Topic > The Absurdity of Life in the Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus

The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus is a philosophical essay written in 1942 that addresses the question of whether life is worth living. From the author's perspective, people share a similar path to that of the Greek hero Sisyphus, moving a boulder up a mountain only to then roll down and repeat the process endlessly. Camus' essay represents a metaphor for life without meaning, through his interpretations of past constructs. With the premise that all living things, including humans, are organisms evolved from the smallest bacteria, a collection of atoms without a purpose in life or even a set of directions. Camus relates the human constructs of choice, religion and purpose to emphasize the incompatibility of human existence in the universe but ultimately, unlike other philosophers, Camus believes that people should accept it to live better and to embrace the situation without hope to get the most. out of life. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Albert Camus was a French writer, journalist and philosopher, whose mother was illiterate and whose father died of wounds during the Great War. As a defender of human rights and recipient of the Nobel Prize, Camus' words carried a lot of weight and undoubtedly contributed to the philosophy of absurdity and existentialism. Therefore, to examine Camus' ideas and opinions, one should take a look at his past work. In his previous work, The Stranger, it was shown that people may not express or feel emotions when another person dies. In this case, the protagonist Meursault feels no emotion for the death of his friend nor for the man he shoots and kills in an altercation. Meursault feels neither sadness nor remorse. Only when he is sentenced to death does he speak out, stating before his death that he would not take the opportunity to turn to God, which Rubin believes indicates that life is truly meaningless when death is banal. Furthermore, the absence of a god or superior figure connects to his work with The Myth of Sisyphus where without god there could be no choice or purpose in life. Rubin finds an interesting distinction between the two where it is not pointless futility to be despaired of, but a uselessness that must be recognized and celebrated. Like Sisyphus, Meursault has achieved a strange peace with himself and his situation, silencing faith and hope and finding happiness in the absurd and recognizing the meaninglessness of life. In Camus' writings on the Myth of Sisyphus, the main idea can be interpreted towards life being absurd. People are born into a world where they have no choice in the matter, “limited by conceptions of society, resources… and the environment.” When considering the scope of the world and the universe, Whistler explains how humans are at the “edge of nowhere,” meaning they have no real choices to make and therefore no purpose. Camus presents the myth of Sisyphus as a metaphor that explains how life is meaningless and absurd through his interpretations of purpose. The repetition of what Sisyphus does could be seen to symbolize humanity's plight, representing what people do every day of their lives with no alternatives. Forced by the environment and surroundings that offer no choice to live differently. Camus establishes that human lives are purposeless, believing that the rest of humanity understands as well, but takes a leap of faith to believe that human existence has a justified purpose. However, Elif describes Camus as someone who “doesn't want to take that leap,” as purpose emerges fromchoices, and since there is no one who chooses to give life to people (no god), humans would therefore lack purpose. you have to look at the state in which you are lost. Lost for God and lost for life, given Camus' writing on Sisyphos he seems to support the rejection of what one is bound to. Sisyphus, like the rest of humanity, is condemned to perform thoughtless tasks, symbolizing the absurdity in which humans live and, as Camus believes, the lack of purpose. Because nothing anyone does is attributed to the progression in “what progression means purpose.” and things invented by humans like money, possessions, and love are simply constructs for progression, meaning that in the grand scheme of things, they have no meaning to the universe. With the boulder also representing the fact that humanity has been cursed with a curse - as Whistler claims, humanity's impulses and false constructs and the things one needs to satisfy them. Also, it's important to remember that Sisyphus is about not moving the boulder endlessly. Sisyphus is rolled the boulder up a mountain, only to then roll down due to its weight, but in this moment Camus states that "during that return, that pause, Sisyphus should care." In Elif's words, the most important thing is not the act of pushing the boulder itself, but rather the short intervals before and after each climb up the mountain. Camus attributes the real cause of Sisyphus' suffering not so much to physical exertion as to the knowledge or awareness that the futile task assigned to him is all he has to look forward to or expect for eternity or for the rest of his life. life. For Camus, the suffering of humanity would not be the pain suffered which would be unbearable, but rather the conscious awareness that pain and suffering would be all people would ever know, never leading to anything more fruitful. Camus compares this consciousness to the human condition, as each arc completed in life represents each time Sisyphus reaches the top with the boulder, which is inherently meaningless to the universe. Every test and exam passed only to move on to the next one, from a broader perspective ranging from completing elementary school to high school to college, the perspective widens as does the daily toil only to end in death and nothingness . What then, in order not to leave any impact on the universe, is it necessary to continue living further when one could end it much faster? To Camus, Elif states that suicide is one of the few real problems of existential philosophy. One of the main issues presented by Camus is that in a meaningless and absurd world, the purpose of living in suffering seems to be incompatible for many. The point we are trying to make is that there is no solution to the problem of living an absurd and meaningless existence. Camus' thesis is that the only solution to deal with it is to live in the absurd, thus confirming the incompatibility of human existence, or life in general. Suicide does not lead to the solution of eliminating absurdity, which is why Camus says that “we must imagine Sisyphus happy”. According to Whistler, all solutions to absurdity have been attempted or tried before, which Camus classifies as "honest" and "dishonest" ways, such as using religion for the purpose of erasing or distracting oneself from one's life. The honest way recognized by Camus is to live with and be aware of the absurd. In any case, to avoid what Camus calls "philosophical suicide", or even the errors of absurdity, we must imagine Sisyphus happy. In this way one is able to achieve meaning in oneself and in absurdity. In this, Camus recognizes the absurdity and.