About

What this is

Wayfarism is a philosophy assembled from existing traditions — Absurdism, Stoicism, Aristotelian virtue ethics, Pragmatism — and from the British literary tradition of endurance with humour. It does not claim to have invented any of its component parts. It claims to have arranged them in a way that is useful.

It also has neighbours worth naming: behavioural activation and Morita therapy, on action before feeling; Viktor Frankl, on meaning through work, love and the stance taken toward suffering; Thomas Nagel, on irony as the answer to absurdity; Sartre and de Beauvoir, on the self as something made; Matthew Crawford and Richard Sennett, on work that talks back.

What it claims as its own is the arrangement: a floor built for the days when the self has failed; the dog, or any demand that does not consult your mood; the English comic tradition taken seriously as philosophy; and passing things on as a pillar in its own right.

Where it came from

I spent years searching for a philosophy that helps with the meaninglessness of life. The ones I found were honest about the problem or useful on a bad morning, but rarely both. Wayfarism is what I assembled in the end — not in a study, but in fragments, over time, in response to actual difficulty.

An open philosophy

Wayfarism is not finished. The Wayfarer in Fiction section will grow. The Codex will be revised. If a character, a quote, a definition, or an argument belongs here and is missing, that is an oversight rather than a position. The road is still being walked.

For discussions, suggestions, or corrections, write to pavlovskipetko@gmail.com.

— Petko Pavlovski

What this is not

Wayfarism is a philosophy, not a treatment. If you are in danger, tell someone first: a doctor, a crisis line, a person who will come. The dog can wait ten minutes.