Pt 1. The Impossible Summit

There is but one truly serious philosophical problem And that is suicide Judging whether life is or is not worth living Amounts to the fundamental question of philosophy Man stands face to face with the irrational He feels within him his longing for happiness and for reason The absurd is born of this confrontation between the human need for meaning And the unreasonable silence of the world From the moment absurdity is recognized It becomes a passion, the most harrowing of all But whether or not one can live with one's passions Whether or not one can accept their law Which is to burn the heart they simultaneously exalt That is the whole question