Albert Camus delivered this lecture on “La Crise de l’homme” in 1946 at Columbia University, on his only trip to the United States. The lecture itself is from 18:45 - 56:35 in this video, and is presented in English translation. I recommend it wholeheartedly. It is relevent on many levels to the present situation, and while Camus spoke from the perspective of a 32-year-old Frenchman in the wake of WWII, his clarity and insight embody a kind of timeless wisdom.
@rtubeyou2010 Gosh, your reply is very interesting, thanks. Can you recommend any TRvid vids re Neitzshe / myth? I know I can (and will) look at wiki...
What's good about Viggo reading this is that he is genuinely interested and is a regular sort of guy - the kind of intellectual Camus was trying to touch always. And for this he has a great non pretentious speaking voice - this is so very important, don't you agree - it's good that he's nervous.
@TruckdriverJoe AndOtherFables Except, Nobel Laureat for Literature Camus wasn't a "great speaker"; he was a great writer/thinker. He was invited to come to NY in 1946, and had long negotiations as to the subject of his lecture. During which, he makes clear that he has little respect for politicians or others who have power. He certainly isn't trying to come across to anyone as "your best friend". I get the impression that you haven't bothered to listen before commenting.
It's so blessedly cathartic to know that someone else got it. That someone else recognized the value in an imperfect struggle towards utopia. That another person understood the dehumanizing nature of bureaucracy and the way that systems strive at all times to pit some of us against the rest to keep us separated in our hearts and minds. Very interesting speech.
@Brett Pid At the least, it is a joy to hear the liberal Marxists clapping at their own refutation. The future promises more. Hopefully, in this round, still-rational humankind will hold up the mirror to the monkeys on Olympus (Davos) so that they can grasp that their own aspirations and attempts at immortality are entirely gone bananas. Otherwise, all the worst of weapons technology, scientific psychological coercion and mad billionaire contempt will be upon us for yet new historical records of human depravity.
@Brett Pid I think the dissonance comes from rejecting the sacrifices to humanity that a perceived perfect utopia might demand, to navigate yourself to a struggle towards an imperfect utopia that you cannot see the totality of but does not demand such unacceptable sacrifice.
When you mentioned Bureaucracy separating us in hearts and minds, I thought of E.U.....🤔. It has built up a HUGE Bureaucracy, hasn't it... A " tower of babel", or is it " babble"?🐒 I've not yet heard all of the lecture, but will make a point of listening again closely....🇬🇧... Just now, the impression is that we humans are still a savage lot....but many among us always hope that we may yet become mature enough as a species, not to keep ruining the world by conflicts, cruel regimes, greed, exploitation, over - population, pollution, killing the soil, poisoning oceans, destroying O2 producing forests , Melting permafrost , so releasing huge amounts of previously stored methane, etc., etc., etc., which is all putting us on a fatal path.... It's so sad that we have learnt so much, but are in effect going backwards....😢. The cruel ones with the power are the ones who get the best physical living conditions : T'was ever thus.... And look at 2022's dreadful ruination of Ukraine : totally unecessary.😢. Power, greed, arrogance, with maybe a dash of psychosis thrown in...😢😱 And the rest of us have to try to pick up the pieces....😢🌎. It's absolute madness... We keep repeating history, basically because we " just fell out of the trees". 😢😢🌎😢😢 But we keep trying to improve.. well, some of us, anyway....😢 🇬🇧😢🌎🇺🇲💕 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦
@catman lol. I've been rereading Camus since 1969, and had been good friends with the prof. who was A.C.'s biographer and family friend, who established the Camus Institute For The Humanities in the 70s. I think I first read this address fifty years ago! Not knowing of an admittedly inobscure actor who once read Camus is not the same thing as failing to be enlightened by the author himself! That would be analogous to illogically concluding one has failed to appreciate Shakespeare's tragedies through never having heard of Richard Burton! Now THAT, WOULD be absurd!!! I liked this fellow's delivery but...I am certain I'd have done better with it. You should have seen me in '71, when I delivered "Return To Tipasa" by heart! Adieu, mon ami!
@James Barlow as I said, it's your loss, especially because he is the speaker here and everyone here has commented on his excellent commitment to his art sooO0Oooo you have heard of him. We did our part introducing you to enlightenment if you choose to remain in the dark...this is the last time because if someone doesn't get it after 3 tries it's time to walk on... IT'S YOUR LOSS.
@Sandra Carlson I like him too but no matter how nice someone is if they can speak 7 languages they creep me out. Something unnatural about that. They have more alien blood than the rest of us.
I believe that Camus was once quoted as saying " there are many things worth dying for but nothing worth killing for " I always found that a powerful statement.
@jeff forsythe How the hell does a batshit crazy cult have anything to do with Camus? People are trying to educate themselves here, not listen to Qanon nonsense.
Read Steven Pinker's "The Better Angels of Our Nature" as an antidote to Camus's idiotic views on history and human progress or (according to Camus) the almost complete absence of progress. As Pinker says, "Intellectuals hate the idea of progress".
My dear , In the midst of hate , I found there was , within me , an invincible love , In the midst of tears , I found there was , within me , an invincible smile , In the midst of chaos , I found there was , within me , an invincible calm , I realized , through it all , that in the midst of winter , I found there was , an invincible summer , and that makes me happy , for it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me , within me , there's something stronger , something better , pushing right back , Yours truly , Albert Camus Philosopher of the Absurd
Incredibly poignant talk. As relevant today, as it was then. Has humanity learned nothing since? The world stands at a crossroads once again. “Silence is death, and you, if you talk, you die, and if you remain silent, you die. So, speak out and die.” ― Tahar Djaout
@Cmeigs017 well, in the USA, some people, many people love to blame government for all the real and imagined woes in their lives. I beg to differ. Too many of us are spoiled, or lazy, egoistic, easily led, inactive and ignorant. We elect our representatives from the local to national level, and if we were better educated (with mandatory Civics in school curriculum to help understand how government functions and laws are passed) we might ask more of our candidates and demand more from our representatives. The lack of ethics and insatiable need for guns I have no answers for. Lastima.
@Solo Bano And Muslims too. Both faiths based on Abrahamic teachings. Remember, there was no Christianity while Jesus was alive! He was teaching the Abrahamic teachings. I'm not religious, but married to a non-practising African Muslim. Basics: Love your family first, then your neighbours, then everyone else.
@Hendrik Smildiger "Humanity does not learn from it's mistakes , it actually thrives on them" -- that's not "humanity"; that's neoliberal politicians and the people they serve -- who are generally corporatists, or just their pub mates.
@Carly Ellison While that is true, as fact, it wasn't what he meant at the time. He later died in a car accident. Unless you think that the accident wasn't an "accident" b/c he was held up for 4 hours at NY immigration?
@Montage It's all bread and circuses to keep people distracted from the major issues in life. It is primarily the elite class that shapes this agenda because without a massive group of people being drip-fed this bullshit, they cannot maintain their elite life-styles and exert their power over everyone else.
Viggo is a proud product of Watertown in Northern New York. He is also a graduate of St Lawrence University. What you see is what you get with this man and it is so fitting that he is reading Camus’s work. Viggo is a very kind, unassuming, a truly down to earth and very intelligent gentleman to say nothing of his amazing performances as an actor. Thank you Viggo. We in the North Country are so proud of you. God Bless!
He sure is a very proud product of Watertown and has never let his success go to his head. He speaks at least 5 languages and I’ve often wondered if he picked up the tribes dialect in Hidalgo; also one of his great movies which oftentimes is never mentioned. I believe he bought the horse that he rode in the film. 👍
Magnificently poignant, a timeless literary work of art. Camus' words not only captures the mind but the very soul. Amazingly relevant today as it was when first spoken in 1946.
Omg THANK YOU! I was falling asleep as I'm so tired, you saved my life lol plus, usually I tell others the start of the videos too. God bless from Ireland, 18th of April 2022 this Easter Monday 🐰🐇🐣🇮🇪❤️💐
@Conservative Strawman another time stamp has entered the chat but some say my " Let It Go Brandon 2022" tattoo on my lower back was not a time stamp despite the year😜
It’s incredible how a lot of what he’s talking about from 80 years ago seems so similar to today like how indifferent people are to others suffering and how everyone has an urge of rebellion
The Plaque “La Peste” Is far and away the greatest synthesis of his philosophy artistry and worldview. The Myth of Sisyphus and other novels are, imo, just his other brilliant building blocks which came together to create that book. It was and always has been my favorite book of the 20th century other than Blood Meridian.
@Nostalgia The whole book is so painful until their end, where the pain peaks. SPOILERS The latter half of the book shows us the most painful our fear of the Absurd can be. It makes the acceptance of the Absurd in the end so profound and beautiful because it shows us that even someone in a situation as terrible as Mersault can find happiness in the Absurd.
Very happy to have found this! I found it very insightful and though this story recounts violence from history, it provided me w a sense of inclusion. It also reflects many of todays societal conflicts. Excellent speech by Viggo M. No one could have done it better. To sum.. it was good and sad and scary at times, but ultimately heartwarming in that it proves there is a commonplace in humanity
This is profound, it addresses the reality that man faces a old problem, the inability to rule himself without a clear focus of survival for the species.
I read it for French A level. I don't remember any deconstruction of the underlying message at the time. Am halfway through re-reading, for a third time, 50 years later -- when, at last, I'm getting the message.
@njux mh I would argue that it wasn't distorted, his vision was somewhat naive and shallow and mostly disconnected from reality, which is why if you try to implement it it turns to misery. The very idea of an achievable utopia makes people do horrible things.
Read it a couple of times - it's a great read ! “That sensation of a void within which never left us, that irrational longing to hark back to the past or else to speed up the march of time, and those keen shafts of memory that stung like fire.”
"Beauty is unbearable, drives us to despair, offering us for a minute the glimpse of an eternity that we should like to stretch out over the whole of time "
Camus is a huge influence for me and has been since I read the stranger when I was 18. used him a lot in my academic and creative work but more importantly I use him in my day to day life and struggles, a genius with heart. writing this before watching, so I'm looking forward to this.
Viggo's voice perfectly portrays the clarity & depth in the thoughts of Camus,a man without faith who hopelessly holds up hope in the midst of despair.
"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main... any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore, never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." John Donne
Thank you everyone involved. Viggo is a very inspiring human. I have always loved Lord of the rings,the books, he is a great actor and embodied strider/Aragon. These words seem more important now in 2022.
I think it would be good for every high school student to thoroughly learn the Pledge of Allegiance, the 'American Trinity", and what they stand for. 1. E Pluribus Unum, 2. In God We Trust, 3. Liberty
I really recommend watching the award-winning documentary from the Cizik School of Nursing in Houston, Texas, 'Caring Corrupted: The Killing Nurses of the Third Reich'. It should be required viewing for anyone studying nursing or medicine. Actually everyone needs to see it! There are so many parallels to what is happening now and where it is heading.
Listening to Camus speech makes me wonder if he was talking about the reality of post war Europe or seeing the future. Certainly his intention was to use his own experience as a warning which was, unfortunately, not heeded. Human history is a play in which only the actors and sets change with the narrative repeating endlessly.
Wonderful reading by Viggo Mortensen. His voice reminds me of my dearest friend Jo Lorentzen, who died before his time. Indeed the human crisis lecture is as relevant today as it was in 1946...as the human crisis continues to torment us.
In 1974 I was 8 years old and living in Paris with my family. My dad was an art professor and had received a sabbatical to study in Paris. Our landlords, the Tweedies; Michael from England and Odile from France, became friends with mom and dad. One day Odile asked dad if he could help a friend of hers move books. My dad said yes and helped. At the end of helping out he heard Odile say something to Madame Camus. Dad was speechless. He later asked Mrs. Tweedie about the woman. Odile said that she was Albert Camus' second wife. I happened to be with dad during this time and don't remember what happened. I was interested in the adventure of those days and of being 8 years old; not so much into Albert Camus. I have begun learning and reading about Albert Camus. I do not always know if I understand what I am reading correctly but feel that if dad thought he was something, then something he was. Thank you for bringing up a memory of childhood, art, philosophy and freedom of beliefs.
I feel so moved, almost speechless...by the power,, reasoning & truth that rings clear through Albert Camus' words. Atfully & plainly expressed....ideas that resonate profoundly in these times....a quest to bring our peoples together in responsiveness & response able - to remember who we are & what we are capable of in 2022.
Very wise, very insightful and (I saw with a sigh), very timely, 70 years on. given what's happening in the world, what still seems to be happening. Great to hear such philosophy that is rooted in human dignity and freedom -- not some abstract, ivory tower.
@Elaine Jacobs would he be so illogical to want people to be forced to take a vaccination that doesn't prevent transmission? People have mass delusion because the vax doesn't make you not contagious. Camus would have to be illogical.
@Elaine Jacobs oh... you think Camus was a n authoritarian? Was he against people owning their own bodies? What about free speech Would he want tech platforms to control our speech like the authoritarian left? What do you think Elaine?
Iv had the mesals, chicken pox and maybe german mesals. My mother should remember these things right? Also whooping cough as a child that I had for over a year before I was seen by a doctor. Probably did irreversible damage to my lungs. I just remember coughing and coughing the throwing up and sometimes I would go down. Hard to say if lost consciousness as was young. Mesals sucked but was 4, just a never ending fever, delirious and kinda like awake but not and afraid. Mind plays tricks on you when delirious. Chicked pox, oh man my ass, eye lids, belly, back was so itchy. Was more chalk white with calamine than skin for two weeks. I can attest that tapping even mits to childrens hands so can't scratch/ lasting scaring is not an old wives tale. Didn't happen to me as I didn't want even mits so dis what I could not to. Yip boils to. Woke up and showed mum, what's this, was every ware and over night. You feel well tho just so itchy, cant leave house or play outside etc for two weeks. So 10 years adult time lol I was born in the 80s in a developed nation listed easily top ten in and social/ socialist government sceem. Had my jab but caught messals/ mumps befor that and whooping cough has not had a vaccine to long. Rampant in my county like menangitious compared to any other seveloped world but only free vax to over 65 ( puverty breeds ignorance and at risk community's on may fronts) , sure as anything my kids have had theirs at 5. So wont get sick like me. Covid is the harry Mccleary of viruses. The sky falling the skys falling! True we did not know publically at outbreak. So we panicked then listened to the loudest (more connected) voice. Everyone reacts to armageddon speculation the same way. Run, hide, fight etc. Spanish flue was a pandemic. Covid and sars are related. My country has now terible ranks of health care, child abuse, systemic poverty: arguable related (not actually kidding but so bad it's funny). And?
@Jim Fuge so he saw real misery and he would still be afraid of a virus that doesn't raise the death rate because it only kills the near dead? I doubt it. People nowadays haven't seen anything. They cry over a sliver. Locking down over 0.01% death rate (CDC) really shows people of nowadays are snivelling cowards or at least fascists that feel the need to obey.
"The cats sleep for days at a time and make love from the first star until dawn. Their pleasures are fierce, and their sleep impenetrable. And they know that the body has a soul in which the soul has no part." "Cats are magical. . .the more you pet them the longer you both live. " - Albert Camus
@Jim Fuge - I've found another I love more lol. "His whole being radiates a pure, wild sweetness, flitting through night woods with little melodious cries, on some cryptic errand. There is also an aura of doom and sadness about this trusting little creature. He has been abandoned many times over the centuries, left to die in cold city alleys, in hot noon vacant lots, pottery shards, nettles, crumbled mud walls. Many times he has cried for help in vain.” - William S Burroughs, The Cat Inside
Depends on the cat just like depends on the person. Some cats are hunters others are skittish some like dogs some don't I've known many cats they vary.
"Just as we all consecrate and justify murder and terror when we have the temerity to think that everything is meaningless." That sentence grabbed hold of me and wouldn't let go
43:49 It’s such a wonderful thing to hear a young man of that era advocating for the right to love! It just warms my heart. I wish I could take a trip to that time to meet Albert (my grandfather’s name😉) at this point in his life. That would be awesome, I think. He’d prob get a kick out of hanging with a mature black American woman for an hour😁.
I feel so content now , words of Albert Camus presented by my favourite actor😌 Today was one of the rare times that TRvid recommanded at least 3 random videos which actually had anything to do with using your mind and appreciate the work of intellectual individuals.🤔👍
Yes, it came up, apparently randomly, for me, too. But I imagine algorithms at playing a part. If they go on recommending this quality of vid, I'm not going to complain!
Truly wonderful. A rare reminder of how the Internet can bring enlightenment in this celebrity obsessed age of reality tv, video games and super hero movies. Thank you.
@Sypressio I actually loved this conversation of you 2. It shows that it is really impossible to have a real understanding of one and other on the internet, the important mimic is missing. Many times I realise this, as an onlooker. Even though I have to agree that both of you have a point hahahahahaha. as a european I lived many years in a north african country. When I went living there end of the sixties, it was very poor, nothing of what I was used to, to buy. Except it's exellent fruits, vegetables, meat ect. It took some time do adapt. But I've learned lessons for life of appreciating simplicity, enjoying the see and nature of this country and last but not least it's lovely people. On the way I learned diffent languages as a bonus. There is not really an "unlivable" country. Because setting everything aside, a country is made up of people. It is you, your style of living and appreciating the benefits it gives you, to have the chance of living in a diffent culture. It is a privilege no matter where!
the greatest intellectual equalizing tool in human history, delivered to us without even knowing we needed it.... and today used by 99% of people solely as a means to scrapbook their lives and read other scrap books about other lives.' ive read that each year the internet gets about 1000x times bigger....you guessed it, 99% of which is personal photographs and videos
It is a pretty thoughtful and wise lecture honoring the 70th year anniversary of Albert Camus`lecture in New York City about " The Human Crisis" given by Viggo Mortensen, a brilliant movie star and intellectual, Greetings from the Brazilian humid rainforest in Manaus,
@Elaine Jacobs Philosophy in general is a way of organizing and espousing ideas. The greatest philosophers aren't just the ones with the most interesting ideas, they're the ones who know how to make those ideas understood by others. The difference between political and apolitical philosophies is that, while they both want to change the way you think, one seeks to advance modes of thought in service of some larger goal while the other pursues contemplation of its tenets as an end unto itself.
@The Zigzagman I like most of what you say. Except: I don't get how you think "apoliticial philosophy" should also be "an effective way of organizing and espousing ideas" -- which is, surely, political?
I think that's because political philosophy is inherently concerned with advancing an idea or justifying a value program. Relevance is only useful to political philosophy in its capacity to attract fresh minds to impress upon. Apolitical philosophy is more concerned with personal enlightenment and the advancement of humanity as a whole. It has a vital need to be relevant because the second it falls out of step with modern thinking, it ceases to be an effective way of organizing and espousing ideas.
@vervor I am just aware that politicians, journalists and lawyers are the bain of existance. I practice truthfulness-compassion-tolerance ...................falundafa
So many accomplished actors with marvelous voices. I wish they all would read to us. We all love a well told tale. I still remember Christopher Plummer reading “Jacob Two Two and the Hooded Fang” to the delight of me and my children. Darn near wore that record out. So much better than tv. And imbuing a love of ideas, language, and reading upon us all.
This Camus speech seems to be an early version of what would emerge as "The Rebel," published a few years later, in 1951. It's a stimulating response to not just Hegel but Sartre.
The speech reminded me of a scene in the movie Casablanca when Rick played by Bogart ask the Chek freedom fighter Lazlo, why is he fighting isn't it pointless? Lazlos response opens with you might just as well ask why we breathe, if we didn't breathe we would die. Of course he could have also said have you ever met her?
I read Camus' "The Stranger" in 1968 as part of an Arts subject complimenting my essentially Scientific studies. It was mind-opening, if unsettling. We just exist.
I'm grateful for this commemoration & re-delivery of Camus' speech at Columbia U in 1960. If Camus is back he never left: everything he wrote is pertinent, valuable & necessary. He railed against elevation of philosophy, history, theory and/or lies, over human life. If WW2 was a desperate struggle for life against ideology, today we see a struggle in Ukraine of life against lies. We Still Face Existential Threats Just as in the 1930s this conflict existed in the US too (Nazism was a real force in the US & thrived on racism), so too now the current struggle against lies exists in the US too (and throughout Europe). Donald Trump, whose campaign & presidency was characterized by & depended upon a never-ending stream of obscene lies, still expresses reverence for and fellowship with Vladimir Putin (& every other autocratic dictator wanna-be or despot he's encountered). Today we fight lies, wholesale rejection of the truth, from Kellyanne Conway's assertion of "alternative truths" to Trump's assertion of, well, anything & everything (has he ever deliberately stated anything truthfully?), to Putin's assertion that he's fighting Nazism in his attempt to invade & subjugate Ukraine. Almost half (half!) of the US population today shares some measure of the racism that animated Hitler's Nazis (& which was shaped by racist ideology Hitler found IN THE United States of the 1920s) and revels in obscene lies & conspiracy theories as blatantly as Vladimir Putin: racism & lies are what animates & supports Republicans across the country. And threatens the safety & security of the world. Do you think I've gone too far? Slandered Trump or the Republican Party? "The great misfortune of our time is precisely that politics pretends to provide us with a catechism, with a complete philosophy, and sometimes even with rules for loving. But the role of politics is to keep things in order, and not to regulate our inner problems." (Camus, from the speech above). Be frightened; be outraged; be motivated! Vote for principled leadership in the next election, wherever you live! This Translation Rocks If you seek this in print it HAS been published in a translation by Nicholas Hoare, as Speaking Out: Lectures & Speeches 1937 - 1958. Vintage Books: Toronto, 2022. Hoare's translation is serviceable. The translation above delivered by Mortensen was made by Alice Kaplan. Her's is beyond acceptable; it's brilliant. French - especially that of French intellectuals - can be a little opaque (though not nearly so as that of German philosophers). The challenge of translation is to make it understandable, to convey concepts with clarity such that they can be understood easily by English speakers. Turns of phrase and idioms matter, they shape the way we think, but they differ between languages and aren't always directly mirrored or shared between languages. "Doesn't translate" or "Lost in translation", is a real thing. Kaplan's translation is inspired; it says what Hoare's does yet comes across as if Camus' speech was conceived in English, with none of the somewhat jarring opacity that intrudes in Hoare's translation. (Not slinging stones: translation is a difficult art. I'm just surprised in comparing the differences between these two translations: subtle yet significance).
I found my splendid naivety at the age of 18. Anything was possible everything was available. After a series of shocks in 2021 I have restarted reading Camus to rebuild my self. A body of work worthy of everyone's attention.✌🏽❤️
I often think of Camus when I am stuck on a phone trying to sort out my bank account or electrical bill. If he could only see it now; the impersonal, beaurocratic and egocentric purgatory we have created. No wonder the kids want to burn it down.
Today's best understatement...What da name a da band? Rage Against the Machine. (Profound resistance is the quality of resilience expressed through the proactive courage of love. Dare to care.)
Years ago I read Camus “The Stranger.” I just read a synopsis because all I could remember was an oddly flamboyant character. I realize that I must have written off the lesson of the novel because I already innately knew that hope & kindness & love come from within a person. Indifference was Mersault’s true nature. So, listening to this You Tube on Camus …… ought to be interesting. Perhaps I’ll have to read Camus’ other novels.
Listening to this today...what can be more poignant than the legacy of The Plague. Had more people read it early in the Covid crisis and taken the message to heart in terms of both a pandemic and a persiflage of the Vichy government, humanity might be richer today.
Viggo arrives on stage around 11:50 and 16:22 is the beginning of the reading. However, the introductions and historical background as well as personal lead ups add so much context. This was read in 2016. Today, in 2022, we continue to be “deep in it.”
I have so much respect for you, Viggo Mortensen. It just increased a hundred fold with this reading of Camus work, with all the authenticity of someone who does not feel the need to be perfect. #RESPECT
@Justin Doward Thank you, Justin. I was just planning my reply, but you've covered it! I don't understand why people who have clearly not listened to/understood the message reply -- unless they're bots.
@Eva Cromwell Assuming the telephone was sentient, could speak 6 languages, was familiar with the philosophy and capable of understanding and intonation, inspired people and many other nuances too numerous to mention then you are correct and Viggo is nothing more than a delivery device similar to a Turkey baster.
Thank you so very much for this! Thank you for reminding us the importance of engaging Universities and Art with Society and the challenges that imposes to us.
I have liked the writings of Albert Camus and Jean Paul Sartre. The Plaque and No Exist are my favorite. Yet, both have numerous publications worth reading and understanding. Their writings reflect a different time in history.
Whom Can We Trust If No One Is Trustworthy? One of my favorite quips from Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is when Tom is defined as “a glittering hero…the pet of the old, the envy of the young,” and there were “some that believed that he would be President, yet, if he escaped hanging.” With these few words, Twain captured the essence of leadership in our world. Those who get to the top are the fiercest, most determined, and most ruthless. Today, the latter quality has become so intense that we can no longer believe our leaders, and certainly not trust them to have our best interest in mind. I am not accusing any leader in particular, or even leaders as a whole. It is simply that in an egoistic world, where people vie to topple one another on their way to the top, the one at the top is clearly the one who trampled over and knocked down more people than anyone else. Concisely, to get to the top in an egoistic world you have to be the biggest egoist. So how do we know whom to trust? We don’t know and we cannot know. All we know is that we are in the dark. In a culture of unhinged selfishness, any conspiracy theory seems reasonable, while truth is nowhere to be found. When every person who says or writes something is trying to promote some hidden agenda, you have no way of knowing who is right, what really happened, or if anything happened at all. The only way to get some clarity in the news and goodwill from our leaders is to say “Enough!” to our current system and build something entirely independent. The guiding principle of such a system should be “information only,” no commentary. Commentary means that information has already been skewed. Information means saying only what happened, as much as possible, not why, and not who is to blame and who we should praise. Concurrently, we must begin a comprehensive process of self-teaching. We have to know not only what is happening, but why we skew and distort everything. In other words, we have to know about human nature and how it inherently presents matters according to its own subjective view, which caters to one’s own interest. To “clear” ourselves from that deformity, we must learn how to rise above our personal interest and develop an equally favorable attitude toward others. This is our only guarantee that our interpretation of things will be even and correct. Once we achieve such an attitude, we will discover that the bad things we see in our world reflect our own, internal wickedness. Our ill-will toward others creates a world where ill-will governs, and so the world is filled with wickedness and cruelty. Therefore, all we need in order to create positive leadership-and to generally eliminate ill-will from the world-is to generate goodwill within us. When we nurture goodwill toward others, we will fill the world with goodwill. As a result, the world will fill with kindness and compassion. By changing ourselves, we will create a world that is opposite from the world we have created through our desires to govern, patronize, and often destroy other people.
Very good. Very courageous of the man to come and tell the truth in the US. I don't think people should be punished because of the thoughts or psychologically guided (terrorized) or that I am a murder for my thoughts, however his point is well taken especially in the scope of his tortuous experience. Moral ambiguity by way of "might is right" dogma led to all that, it would seem, they didn't care how they got to the perfect civilization. If we make the obtaining of money by any means in the US, a way to separate humans from humanity, again, I wonder how far it will go? How can we avoid repeating it if we are not allowed seek the truth of the matter by our own free will? How will we remember without courageous leaders? I appreciate what I learned here. I will dwell, hope, and pray on the truth of these things. Thx.
I've always thought we are losing our human connection and warmth to the perils of bureaucracy. With so many layers of paperwork and decisions and hierarchy in place, leaders lack humanity in the shots that are called. And we all feel lost and powerless, endlessly "on hold" with our basic ability to live out our life, let alone experience passion. With so many people's hope lost, you don't feel as though you can gather enough people who care enough about anything, to accomplish anything. Or any kind of change. But a few will always keep trying.
Thanks to the 1 million who watched the show and the people who put-together arousing amazing human response, The problem with crises is often repeating patterns. People are not weary of returning to the same battlefields and doing the same roles. The massive mass hypnosis state is the reason. We carry the herd mentality and are not able to break despite severe pain. If pain is not a teacher nothing else will!
It's amazing how so much has changed and yet so little has changed in so many ways. And the storms of life is where a man is truly made I guess we choose our sides we choose our roads as Robert Frost would say. Thank you for this reading. 🌈😇
"Plus ca, plus ca la meme chose" the French expression, "the more things change, the more they remain the same". Thank you for reminding me of this famous quote. Merci Beaucoup ❤️🗽🗼🇨🇵
After reading the remarks below, I can add that I too have heard tell of nothing but good things about Viggo. A talented actor who isn't a bonehead...he is a rarity.
The common person is an abhorrent person. Be glad he's not common. Most people are absolutely disgusting. They'll ignore a dying animal and not even think about their negligence. Don't sugar coat the nature of the majority!
I'm watching "Captain Fantastic", and this post has shown up in my TRvid story, quite a few times as is, in the past few days. I just didn't give it any thought, but I did sit on a plane across the aisle from Viggo Mortensen, years ago with my family. He was by himself, seated to my right on the same airplane. Maybe a flight within Spain, I don't exactly remember. We exchanged a few words, of no importance, and I don't know why we even did so, and that's all. A mutually polite nod and farewell, before we all were getting off of the plane. I think I'm supposed to just let know that. I have always had a very high opinion of him. He's extremely extraordinary. Obviously. What I call Matrix life messaging me, with the difference being that I have crossed paths in this life, with this man. "Aragorn" in "Lord Of The Rings". Aragon, Spain. Extremely multitalented multilingual person. He's perfect for this reading of Camus. Otherwise, I'm going to point out, that it's not "making murder meaningless", it's making murder meaningful, that provokes murder and mass murders in the world. Genocides. The deception of any type of purposely provoked depopulation, as justified humanitarianism.
With the bombings in Ukraine playing out right now, this speech once again proves itself of ever-increasing value. Thank you, Viggo, and thank you Columbia Maison Française.
The Rebel. That is Camus most mature and important work. Followed by the Myth Of Sisyphus, which is more popular, but his thought wasn't as developed yet. As a MA grad in philosophy I just wanted to leave this here for future watchers.
@Okami Sensei 🙄 I can't deal with this. Yes... for the love of God, I know that it's *supposed* to be absurdist. It's not. It's just lazy and stupid, unless it was done ironically. Albert was a gem. However, even the best of us can miss the mark sometimes. Sisyphus enjoying his task to spite the gods isn't absurd, it's idiotic. Absurd would be Sisyphus being a closeted masochist.
@Jamurai Sack You're looking at things the wrong way. The character of Sisyphus that Camus wrote is an ideal absurd hero. An example of someone that has totally implemented his revolt of the Absurd in his existence. This Sisyphus has so much passion for life that he enjoys the Absurd, the struggle. And this way, he wins against the Gods that punish him. He's just made the myth into an allegory to explain absurdist ideas.
@Freedom Fries look, I don't know what the CCP version of, "get gud noob." is but, you might wanna step up your game before they tank your social credit score, euthanize your granny, or whatever they do to ineffective trolls there.
@Freedom Fries It's pathetic to spout this kind of gibberish on a sock puppet account. You're engaging in discourse without proper respect for your fellow man and it's offensive.
Excellent - you have clarified several life problems I have been thinking about. And for that I thank you. We all thank you for pushing that boulder up hill in producing this excellent video.
Inspiring to hear Camus words and thoughts. Mr. Mortensen thank you for reading them but I do wish you had prepared more vigorously for this important occasion.
The good always die young! Probably out of a broken heart in the brutal 20th century with such human conditions! For a great thinker with such lofty words, we can rest assure every word uttered had gone through a hellish soul struggle!
😢😥😭 .. to be strong quashes the gentle energy that Albert speaks of, that you Viggo, hearten to- it is such a fine line … to loose one’s self.. to loose the heart.. Fight, but keep love in our hearts. Listen!!! To so many values !! Such a fine line (when a mother’s Son, is decimated, when that Son’s heart was so gentle & true). It comes down to the individual.. ? If we know our children, our mothers, our fathers, our neighbours.. we must speak up in our individuality, our communities & defend what is good or leans more to the good than evil. It is on each & every one of us. I Thankyou Viggo fir your obvious well meaning in being involved in this reading & for your own body of work in screen & opening my mind. I always felt a bond with you, (cute :)). Stay safe, keep on, I hope you may read this, keep going. THANKYOU! ☘️
In the fellowship of the ring there is a scene that jn my mind feels so poignant in revealing that a good person, a strong and compassionate person has great evil in them also, the difference is the recognition of it. Aragorn lets frodo go after boromir tdies to retrieve the ring to himself. Boromir had a distinction in his mind, us good them bad whereas aragorn, mayne for being an outsider and from an older tradition recognizes the potential for evil and corruption in him and has the clarity to forgo his pride and lets a "child" take a burden. The voice and eyes of viggo when he says to frodo and repeats go as the uruk hai approachs always intrigued me. Why was he more scared of going with frodo than to face certain death against the enemys, never understood exactly but intrigued me and stayed with me, actually i always felt strongly about that little moment. And funny enough listrning to him reading camus he resolves my puzzled thoughts. Every man has evil and good in him. And the most truthfull thing is to value life and humanity, put the mother above our most inner convictions even a so called justice
