The Myth of Sisyphus

[AlfredJPruffock]

The gods had condemned Sisyphus to ceaselessly rolling a rock to the top of a mountain, whence the stone would fall back of its own weight.

They had thought with some reason that there is no more dreadful punishment than futile and hopeless labor.

Having just finished the Albert Camus essay on Sisyphus contains a sympathetic analysis of contemporary nihilism and touches on the nature of the absurd.

Camus uses the Greek legend of Sisyphus, who is condemned by the gods to roll a boulder up a hill for eternity, as a metaphor for the individual's persistent struggle against the essential absurdity of life.

According to Camus, the first step an individual must take is to accept the fact of this absurdity.

If, as for Sisyphus, suicide is not a possible response, the only alternative is to rebel by rejoicing in the act of rolling the boulder up the hill; Camus further argues that with the joyful acceptance of the struggle against defeat the individual gains definition and identity.


At any rate the bottom line for Camus, was that he claimed in the face of absurdity the only Philosophical question worth debating was whether or not to commit suicide.

What does the panel think ?

[andy]

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[Mordac]

What does the panel think ?

About what?

[threaded]

Odd you should mention Sisyphus as I was reading something or other not particularly worthy of comment whilst watching Le Mans this weekend and the writer used the word Sisyphean. Wondered for a few moments which is correct: 'sisyphean' or the capitalisation 'Sisyphean', and had just about forgotten the episode when reminded of it just now. How strange.

[white-anglo-reactionary]

there is only one question worthy of moral discourse..

And that's "what in it for me?"

[AlfredJPruffock]

Well Threaded someone the other day mentioned that he thought you and I were the same person.

Absurd ...or Synchronicity ...you decide.

Be that as it may, it only remains to say

I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together ...




PS And heres another clue for you all , the Walrus was Paul

[AlfredJPruffock]

And that's "what in it for me?"

Interesting thought, perhaps Ecclesiates was correct in stating that All is Vanity.

Even suicide might be viewed as an act of vanity.


He thought he saw a Rattlesnake
That questioned him in Greek:
He looked again, and found it was
The Middle of Next Week.
‘The one thing I regret,’ he said,
‘Is that it cannot speak!’

He thought he saw a Banker’s Clerk
Descending from the bus:
He looked again, and found it was
A Hippopotamus.
‘If this should stay to dine,’ he said,
‘There won’t be much for us!’

[TwoWolves]

In a vain attempt at classical humour the main development host at my current site is called "Sisyphus".

[AlfredJPruffock]

In a vain attempt at classical humour the main development host at my current site is called "Sisyphus".

Aye 2W

Small world eh ?

Anyway before I pop off for my Monday Tea and Polo session just thought Id take a quick look at my mail ...

He thought he saw an Elephant,
That practised on a fife:
He looked again, and found it was
A letter from his wife.
‘At length I realise,’ he said,
The bitterness of Life!’

[threaded]

Well Threaded someone the other day mentioned that he thought you and I were the same person.

We are, are we not? When a man is once really dead, divers of the parts of his body will, according to the course of nature, resolve themselves into multitudes of steams that wander to and fro in the air; and the remaining parts, that are either liquid or soft, undergo so great a corruption and change, that it is not possible so many scattered parts should be again brought together, and reunited after the same manner, wherein the existed in a human body whilst it was yet alive. And much more impossible it is to effect this reunion, if the body have been, as it often happens, devoured by wild beasts or fishes; since in this case, though the scattered parts of the cadaver might be recovered as particles of matter, yet already having passed into the substance of other animals, they are quite transmuted, as being informed by the new form of the beast or fish that devoured them and of which they now make a substantial part.