The Sisyphus Myth is a classic tale of unimaginable cruelty, patience, and great courage. It is a powerful symbol of the indomitable spirit of humanity. In the modern context, history is a stark mirror of every freedom-loving man (and woman) who has fallen from grace and suffered the humiliations of power, reputation, and freedom lost in defiant silence. That is why Sisyphus is forever etched in our minds.
I am one of those skeptics or revisionists who believe that the myth should be revised to give it a more pragmatic slant. And a better ending.
In the myth, Sisyphus is condemned by the mighty Zeus to an “eternal” fight against the rock, on a desolate hill, because he indiscreetly revealed a series of secrets about Zeus. Throughout Greek mythology, provoking the wrath of Zeus leads to many kinds of cruel punishments. Sisyphus also displayed the arrogance of arrogance towards Zeus, believing that he could outsmart the great one.
For his transgressions, Sisyphus was sentenced to the hills of Tartarus in the underworld, where he was forced to push a large rock (to which he was chained) up to the highest hill. It was a daunting work, punished because upon reaching the top of the hill, the stone would slide down, as if it had a will of its own, and the poor condemned man would have to go down and repeat the task. An endless battle from top to bottom.
The cruelty and absurdity of Sisyphus’ plight should not be discounted, however, because it contains an important life lesson: Sisyphus is condemned by the gods to eternal work, and yet he remains undaunted and resolute.
Albert Camus ‘famous essay “The Myth of Sisyphus” underscores the importance of Sisyphus’ struggle. For Camus, the character of the man is evident during each and every descent, when the brief respite from the agonizing task gives him a taste of freedom and the desire to move on.
He knows that everything is absurd and that the journey will never end; however, keep going. And so Sisyphus, by his tireless spirit, becomes stronger than rock.
In hindsight, we can now take some liberties with the myth and add that perhaps Sisyphus was smarter than the gods gave him credit for. As an intelligent man and an alert observer of his surroundings, Sisyphus must have noticed that each descent brought hope, as the rock diminished in size as it skimmed the surface of the steep hill.
The discovery must have encouraged him. After all, it wouldn’t be permanent slavery. There will come a time when the great rock will shrink so much that it will be immobile and allow Sisyphus to remove the chains that surround it.
That day of liberation is the ultimate triumph of the human spirit.
The myth of Sisyphus and similar myths that so delighted us resonates in our contemporary lives due to our admiration for brave souls who dared to defy powerful forces and faced their destinies and adversities fearlessly.
Therefore, Sisyphus lives in many of us in the modern world, where the mythical rock can be a natural disaster, a tyrannical boss, a troubled marriage, a financial crisis, poor health or a boring job that we have to endure.
Like him, we must move on and overcome the adversity that seeks to defeat us.