This very heart which is mine will forever remain indefinable to me. Between the certainty I have of my existence and the content I try to give to that assurance, the gap will never be filled. Forever I shall be a stranger to myself.
Interpretation
The quote reflects the existential struggle of understanding oneself, highlighting the gap between existence and self-awareness.
In this quote, Albert Camus expresses a profound introspection about the nature of his identity and existence. He acknowledges the certainty of being alive but recognizes the inherent difficulty in truly understanding oneself, portraying a sense of existential alienation. The gap between his existence and the understanding of that existence suggests that self-awareness can be elusive and that one may never fully grasp the essence of their own being.
In practice
In a speech about self-discovery during a personal development seminar.
The Poor Man whom everyone speaks of, the Poor Man whom everyone pities, one of the repulsive Poor from whom charitable souls keep their distance, he has still said nothing. Or, rather, he has spoken through the voice of Victor Hugo, Zola, Richepin. At least, they said so. And these shameful impostures fed their authors. Cruel irony, the Poor Man tormented with hunger feeds those who plead his case.
The certainty of a God giving meaning to life far surpasses in attractiveness the ability to behave badly with impunity. The choice would not be hard to make. But there is no choice and that is where the bitterness comes in. The absurd does not liberate; it binds.
Between history and the eternal I have chosen history because I like certainties. Of it, at least, I am certain, and how can I deny this force crushing me.
Don't wait for the last judgment - it takes place every day.
A single sentence will suffice for modern man. He fornicated and read the papers. After that vigorous definition, the subject will be, if I may say so, exhausted.
At times I feel myself overtaken by an immense tenderness for these people around me who live in the same century.
What then in the last resort are the truths of mankind? They are the irrefutable errors of mankind.
What looks large from a distance, close up ainβt never that big.
A lady could not boast of her chastity who was never tempted.
Who gave you the ability to contemplate the beauty of the skies, the course of the sun, the round moon, the millions of stars, the harmony and rhythm that issue from the world as from a lyre, the return of the seasons, the alternation of the months, the demarcation of day and night, the fruits of the earth, the vastness of the air, the ceaseless motion of the waves, the sound of the wind?
I don't want other people to decide who I am. I want to decide that for myself. I want to avoid becoming too styled and too 'done' and too generic. You see people as they go through their career, and they just become more and more like everyone else.
Conflicts create the fire of affects and emotions; and like every fire it has two aspects: that of burning and that of giving light.
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