Albert Camus' The Myth of Sisyphus, not syphilis (as I mistakenly call it in casual conversation), makes us see ourselves in Sisyphus. This might seem like a depressing thought if the Myth is understood in its traditional sense but Camus states that Sisyphus' struggle is one of prolonged and ultimate happiness.
Sisyphus was condemned by the gods to push a rock up a hill in the underworld. Each time he got to the top of the hill, the rock would roll back down again and Sisyphus would have to walk to the hill to start the process over again. Camus argues that it is in the time he walks down the hill that he experiences "that pause", it is when he chooses to push the rock up the hill over and over again that he creates meaning in his life. Camus says that his consciousness in his decision to push up the rock up the hill is where he is "stronger than his rock." This act seems absurd but Camus says that happiness is found in the absurdity of it all. He says that Camus knowledge of his eternal destiny to roll the rock up the hill and his simultaneous decision to find the beauty in the act makes it a non-destiny. Sisyphus' "fate belongs to him" therefore, in the end, "all is well" and we must "imagine Sisyphus happy."
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