You watch a TV program and it’s nauseous to see the bias in every which way. You open a newspaper and you feel sick about the political agenda behind it. Social media with its puerile messages, jokes and pathetic debates … a dumbing down that is now mainstream thinking.
Political posters before a national election with arguments that don’t make sense and oversimplification to the dumbest level. ??
Terry Pratchett’s Commander Vimes may feel that it is the summoning darkness, but that is a separate reality. ?For Vimes, the summoning darkness is a place that he knows well, going all the way back to Koom Valley. It is a different place from the nausea being experienced in society now.?
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What’s happening in society leaves you nauseous. Murders, house robberies. Theft. Filth everywhere. Poverty in the main centres of town … seeping into the suburbs.
There is a solution which I’ll come to.
If we look at that famous novel “Nausea”by jean-Paul Sartre, we are basically confronted with the inner world and the outer world.
??? In “Nausea,” Jean-Paul Sartre explores the dichotomy between the inner world of a person’s thoughts, feelings, and perceptions, and the outer world of tangible reality. Through the protagonist, Antoine Roquentin, Sartre delves into the existential struggle of reconciling these two realms. Roquentin grapples with the absurdity of existence as he confronts the stark contrast between his subjective experience of reality and the seemingly indifferent external world. Sartre uses Roquentin’s introspective narrative to examine the tension between the inner self and the external world, highlighting the complexities of human consciousness and the search for meaning in an inherently meaningless universe.
This may sound highfalutin, but it’s not. It describes the inner struggle to continue to operate and live in this debased society.
In the closing passages of “Nausea,” Jean-Paul Sartre offers a glimpse of hope through the protagonist, Antoine Roquentin. Despite Roquentin’s existential anguish and disillusionment throughout the novel, he experiences a moment of epiphany where he realizes the possibility of embracing freedom and authenticity in the face of life’s absurdity. This realization suggests that while the world may lack inherent meaning, individuals have the agency to create their own meaning and forge their own paths. Sartre’s portrayal of this moment of hope implies that even in the midst of existential despair, there is the potential for individuals to find purpose and meaning through their actions and choices.
One of the ways of finding purpose and meaning ?is through being creative and art in particular, whatever form that art takes. ?
In “Nausea,” Jean-Paul Sartre suggests that art, whether in its consumption or creation, offers a potential refuge from the existential anguish experienced by the protagonist, Antoine Roquentin, and by extension, from the absurdity of existence. Reference
Through various encounters with art and literature throughout the novel, Roquentin finds moments of solace and meaning.
These moments occur when he engages with art in a deeply personal and subjective manner, allowing him to momentarily transcend his existential despair.
Furthermore, Sartre implies that the act of creating art, with its inherent freedom and creativity, can serve as a means for individuals to assert their existence and create meaning in a seemingly meaningless world.
Thus, while the novel portrays a world devoid of inherent purpose, it suggests that art, with its capacity to evoke emotion and provoke introspection, can offer a temporary reprieve from the existential nausea that pervades Roquentin’s existence.
