I seem to have come full circle.

Funny how life works like that, eh?

Another slow rhythm?

I’ve been thinking that some of the meanings behind my rhythm work (my own mortality, being a happily small part of immense, timelessly massive rhythms, coming to terms with how life changes but finding comfort in the reliable and consistent rhythms that will continue long beyond my passing) reminded me of something that I couldn’t quite put my finger on, until now. Absurdism was a big focus of some of my works last year, alongside the liminal. Absurdism is about how humans search for meaning in life, but life is intrinsically meaningless and disorderly – Albert Camus writes (in The myth of Sisyphus page 9, Penguin ‘Great Ideas’ edition 2005) “At any street corner the feeling of absurdity can strike any man in the face” and I feel that this illustrates a part of how this piece ties together. I’m coming to terms with the fact that within life’s absurdity and lack of intrinsic meaning, one can find solace in the identifiable rhythms that we are all part of. Douglas Adams pokes fun at the search for meaning in The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy with his supercomputer Deep Thought revealing that the answer to the question of life, the universe and everything is in fact 42. Although perhaps this could also be interpreted as commentary on the wisdom (or lack thereof) of computers – they can never offer answers to questions that are so deep rooted in being human, as they lack the frame of reference required to answer to such a question in terms that we understand.

It’s also notably amusing that the prevalence of absurdism in my life can be thought of as just another rhythm, as I’ve landed on it once again arouuuund a year later. Maybe winter makes me introspective and causes me to muse on why any of us bother with this whole life malarkey.