Sisyphus and Absurdism

Sisyphus was a great Greek king who cheated death twice. The first time, he put the god of death, Thanatos, in his own chains and the second time, he guilted the Queen of Death, Persephone, into sending him back to the overworld. This angered the gods immensely, who decided that Sisyphus would be fated to simply roll a giant boulder up a hill. However, it was enchanted so that when he got it to the very top, it would roll back down to the bottom, from where he would have to push it back up again. Considering the nature of this maddening punishment, it seems almost paradoxical that the French philosopher Albert Camus would tell that “One must imagine Sisyphus happy”. How could this be?

To understand Camus’s reasoning in this statement, we must take a step back and look at where his philosophy, Absurdism, comes from. In the 1800s as people strayed away from religion, they had to look elsewhere for morals and meaning, many people started to turn to Nihilism. Nihilism is the belief that nothing matters and we are here for no reason. It asks us, since death is inevitable, why care? It is a philosophy that believes in meaninglessness, and is extremely pessimistic. Then, existentialism arrives. Existentialism agrees with Nihilism in that life has no meaning, but it tells us that maybe, that’s okay. We can accept that no god has placed us here, and there is no reason for existing, but that means that we have the freedom to make our own choices. The quote “Existence precedes essence” is a key idea for existentialists. No inherent meaning can be given to being human, but after you are human, you can give yourself any meaning. However, this freedom means that your life is your responsibility, and yours alone, leading many to “existential dread”, and in some respects a similar conclusion to Nihilism.

Now, we return to Albert Camus. He agreed with some of the ideas of existentialists, but disagreed with how to deal with the meaninglessness of life. Instead of creating your own meaning, Camus believed in the idea of the Absurd. The Absurd, he says, is the inherent conflict between the indifferent meaninglessness of the universe, and our inherent human desire for meaning. An example of this is the creation of the universe. Since humans could think, we asked ourselves how life began. Did a god put us here? Did it start at a time and place, or has the universe simply been? For all of these questions, why? Another, more human problem, why can't you have full control over your mind? Why has the universe made us conscious enough to understand our mind but not enough to completely control it? Our search for answers to these paradoxes reflect the nature of the absurd.

From this realization, Camus outlines three possible responses. First, refuse to live. Perhaps a Nihilistic response, Camus tells us that a possible option is suicide, which is giving in to the Absurdity, not a great idea. Secondly, take a leap of faith. Deny the meaninglessness of life and place it in the hands of some other idea like religion, which is in Camus’s eyes, unfounded in reason. Thirdly, Absurdism. See the Absurdity of life, understand it, yet live in spite of it, and live as much as possible. 

Albert Camus tells us that despite the contradiction of life, and despite meaninglessness, one should exist anyways, and exist passionately. Instead of placing hope in a future freedom, realize that we are already burdened with choice. Take that freedom and choose to live, choose to enjoy life because we are alive. Absurdism is not an answer to the question, “Why are we here?”, but rather a declaration that despite everything, “We are here”. Understand that you will probably never know what the inherent meaning of the universe is, yet live, exist, love, do whatever you want, and be whoever you want to be. “Should I kill myself or have a cup of coffee?” is a quote, likely misattributed to Camus, but one that reflects his philosophy anyways.

Now, once again, how could one “imagine Sisyphus happy”? Camus sees a reflection of modern life in the task of Sisyphus. He is burdened to repeat the same thing, much like many people today, repeatedly living the same experience each day. Despite this, Sisyphus does not give up, yet does not abandon himself to an irrational hope. He has no illusions about his situation. He knows that in his absurd situation he is fated to this task every day no matter what, yet he continues to roll the boulder, he continues to live. Despite his confined situation and eternal punishment, he is free to live and owns his fate. Sisyp

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