Has everyone here heard the story of Sisyphus?

I was just told this story in the midst of a good conversation with a friend about existentialism. I'm not going to tell the story here, you can look that up yourselves. What I will do, however, is sum it up and connect it to the point that gained my interest enough to read it myself:

Sisyphus (sis-eh-fis) was man who was punished by Zeus to roll a boulder up a hill for all of eternity. Every time he made it to the top, the boulder would roll back down, and he would have to do it all over again. It was a repetitive, meaningless existence. No one could debate that.

But imagine if Sisyphus decided this action DID have meaning? Could you say he's wrong? It is his entire existence after all. In such a scenario, the mere assertion that what he is doing has meaning makes it so. There is no grand plan for him or that boulder, but he can make one himself and be content.

Apparently, this is a story used to support existentialism quite often (have never heard it before myself). The reason they interpreted this Greek myth is because his task is completely absurd and meaningless, which are the core issues addressed by this way of thinking. He's in a crummy situation, but questioning it won't help him.

It's a meaningless task, but only for as long as he believes it's meaningless.

Just wanted to share that, Spam.

 

Yup, first heard the myth last semester in Modern Fiction. Neat idea.

 

Completely relevant to nowadays.

It also reminds me of another story I read in Philosophy (fictional, of course... supposedly). There is this Utopian village filled with fully satisfied people who don't have any issues, problems whatsoever during their stay. However, in exchange for these some-hundred people being completely happy, only one person out of the entire village must suffer. He is fed very little food, he is not clothed properly, he cannot see the light of day, etc. But when this interviewer asked if he should go outside and not suck up to his situation, he merely stated something along the lines of "If this is my purpose, then I have no right to question that." The people of the village either don't realize about this one person or know very little of him. The interviewer tried to explain otherwise, but the people never believed him.

 

Yeah I remember this. We covered it at some point in Latin.

 

I can't believe that you only just now heard this story.

 

A Brief Summary of the Life of Sisyphus:

 

Yeah , that's why I used the word "everyone" because I knew many had heard it. What I wanted to share was the interpretation that people generally never hear.

I mean, Sysyphus was a murderer and a man of power so he probably didn't look at it beyond "sh*t sux," but at the same time how existentialists interpreted it wows me.