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Indeed not trying to understand those who seem strange makes us strange too.
I don’t know what is like for the readers here, but for me I have been remarked or perceived as strange since I was very young. I have also been guilty of doing the same thing to others as well.
However, something seems to be different. As I have usually been at the receiving end of being remarked or perceived as strange, I feel more motivated to change myself for the better; to seek to understand those who seem strange to me. This is a somewhat strong wish for greater self-development, I think. And this started even before I got interested in learning more about Buddhist teachings.
If any one of you have similar experiences like me, take heart knowing that you are not alone.
Buddhists or not, we can do this. We are on this path, together. 🙂
Methinks most of my non-Dharma friends find me strange – probably due to my disenchantment with most things that intrigue them. Among Dharma friends, I can seem strange too:
https://moonpointer.com/new/2009/02/from-small-talk-to-dharma-talk
I’m the least strange to myself when I’m sharing the Dharma, attending a retreat or Dharma class (&)
I am a weirdo and my thinking is very different from the general and therefore it was very difficult for others to understand me. It is no fun and lead to sufferings for me because other ‘society rule’ and my ‘society rule’ clashed.
However, because of this “sufferingsâ€, it had in a way make me more sensitive to other in some areas and it is in a way training me to see the bigger picture.
And when we see the bigger picture, things become minor and different from that view.
So in the end, I gained! Now, whatever bad treatments I get from others, I try to make sure I don’t do it to anybody – that in a way guard me from doing evil (negative karma).
How lucky being a werido :p
Sometimes, the ‘weird’ are not so;
they are just more normal than most,
who have forgotten what’s really normal!
:))
I have just finished reading the book.
Excerpt of afterword by Albert Camus:
…the hero of the book is condemned because he doesn’t play the game. In this sense, he is an outsider to the society in which he lives, wandering on the fringe, on the outskirts of life, solitary and sensual.
…But to get a more accurate picture of his character, or rather one which conforms more closely to his author’s intentions, you must ask yourself in what way Meursault doesn’t play the game.
The answer is simple: he refuses to lie. Lying is not only saying what isn’t true. It is also, in fact especially, saying more than is true and, in the case of the human heart, saying more than one feels.
We all do it, every day to make life simpler.
But contrary to appearances, Meursault doesn’t want to make life simpler. He says what he is, he refuses to hide his feelings and society immediately feels threatened.
So for me Meursault is not a reject, but a poor and naked man, in love with a sun which leaves no shadows. Far from lacking all sensibility, he is driven by a tenacious and therefore profound passion, the passion for an absolute and for truth.
This truth is as yet a negative one, a truth born of living and feeling, but without which no triumph over the self or over the world will ever be possible.
Thanks for posting the Afterword, which I read some years ago. Here’re some thoughts on the above –
I used to see Meursault as a hero, especially since I saw shades of me in his somewhat aloof character. But nowadays, I’m having second thoughts because Meursault also made himself an outcast by refusing to compromise in the littlest way, even if it’s for the larger picture, for social reasons, to benefit himself and society. It is his stubbornness that alienated himself too. In this sense, Meursault could have had more compassion for himself and others.
Meursault is not a reject, but he somewhat rejected society. The sun that leaves no shadows, that he loved ‘betrayed’ him by shining too glaringly in his eye, casting light on his dark side, that ‘made’ him fire a needless but fatal shot. It was really his lack of mindfulness that made him lose his cool, that led to his condemnation. That he had plenty of time to reflect in his cell, which did not lead him to realise the above makes him more a tragic figure than a misunderstood anti-hero. That said, I empathise with him somewhat, which is why I wrote the post above. Sometimes, I shudder to think I might have ended up becoming someone like him, should I have not encountered the Dhama – someone nakedly true to the world, but without enough compassion or wisdom for myself or the world.
L’Étranger, the one alienated :alien:
from his Buddha-nature
Personally, I don’t consider Meursault as a hero from both a Buddhist or non-Buddhist point of view. He’s too indifferent; too detached as a human being.
However, that said, he’s also not a cruel or twisted person per se. There was one instance whereby he showed his concern for his neighbour, who had lost his dog. It was nothing much; you can’t call that compassion, but nevertheless he tried to be caring in his own small way.
I agree to a large extent Meursault’s stubborness had caused him to be alienated by the society. There’s no doubt about that.
There are two things I like about this main character:
1) The character does not like to lie to get his way. He does not try to gloss over his feelings with beautiful or noble-sounding words. He could have done it to let people like him or view him in a positive light, but he does not entertain such thoughts.
If he had chosen to put on a facade of repentance in front of the judge or the chaplain who visited him in prison, he would have a better chance of getting his sentence reduced to imprisonment instead of mandatory death.
2) The main character does not try to hurt or please people with his words. The only malicious example is when he killed the Arab with three more shots to the body. He admitted he didn’t love Marie but he doesn’t mind marrying her when she asked him. He’s pretty upfront with what he feels if one cares to listen. This was reflected in various conversations with other characters.
To sum up, Meursault consciously or subconsciously does not want to become a hyporite
My empathy for this character and for any real-life person in similar predicaments, is this:
How good it would be if other than the chaplain, a buddhist layman or monk visited the main character in prision to show him love and concern.
How good it would be, even if Meursault does not believe in God or in any religion, he could realise that just as he feared death by the guillotine, others feel the same too. From such realisation, he could perhaps help plant a seed of compassion in his troubled mind.
May fellow Buddhists never give up on people like Meursault in real life. May all Buddhists continue to reach out to such people with skillful means.
Off-topic:
Why did Meursault fire 3 more shots at a already dead body?
Was Meursault able to appeal against his death sentence or did he still die in the end cos the death sentence was upheld?
He probably fired 3 more shots out of fear of possible retaliation?
:ueue:
The ending seems deliberately open-ended. The main questions we should ask of this novel on ‘absurdity’ of the human condition… Was he truly guilty, or was he merely seen as so? Did he have bad faith towards the world, or was the world with bad faith towards him? I think it’s a mix of both in both cases. Samsara is after all a very convolutedly interconnected ‘place’.
:blink:
Can’t help anyone if that person refuses help… è©è¨åªèƒ½åº¦æœ‰ç¼˜äººã€‚ That’s the case of Meursault.