The Myth of Sisyphus

Blanca Seynos The Myth of Sisyphus In the essay of “The Myth of Sisyphus” Albert Camus suggests that there is a possibility that there is no real meaning to life and that as humans, it is a pointless gesture to go looking for this religious or universal meaning. Camus uses Sisyphus as his prime example of this. Sisyphus, a punished human for “certain levity in regard to the gods” has to do a pointless task of pushing a rock up a hill repeatedly. This punishment itself reflects the ideas of the absurd.
Camus believes that death is at the end of every person’s life but people still go on looking for this purpose but it is pointless because the people all end up the same, dead, but the pursuit of the purpose can possibly hold meaning. Sisyphus along his endless task finds sadness and joy. According to Camus there’s no sun without shadow which is that there is no joy without pain. Camus proposes that Sisyphus is happy when he acknowledges his consequences, the pain of what his life has come down to and accepts his fate.
Individuals often try to comprehend and answer the question “What is our purpose in life? ” and fail to speak out because they are constantly puzzled about what their purpose is in life, and so is Sisyphus. Sisyphus is constantly trying to find hope or meaning in his task, but he cannot find a meaning for his existence. The fate of Sisyphus’ is settled for eternity and until Sisyphus pushes the rock forward and up the hill, his purpose for that is just to roll the rock.

Sisyphus small amount of hope keeps him content that he is able to have a solid purpose that he can see and feel the rock even though in the end of the task it is meaningless as the rock will drop back down the hill. I disagree with Camus’ view that there is no real meaning to life because, as a young Christian at an Evangelistic Church, to know God and enjoy him forever is the meaning of life. The reason this is the meaning of life is because God created us that way. God created a beautiful world and put humanity in it to live and prosper, but overall to have a relationship ith him. This was the purpose of our creation. We are most happy, fulfilled and complete when we are worshiping and being in a relationship with our Lord. By ignoring God and not having that relationship with him is a sin. Having that sin in your live is what makes your live less than what they could be. People live outside in the cold when God wants them to come into his house and live with him. It is then when we turn back to God and stop ignoring him what he will find true happiness and fulfillment.
Our role in this world is to seek out and encourage one another in love and walking in faith. This modern world is so focused on individualism that being part of and serving in a community loses its path leading people to feel alone. Our lives today are to live in a way that we serve God and the people he has put in our community. Camus believed that life was pointless because no matter what accomplishments you achieved you would die and that will be the end of them, but it’s not like that. God holds us responsible for our failure.
Jesus teaches about a time in the future when we will all have to come before God in judgment and face the consequences for the way we have lived. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you’ll be saved and that will be your purpose for living. Camus’ introduced the option that life is meaningless by interpreting the idea of absurdity and how giving meaning to life in ways such as religiously, is inevitably pointless because in the end death is terminal.
Camus’ suggests that happiness arises from absurdity when one learns and accepts death. Sisyphus is a happy man because he was able to come to terms with his punishment although it had to be eternal. Unlike, Camus’ idea being able to believe that the more you grow in your understanding of what God has done in your live, the more you will want others to know about it, and how God can change their lives for the better. As you relate to God, and live according to his direction, others will notice a difference in you. God has given us the great opportunity of sharing his love with others.