“One must imagine Sisyphus happy”, she says. It stinks of quotation. Reeks of it. I love it. And immediately open a new tab, because I’m an absolute tab whore, and find myself in the arms of Algerian-French absurdism.
“I leave Sisyphus at the foot of the mountain. One always finds one’s burden again. But Sisyphus teaches the higher fidelity that negates the gods and raises rocks. He too concludes that all is well. This universe henceforth without a master seems to him neither sterile nor futile. Each atom of that stone, each mineral flake of that night-filled mountain, in itself, forms a world. The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy”, Camus writes in his L’Étranger.
In life, according to the myths, Sisyphus was an ambitious ruler. A clever ruler, who flipped off the gods and death itself, and nearly, nearly, got away with it. And they made his punishment an endless, futile labour. And in that punishment, Camus imagines him happy. Content.
It’s beautiful. A prelude to Douglas Adams’ optimistic nihilism. And I know the beauty of simplicity of futile labours. I’m trying to be a fucking writer. I know full well that the odds are my work will be as inconsequential as myself. But the work needs to go on, regardless of the promise of obscurity. And just like Camus hints, there can be value in the work itself. I realise it is difficult to imagine in such a capitalist society, where we’ve been taught that the only value labours have is the money you make out of them. But “fulfilment” is not the sound a bank account makes when it bursts at the seams.
And yet… because of course I can’t have a simple, uncomplicated idea in my head at any given time; the argument that Sisyphus must stand at the bottom of his mountain with a content smile on his smug face is disconcerting.
Why? Well, first and foremost, it is not Sisyphus that says he’s happy. It is wellness motivational speakers, armchair philosophers, French socialist absurdists, and pray – PRAY – that our corporate overlords never get wind of it! The point is, while the idea is beautiful, a declaration coming from anyone but Sisyphus himself is highly suspect, and invalidates the nihilistic empowerment that Camus imagines. Because it promotes pointless work for no reward for thankless taskmasters as spiritually elevated. “Find satisfaction in never ending tedium and you’ll never work a day in your life” sounds too much like a parody of a soul-sucking motivational poster for me to be okay with it.
One must not imagine Sisyphus happy. There is nothing inherently beautiful in the pointless. Labours are not a priori fulfilling. And absolutely no one has the right to tell you that your divine punishment is actually a reward.
They can be. But that is for you to decide, Sisyphus. Not armchair philosophers, not French writers, not corporate taskmasters, and not motivational poster salesmen. You and only you decide whether you should be happy or not.
Well? Are you?
/Sebastian Lindberg 26/7-2022
WastedWords 