Fundamentals

“BUT SUPPOSE THERE IS NO MEANING! SUPPOSE LIFE IS FUNDAMENTALLY ABSURD!”

Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for July 30, 1995

https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1995/07/30

Here’s the entire dialog. It’s all Calvin, with one optimistic bit by Hobbes toward the end (my callout obviously).

“WE ALL WANT MEANINGFUL LIVES. WE LOOK FOR MEANING IN EVERYTHING WE DO.

“BUT SUPPOSE THERE IS NO MEANING! SUPPOSE LIFE IS FUNDAMENTALLY ABSURD!”

“SUPPOSE THERE’S NO REASON, OR TRUTH, OR RIGHTNESS IN ANYTHING!”

“WHAT IF NOTHING MEANS ANYTHING? WHAT IF NOTHING REALLY MATTERS?”

“I GUESS THERE’S NO HARM IN A LITTLE WISHFUL THINKING.” -HOBBES

“OR SUPPOSE EVERYTHING MATTERS. WHICH WOULD BE WORSE??

I covered most of my thoughts on Calvin and Hobbes in a post earlier this week, but since this strip, which also happens to be a Sunday strip, definitely calls out the absurd, I thought I would post it here. Calvin is adept at asking questions and making observations. Here he doesn’t give any answers, but just asks the fundamental questions that any Absurdist asks oneself. As I said in the previous post earlier this week, I’m convinced Calvin is an Absurd Hero, and I think this strip lends credence to it. In the strip (which if I have an extra $35 bucks lying around I’ll license and post here) Calvin and Hobbes are riding their wagon down a hill and come to a cliff, then leap off and fall in the last two “frames” as they finish their dialog. Hobbes is covering his eyes while Calvin looks down toward the earth, and I think this is telling. They’ve certainly made the leap into the void as Camus discusses in “An Absurd Reasoning” in the Myth of Sisyphus where Kierkegaard shouts his warning of despair. Hobbes is covering his eyes not looking to the despair, but Calvin, looking down is determined to keep asking questions. I’m keeping things light for a Sunday, and Bill Watterson and Camus have already done the heavy lifting here, so maybe the takeaway here is always keep working on the fundamentals, and keep asking questions and looking into the void.

-DA