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The Myth of Sisyphus

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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

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