Intoxication, absurdity, delusion, neurosis, despair, and the existentialists

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One may be overtired or intoxicated and still know from where their delusion comes. But a man who is covertly drugged or, in most cases, awakes to absurdity, knows nothing about the origin of his delusion. He is deluded about delusion. Thus a covertly drugged man will respond unpredictably, showing fear, confusion, violence, masochism, neurosis, and so on. Evidently a man deluded about his delusion is more like a rabid dog than a wild beast.

An existentialist will in one sentence shun the monotony of factory work, and then condemn the unpredictability and unknowability of existence. Why have existentialists divorced optimism from absurdity, making absurdity an odious adjective, as these are not incompatible outlooks. Absurdity does not demand despair, we give it despair, and we can also give it childhood euphoria (ie. positive existentialism).

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These selected fragments are excerpted from unpublished writings by Jack Haas; selections from the notebooks 1990-2005.