The Futility In The Life Of Sisyphus

Each of us has probably been through the best and worst things life could have. Some may have dealt with their life in a smooth-sailing way, shaking hands with problems just like friends who come and go; always wearing that big smile throughout the day and feeling like their everyday lives have always got what’s in store for them. On the other hand, some may have bonded and experienced the peak of distress, confusion and resentment that led them to realize the pointlessness of living and sometimes came to the invitation of terminating oneself. It is during these instances that the ideas of human existence flash into our minds. Do we still believe in the significance of our lives amidst the everyday’s torments? Are we still able to find the
There are times that we cannot find something significant in the things that we do just like what Camus said that “the workman of today works everyday in his life at the same tasks and his fate is no less absurd” We cannot find any value over the monotonous and cyclic tasks we are used to. The worst of it is that when we become aware of the futility and we make such decisions to confront it either by ending our lives or accepting everything that’s happening. The author commended Sisyphus for this instance that he is conscious of the futility of his task but he keeps on pushing “I see that man going back down with a heavy yet measured step toward the torment of which he will never know the end…” Instead of committing suicide to end the pointlessness of that laborious push, he still goes down with the rock, thus, accepting the absurdity. This is what the author also points out -- that eluding such through suicide will not be helpful. If during your existence you cannot do something about it, how much more when you’re dead? It is but more helpful if we recognize our absurd condition and react against it – that’s the victory that the author stresses “The lucidity that was to constitute his torture at the same time crowns his victory”. We will be victorious in a way that even at the tragic moments of the futility, we still tend to fight and turn
He highlighted that whenever man experiences the absurd, he should accept his condition and create his own meaning of existence. Man should keep on struggling and searching for the value of his life for that would define his existence. Albert Camus’ general point of view, as an absurdist and an existentialist, is that life has no absolute meaning. We came into this world where everything happens as it should be and we have the personal responsibility for seeking meaning and finding ourselves in the construction of our fate. The person defines himself through the choices he makes in his life and that lead him to his absolute meaning in this