School of Life on Albert Camus book ''The Plague''

[Milos Uzelac]

I haven't read this Camus book yet, sounds like an interesting and maybe development useful and enriching read during and after the pandemic crisis,  but here the School of Life channel puts forward the most key lessons regarding the universal parallel, that Camu tries to communicate through the book, between relatively unchanging collective experiences and general past and present societal stances regarding right before, during and right after disease outbreaks and of course deeper analytical views on the human condition from the existentialist perspective.

Camu said to his friend writer friend Andre Malraux in a letter in March 1942, that he wanted to understand what plague meant for humanity: ''Said like that, it might sound strange'' but he added: ''this subject seems so natural to me''. 

Camu then put forward the idea, that in fact actual historical instances that we call plagues, are merely concentrations of a universal precondition, they are dramatic instances of a perpetual rule: that we are vulnerable to being randomly exterminated, by Bacillus, an accident or fellow humans. Our exposure to plague is at the heart of Camus's view, that our lives are fundamentally on the edge on what he termed ''the absurd''. from the view of the narrator of this clip and famous philosopher Alain de Botton. 

One of the main messages and lessons, that Camu communicates to us is this: ''We assume that we have been granted immortality, and with this naivety come behaviors, that Camu criticized: a hardness of heart, an obsession with status, a refusal of joy and gratitude and the tendency to moralize and judge.

The modern people that are affected by the plague, in the book, associate the plague with something backward that belongs to another age. They are in their eyes modern people that have advanced technological help at their disposal, they are surely not going to die like the poor wretches of 17th century London and  18th century Canton.

They exclaim from the quote of the book: ''It's impossible it should be the Plague, everyone knows that it has vanished from the West.'' says one character, ''Yes everyone, knew that'' Camu adds sardonically, "except the dead''.

Camu's message: ''There is no escape from our frailty, being alive always was (no matter the time period)  and will always remain an emergency. As one might put it truly an inescapable ''underlying condition''.

The plague for Camu in the book is a metaphor for the ''susceptibility to sudden death, an event that can render our lives instantaneously meaning.'' And yet in the novel still the citizens deny their fate, even when a quarter of them are dying, they keep imagining the reasons why the problem won't happen to them.

''The book isn't attempting to panic us, because, panic suggests a response to a dangerous but a short-term condition from which we can find safety. \but there can never be safety - that is why safety for Camu we need to love our fellow '' damned'' humans and work without hope or despair for the amelioration of suffering. Life is a hospice, never a hospital.''

Camu writes; ''Pestilence is so common, there have been as many plagues in the world, as there have been wars. But plagues and wars always find people equally unprepared.'' 

I wanted to share this video because I thought is full of useful insight's that can be very helpful in positioning adequately and emotionally oneself in this time, keep struggling for your future despite the current circumstances and their uncertain consequences and have an optimistic long-term view of one's fate, having in mind, what Camu accentuates in the La Peste, what is that diseases reveal universally about society through history and one's position and a path forward in them in total.

Would appreciate also a lot  if you have time enough to share with me your feelings and thought's during this time regarding some statements mentioned in the video:

''The plague is not a punishment for anything deserved, suffering is entirely randomly distributed, it makes no sense, it is not an ethical force. it is simply absurd and that's the kindest thing we can say of it.'' 

''The whole thing is not about heroism, it's about decency. It may seem a ridiculous idea, but the only way to fight the plague is with decency.''

Someone asks the main character, what decency might be, and Dr. Rieux's response is: '' In general I can't say'' remarks the doctor, ''but in my case, I know it consists of doing my job.''

I hope you are well and safe!

 

Edited April 4, 2020 by Milos Uzelac

[ivory]

Aw crap, I just wrote a big long post and when I clicked submit, it garbled up my post. Here's a second shot...

20 hours ago, Milos Uzelac said:

'There is no escape from our frailty, being alive always was (no matter the time period)  and will always remain an emergency. As one might put it truly an inescapable ''underlying condition''.

In Buddhism this is referred to as groundlessness which mostly pertains to impermanence in general: Health, wealth, life, relionships, etc. My last meditation teacher used to call it "Skating on thin ice." Here's an excerpt from one of his books. It's a good read with an interesting short story at the end. I think you'll get a kick out of it.

20 hours ago, Milos Uzelac said:

''We assume that we have been granted immortality, and with this naivety come behaviors, that Camu criticized: a hardness of heart, an obsession with status, a refusal of joy and gratitude and the tendency to moralize and judge.

Although Camu didn't consider himself an existentialist there certainly are some parallels in their thinking. Camu only talks about what he criticized here but this quote doesn't mention the antidote which is what made the existentialists so great (Sartre, etc). I'm reading a book called At the Existentialist Cafe and Camu's in it. Highly recommended.

20 hours ago, Milos Uzelac said:

Life is a hospice, never a hospital.

Clever. This line made me chuckle.

20 hours ago, Milos Uzelac said:

The plague is not a punishment for anything deserved, suffering is entirely randomly distributed, it makes no sense, it is not an ethical force

I had a pretty severe health issue pop up a few years ago and I just didn't see it coming. It took me a few years to adapt but during those few years I couldn't help but think how vulnerable I was. All the time I was aware at how fragile myself and others really were and I was amazed at how many people just didn't see it.

Anyways, thanks for sharing. I've enjoyed your posts recently.

Edited April 5, 2020 by ivory

[Milos Uzelac]

@ivory I understand you fully on the long post thing, happened to me almost yesterday you get carried away and lost in correcting grammatical errors, if it's a long text, and I noticed on myself, have a strong tendency to get lost and carried away in this "logocentric" - as Leo borrowed, the term from postmodern author and theorist Derrida, state of consciousness and closing your experiential alleyway strictly on obsessing over correct, ideally connected and logically cohesive, words, sentences and phrasing. It's a hard pull I still don't have the hindsight and techniques always to resist the pull.

I will check out those excerpts about Buddhist doctrines, thanks a lot for setting the time sharing them and your wisdom, when I get my current life organization together which I kinda screwed up yesterday, in regards to cleaning up my room and apartment with my father together (since our whole nation's capital has been put in a mandatory quarantine till the end of the weekend ), and catch up with procrastinated on student work, that I got distracted from by this aforementioned post ?. I have some university assignments and I am now in the rush to finish them and send them via e-mail to corresponding professors. 

Thanks for commenting, sharing your past tulmoutous experiences and wisdom regarding how to go about difficult times when going through health issues and sharing your wisdom about this post @ivory. I hope you're doing well now, that you and your friend's and families have some securities with you regarding the possible economic impacts on most Americans, because of the catastrophic mishandling of the pandemic crisis by the current administration and their lobbyists and that you're currently in good health and safe. 

 

[ivory]

I'm doing well Milos. Thanks for the kind words. Best to you.