This continues to be an unresolved matter of rigorous discussion and debate. Is it then that one decides to end their life? Does death truly seem like the only salvation? Sometimes there is no strength left to carry the boulder anymore. But for those living with severe mental illness and trauma, it becomes harder to push that boulder to the top and every time it crashes back down. Some are heavier, some lighter some we have inflicted upon ourselves, some have been inflicted upon us by others. Every forty seconds, someone chooses to stop carrying their boulder, in whatever form that may be. Every forty seconds, a person takes their own life. Today millions people in the world share the same feeling of despair that Sisyphus must have carried. Of the many parallels one can draw between his story and medicine, mental health comes closest. Every day he would push that heavy boulder to the top, only to watch it slip away in an instant. Sisyphus had to carry out his punishment forever. He must come to terms with the pointlessness of his existence if he is to exist at all.
#Sisyphus happy free
1 It is only then that he will be free free of misery, free of hopelessness, free of the desire to escape. But “there is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn” is the conclusion he draws, leaving us thinking that Sisyphus, who just like any human being possesses a conscience, can acknowledge the futility of his punishment and accept his fate. In the final chapter of his essay, Camus argues that Sisyphus is indeed hopeless. In 1942, Albert Camus attempted to challenge humanity’s perspective of the myth of Sisyphus and of the way we look at the absurdity of life. This gives rise to the inevitable questions: how is Sisyphus to escape the true horror of this eternal damnation? Surely, no human could ever suffer such a meaningless punishment without losing one’s mind? So how is Sisyphus to find salvation? Had Sisyphus not already been dead, would taking his life release him? Would his punishment give him reason enough to put an end to the misery, putting an end to it all? Thus, Sisyphus was condemned to an eternity of trying and failing, without ever achieving gratification, chained to a life of incessant misery.
To ensure his punishment Zeus enchanted the rock so it would roll away from his grasp just as he was about to reach the top. Only after his arrival to the Underworld did the gods catch up with him and condemn him to endlessly roll a giant boulder up a steep hill. As a man of wit and intelligence, he would consistently succeed in tricking the gods, murdering guests, stealing secrets, even cheating death himself – often through hubris, the ultimate crime. Sisyphus was a popular and prominent figure of Ancient Greece, the successful king of the city of Corinth. No story, however, had a greater impact on this young, impressionable medical student than the story of Sisyphus. “…One must imagine Sisyphus happy” March 8, 2018Īncient Greek mythology teems with stories of morality, despair, and the philosophy of the absurd.
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