This is Absurd!

While re-reading The Myth of Sisyphus today, I came across a line that I clearly don't remember from the first time over. Of course, this is not to say that I remember everything else but this seems too good to have missed. Or, at least, not to have remembered. It is mentioned in the context of what is known as Don Juanism: Why should it be essential to love rarely in order to love much. Hmm...

In modern psychiatry, the term Don Juanism, named after the literary character Don Juan, refers to a disorder. An allusion to the many conquests of Don Juan, the term is indicative of a heightened appetite for sex. With multiple partners. Although he doesn't say so, the general drift of Albert Camus' argument would suggest that the term does not do justice to Don Juan because he is not your ordinary philanderer. Unlike others of his ilk, his exploits are complete in themselves and are not meant to be the stepping stones to more permanent and fruitful associations. Unlike them, he is not looking or searching. For him, the journey is all. He is not trying to get anywhere, if you know what I mean. For him, it is the experience of doing what he does that is fulfilling in itself. He is only interested in the here and now. Unlike others, he is able to recognise that the fruits of his labour, in a manner of speaking, and anything else that might follow as a result of his efforts, are largely meaningless. As, indeed, is life itself.

To return to the statement in the book, it's curious, to say the least. Because, even if one were to take it literally, logically, it amounts to spreading yourself thin, doesn't it? And, moreover, it sounds defensive. So, I did a Google search and found that it makes perfect sense...Camus was himself a Don Juan-like figure and, even while he was married, he was engaged in multiple relationships. Some at the same time. So, was it guilt that led him to project such lofty attributes to the fictional character's escapades? I don't know.

But, what I do know is that, as usual, I have digressed. I didn't mean to start writing about either Don Juan or Don Juanism. I wanted to take that statement I have quoted above and twist it around. And, maybe, go off on a tangent...in a stream of consciousness, so to speak.

Now, have you ever wondered how, and why, some people are able to fall in love over and over? I have. Wondered, I mean. Some people feel it coming on strong soon after their break-up and, literally, hop from relationship to another. Others take a bit longer to get over their separation but, sure as the night follows the day, they find their cup brimming over with the said emotion, waiting only for a suitable candidate to pour it on. Then, there are others who can't get past the first one, even though there is nothing to hang on to and the relationship has long since broken. So, does this mean that some people have more of the emotion? An abundance, spilling over? Or, do they, even if it's at the subliminal level, unbeknownst to themselves, keep on moving from one to the other, somewhat like Don Juan, in search of that real thing? In which case, does it mean that all those that have gone by weren't real? If they weren't real, why did they feel as though they were? And, does it also mean that if it breaks up, it wasn't real? By inference then, because they're unable to move on, do some people have too little or not nearly enough of the emotion?

Hmm, questions, questions! I might as well have called this post DUI, Done Under the Influence, because, let's admit it, it does read as though I've written it while experimenting with certain banned items that the other Don Juan, from Carlos Castaneda, might have enjoyed a taste of. :-) Well, like I've already said, I'll just flatter myself and call it my stream of consciousness moment.