What do you think? If you were in SisyphusвЂ™s place, could you be happy? Let us know in the comments. I can see Sisyphus smiling when he yet again stands at the bottom of the mountain. I think we can find a moral in this myth that teaches us that peace can be found in knowing your work. We do not have to imagine Sisyphus as a man that absolutely hates his job.

SisyphusвЂ™s task is endless, but so is ZeusвЂ™s, and so are those of all other infinite beings that reside in heaven. But in the afterlife, everything is endless. Our finitude forces us to bring things to closure. In the state of infinity, does Sisyphus fail in his job? How is his never-ending task different to any other never-ending afterlives? Again, defining success through completion is something that us mortals tend to do. Infinity from its definition suggests that absolutely nothing can ever be brought to closure. Thirdly, the afterlife is endless, and therefore there is no pressure to achieve.

The endless hard work is the foundation of his self-knowledge. This is something that many mortals would often prefer: infinite certainty may be better than the fear brought by our own finitude. Sisyphus owns an absolute knowledge of himself. There is security, certainty, and predictability. There is no surprise awaiting him, no fear of the unknown, no anxiety of what the future might bring. He knows perfectly well what tomorrow brings. Secondly, SisyphusвЂ™s task is repetitive and predictable. This surely brought some peace of mind to his restless thinking. This mind that during life did nothing but try to outsmart others was given a responsibility that is immune to thought. The simplicity of the task he was given must have brought him some peace of mind.

In his afterlife he was given a task that cannot be overcome by trickery, craft, or forethought. He was also a king and, according to Homer, the craftiest of men. After all, he managed to trick death twice, made a fool of Zeus, and even outsmarted his own wife. But can we imagine, even in these terrible conditions, at least three reasons for him to be happy?ДЇirst of all, during his life Sisyphus was an outstandingly smart and skilful person. At least this is how his punishment is usually interpreted and why Camus views this myth as a reflection of a miserable and absurd life. Sisyphus has no choice but to try to do it again, knowing that his efforts can only bring him more suffering. Whenever he comes close to the summit, the boulder falls back to the bottom. This permanent lack of achievement and perpetual failure is what Sisyphus experiences when he heaves a boulder of enormous weight near to the top of a mountain. We can almost see the despair on his face coming from the unfulfilled desire to bring the work to a close. We can almost feel the pain that results from knowing that all his hard work is for nothing. The famous punishment he received can be considered an ideal of hell вЂ“ an endless effort put into a task that can never be completed. But I believe there are more reasons why we can imagine Sisyphus happy, and not only momentarily, even if the circumstances of his afterlife are usually painted as a grim picture of endless suffering. CamusвЂ™ main message is that we must imagine Sisyphus happy to be able to accept the absurdity of our own lives. I assume you are referring to Albert CamusвЂ™ interpretation of the Sisyphus myth, and I highly encourage you to dig into the core text because it is brilliant. Thank you, Gaurav Sharma, for this great question.

Sisyphus boulder