of Sisyphus.