The myth of Sisyphus

During my meeting with Amin this afternoon, somehow the conversation wandered over to [[http://24.62.177.166:8080//sisyphus.htm|the myth of Sisyphus]] ([[wp>The_myth_of_sisyphus|more on Wikipedia]]). He actually recommended that I should read the essay (by philosopher [[wp>Albert_Camus|Albert Camus]], so I did.

The essay starts with Sisyphus, who was condemned by the Greek gods to roll a big rock up a hill, only to see it roll back down again, //ad infinitum.// This, the Gods had figured, was a fitting punishment — what could be worse than doing a aimless, fruitless task over and over again, knowing that nothing would ever come out of it. Much of the essay is abstract, and I didn’t follow all of it, but here’s my understanding.

The question that haunts us is what was going on in Sisyphus’s head as he went through the turmoils. Was he frustrated, depressed and dejected, disappointed at his terrible misfortune? Was he angry and enraged that life was putting him through such ordeals? Could he possibly have found a positive note to his mundane routine?

Camus’s point is that we should not try too hard to find meaning and rationale for our existence, for it leads us to the following paradox: we value our lives highly and believe that it has some purpose to it, some higher calling; yet we also know that we will eventually die and fade away (see [[wp>Absurdism|Absurdism]] for more) What is life worth then? Are all our efforts meaningless? Should we give up (ala suicide), or should be brainlessly go on doing what needs to be done?

Camus is against suicide, and says that the only way to deal with the absurdity of life is to continually engage it — to learn, to experience, to absorb. He does not, however, encourage living for life itself. He does not share the immense joy of life that ancient Indian’s had, for instance. Instead, he suggests that we maintain a distance with life, not get too deeply involved in its meddlesome affairs. In some sense this is empowering because if you can scorn upon life, distance yourself from it, then you have (or feel you have) more control over fate.

Some lines I really like from the essay:

//As for this myth, one sees merely the whole effort of a body straining to raise the huge stone, to roll it, and push it up a slope a hundred times over; one sees the face screwed up, the cheek tight against the stone, the shoulder bracing the clay-covered mass, the foot wedging it, the fresh start with arms outstretched, the wholly human security of two earth-clotted hands. At the very end of his long effort measured by skyless space and time without depth, the purpose is achieved.//

//It is during that return, that pause, that Sisyphus interests me. A face that toils so close to stones is already stone itself! I see that man going back down with a heavy yet measured step toward the torment of which he will never know the end. That hour like a breathing-space which returns as surely as his suffering, that is the hour of consciousness. At each of those moments when he leaves the heights and gradually sinks toward the lairs of the gods, he is superior to his fate. He is stronger than his rock.//

//It teaches that all is not, has not been, exhausted. It drives out of this world a god who had come into it with dissatisfaction and a preference for futile suffering. It makes of fate a human matter, which must be settled among men.//

And finally,

//One always finds one’s burden again. But Sisyphus teaches the higher fidelity that negates the gods and raises rocks. He too concludes that all is well. This universe henceforth without a master seems to him neither sterile nor futile.//

The premise of the essay didn’t really come as too much of a shock for me. I think its one of those things about “ancient wisdom of the civilizations” that Nehru talks about in Discovery of India. I mean, such dual/paradoxical notions that life itself might not have a deep meaning, yet we should take joy in living do not seem alien at all. Quite the opposite, I think a lot of people in India would not have trouble understanding and appreciating this line of thought. Infact, I’m quite at home with such a theory.

I don’t like believing in fate or chance, yet I cannot deny it plays an important role in shaping the course of our lives. I cannot control it, yet one must do what one can. In this sense, Sisyphus inspires me to keep going; to strive to be the master of my own personal universe.