Camus wrote these words during the Nazi occupation of France, addressing a former German friend who had become his enemy. Both men had arrived at the same realization: the universe offers no ready-made meaning. But from that identical starting point, they walked in opposite directions. The German friend concluded that without meaning, anything goes, that power and cunning are all that matter. Camus concluded that without meaning handed to us, we must create it ourselves through justice, solidarity, and love.

This is one of the most important lessons the absurd can teach us. The recognition that life has no built-in purpose is not an answer. It is a question. And how you answer it defines everything.

Two people can face the same difficult truth about a relationship, a career, or the state of the world. One may sink into cynicism. The other may find renewed determination to build something worthwhile precisely because nothing is guaranteed.

The absurd does not tell you what to do next. That part is up to you. And the conclusions you draw from life’s silence reveal far more about your character than the silence itself ever could.