"The world simply makes no sense."
It’s like standing in the wilderness waiting for rain all night, only to have dawn break and bring nothing but a dry wind, swirling sand against your face. You can’t explain the meaning of the wait, nor the origin of the wind—everything is filled with a aimless, inexplicable absurdity.
Under the weight of piled books, endless assignments, and constant expectations, we are enveloped by the pressure of life and study. In the exhaustion of late-night cramming, in the confusion about the future, and in the repetitive trivia of daily life, this sense of absurdity strikes unexpectedly.
The path we strive so hard for—we can't even explain why we started. The things labeled "must be finished" or "must be done well" suddenly lose their weight, leaving only a heart full of bewilderment. This is our truest experience of absurdity under pressure.
The "Report on the Development of National Mental Health in China (2023-2024)" reveals that the detection rate of depressive symptoms among teenagers aged 12-18 is 24.6%. This means 1 in 4 teenagers is troubled by depressive emotions.
The rate climbs sharply with academic stages: ~10% for primary students, ~30% for middle schoolers, and ~40% for high schoolers. These cold figures pierce the veil, exposing the bottomless collective absurdity belonging to our generation.
Individuals float within a scarlet gaze, surrounded by countless faces forming an invisible web of eyes. This is the ultimate metaphor for the modern predicament: the more we sink inward to hold onto ourselves, the more we are trapped by external expectations and evaluations.
The eyes in the frame are not for scrutiny, but for a childhood-like state of being observed and followed. The clock stops at a fixed time, implying that childhood time is circular, repetitive, and pre-arranged—seemingly moving forward, but actually spinning in place. The glaring "Welcome Back" acts as a curse, reminding us that we have never truly been understood, nor have we ever truly escaped that invisible net.
Breaking the shackles of "truth." Light and shadow are fluid; objectivity is but a subjective wish. "Certainty" is merely a human fiction.
Returning to instinct. Civilized order is but a shell for self-comfort; the essence of the world is chaos and disorder.
God is Dead. Traditional values collapse, and man must face a meaningless world alone, creating his own values. This freedom is the only weapon against absurdity.
Fragmented reality. Objects are dismantled and reorganized; attempting to define the world through a single perspective is itself an absurdity.
Acceleration. Rapid change makes established rules lose meaning; the world enters a state with no center and no absolutes.
Mismatch of ideal and reality. When grand narratives fail to match real life, all persistence becomes hollow and bewildered.
Total explosion. Duchamp used a urinal to declare: Everything held as "truth" can be deconstructed.
Camus & Sartre. The world is indifferent, and life has no inherent meaning. Existence precedes essence; freedom is our weapon.
Grand missions. When art is tasked with reconstructing society, individual expression appears both solemn and absurd within the iron order.
Limits of Reason. Breaking the rule of logic through dreams and the unconscious. We live in the gap between the rational and irrational.
Emotional response. The absurd essence of the world cannot be depicted concretely; it can only be felt and responded to through raw emotion.
Dilution of meaning. In the consumerist era, everything becomes a symbol, and the vivid daily life is actually filled with nothingness.
Dissolving the heavy. Don't obsess over deconstruction or resistance; use a relaxed "indifference" to let life itself become art.
This is the way of survival on the wasteland of nothingness: Do not ask for the world’s meaning. Use doubt as your axe, resistance as your fire, freedom as your path, and indifference as your shield. Fighting absurdity is not about returning to "completeness," but rebuilding the self within chaos. Even if the mind is cluttered and the self is torn, we remain with eyes wide open, continuing to watch.