> In Greek mythology, whose punishment was to push a boulder to the top of a hill,only to have it roll back down to the bottom, repeating for eternity?And the answer: Sisyphus. Sisyphus, oil on canvas by Titian, 1548–49; in the Prado Museum, Madrid.As aruthless king in ancient Greece, Sisyphus was deceitful and scoffed at socialnorms, which infuriated Zeus. He was ultimately condemned to Hades, where hispunishment was to roll a boulder up a steep hill, only to have it roll back downto the bottom, and to repeat this for all eternity.The fate of Sisyphus inspired a new, 20th century conversation about humandestiny and existentialism. French philosopher Albert Camus published an essayin 1942 titled "Le Mythe de Sisyphe", or "The Myth of Sisyphus". In this essay,Camus uses the never-ending torment of Sisyphus's fate as an allegory to thehuman philosophy of the absurd, comparing humanity's fruitless search formeaning to Sisyphus's eternity of pointless action and reaction. Camus wagersthat without finding pleasure in the mundane, we are doing little more thangoing through the motions; our life slips away in the moments in between. But Camus raises his point not to undermine the human search for happiness,safety, or greater meaning. For Camus, to identify the absurd in one's own lifeis to take control of it, to recognize which moments lack the conscience ofpleasure and intention and to place greater importance upon them. Camus ends hisessay with the following passage:> I leave Sisyphus at the foot of the mountain. One always finds one's burdenagain. But Sisyphus teaches the higher fidelity that negates the gods and raisesrocks. He too concludes that all is well. This universe henceforth seems to himneither sterile or futile. Each atom of that stone, each mineral flake of thatnight filled mountain, in itself forms a world. The struggle itself towards theheights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy. Like Sisyphus, Camus reminds us that meaning is found not only in the bigmoments, those upon which you call with the conscience of a memory, but thelittle moments, those which fill the seconds, minutes, hours and days inbetween. Check out this video to learn more about the life and plights of the mythicalSisyphus:
