Not all books one comes across can be audacious enough to start with a line as bold and provocative as this - “There is but only one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide…” but then again, not all writers are Albert Camus. As provocative as the opening line is (in "The Myth of Sisyphus"), Camus’s logic behind bringing up suicide is based not on an emotional but rather a rational, calculative look at the purpose of existence itself. As per Camus and many other existentialist philosophers, for the most purposes, the very existence of life seems to be pointless (or, as Camus calls it, absurd). We are all meant to die eventually and even the very Universe with all its complexities and all its unimaginable vastness is destined to end (in one way or the other) at scales of time far beyond what our primitive minds can comprehend. But if that is so, and if science fails to provide much optimism in this regard, then the proposition Camus makes seems logical enough. Why not kill ourselves and end the grotesque suffering that is our lives? If there is no larger purpose to our lives, then what is the harm in simply getting over with it at once?
When I started reading this book a few years back, I admittedly was myself thinking a lot about these questions (and not for very academic reasons, of course). And while it took me several years to comprehend the meaning of the allegory to the legend of Sisyphus, I knew right then that I had to understand the depth of this argument.
The myth goes very simply - King Sisyphus twice deceived Hades (the Greek God of death) to escape the Underworld, and as a punishment, Sisyphus was condemned to repeat a seemingly menial task - pushing a boulder up a hill, over and over again for all eternity. Because every time Sisyphus would be just near the peak of the hill, the boulder would roll over back to the foot of the hill. And the cycle would continue, this “futile and hopeless labour” being the most dreadful punishment imaginable.
And it is in this regard that the old Greek myth transcends into something much more closer to a 21st century workplace. Like Sisyphus, the ‘workmen of today’ are often condemned to perform a similar seemingly pointless task (i.e. pointless from the individualistic viewpoint of the worker) by a higher power, over and over without any visible gain or output. And this allegory applies equally to the drudgery of a corporate 9-5 job (similar to what I started out with), as also to the sloth-paced, labyrinthine bureaucratic tasks of our Government sector (again, something I have had the fortune of witnessing first hand professionally). And by extension, to the very futility of all human life in general - an entirely absurd, purposeless, laboured existence.
But the biggest thorn for me in the entire narrative was the incorrigible subservience to the whims of an indifferent apathetic God being displayed by the entire myth. Even without considering my overtly atheistic tendencies, one has to agree that the picture of a defiant mythical figure toiling away for all eternity in drudgery under a flimsy punishment of an all-powerful God seems disconcerting at best and hellish at worst. And that hellish discomfort gets worse when we see the parallels with our society.
Today anyone with an internet connection and a half-ounce worth of conscience can take a peek out of their cave and see the shadows of this divine unfairness in every sphere. And in that, Sisyphus’s struggle seems to mimic those of all disadvantaged, marginalised groups trying to survive in a system designed to sustain unequal power structures. People playing and trying to survive a rigged game controlled by some unseen forces and failing each day and restarting the next morning. Absurdly real, and really absurd!
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I see this pessimism in everyone nowadays. In colleges and universities, I see young people (mostly Gen Z) rejecting any optimistic idea of “changing the system from within”, embracing instead a dire, nihilistic view of existence. These are smart kids who pose tough questions, but seem as lost as our old Greek friend, burdened with a task that makes little sense yet must be done immediately.
From the climate crisis, to issues of gender identity, socio-economic inequalities, majoritarianism, casteism, we have shoved multiple such boulders onto the shoulders of a generation that grew up too soon, spending their last three years within the confines of four walls and seeing a collapsing, chaotic world in front of them. Unlike baby boomers who came AFTER the chaos of the second World War, Gen Z folks matured while witnessing live feeds of the chaos of the global pandemic from their 11-inch screens with flicks of their thumb. I genuinely do not think they can be blamed for their pessimism.
As one kid told me during a college event a few months back, “don’t preach change to us when you yourself have no idea what that means. If a pandemic and millions of deaths could not change the system, nothing ever will”. Ouch, but fair point!
But, is there a solution, a way to beat this inherently unfair and rigged system? Best to look at the source material itself to try and find a way out, and in this regard, Camus is very clear. And his take is anything but pessimistic:
At the moment when Sisyphus sees the rock rolling down the hill, and sets down yet again for his tedious ordeal, Camus asks us to imagine Sisyphus being happy. That moment is his happiness, that is his purpose, that is what gives him a power higher than Gods. As Camus says, “..this universe henceforth without a master seems to him neither sterile nor futile.” and that obstinate acceptance of futility as our reality, is “the higher fidelity that negates the gods and raises rocks”. Accepting the absurdity and purposelessness of our existence in an indifferent Universe is the highest degree of freedom that can be possible, as per Camus. And thus, through the drudgery of all our futile human existences, what makes us free is the happy embracing of that same futility, not as a punishment but as the greatest freedom ever possible.
It makes sense to me now. The punishment by the Gods is not the monotony or the pointlessness of the task, but the feeling of hopelessness that we associate with it. Take away the feeling, and the punishment ceases to exist! If the Universe has no objective purpose greater than pointlessly lifting up a rock up a mountain, we are free to choose what our subjective purpose can look like. It could be to change the world, it could be to get 100 likes on a reel! Both are equally worthy and equally futile! It is addictive to think of that high degree of freedom in everything we do, and that freedom is already there waiting for us to see it.
But, "3 Idiots" and "Pitchers" did tell us all to follow our passion, reject the conventional path of boredom and take that much-hyped path Robert Frost took that one fateful morning. I often wonder what happened to the path Frost did not take that day in the woods? The one which is more travelled by, the one which has too little space for anyone to stand, the one whose texture has been flattened by all the footfall, the one which looks like Hauz Khas metro station at 6:30 in the evening? What happens to the faces who are part of the crowd, all who lose every night and wake up the next morning to pick up their rocks again, where do they stand in the cosmic hierarchical scale?
I look at them and see countless Sisyphus all around me, in college campuses and schoolyards, in metro compartments and traffic signals, in theatres and cafes, in rallies and movie sets. I see them painstakingly pushing their boulders of discrimination (on their colour, gender, caste, religion and class), up the mountain of societal ignorance. And with each climb, they change us for the better. The slow, methodical, time-consuming kind of change, the one that takes of a lot of heart and faith to savour.
I see today’s Sisyphus finding their burden each day, yet obstinately refusing to tow the line dictated by higher powers, demolishing and carving their own subjective purposes, flaunting their differences, laughing and smiling their way up the mountain, rolling their boulders of generational inequities. Each one of them equally futile and equally divine, truly free and unlimited in an absurd, indifferent and infinite cosmic playing field.
The Universe does not care, but so what! It sets us free in ways we can never imagine. Scared of starting that art project you have planned for so long thinking it will be difficult? Scared of picking up the phone and making that call you have been delaying? Scared of embracing your identity thinking what your father will say? Scared of confronting your deepest thoughts? Remember Sisyphus, and do it anyway, the Universe does not care! The only worthwhile thing that can come out of it, is you become happy, just like Sisyphus.
Revolt, Freedom and Passion - the three consequences Camus draws from the absurd, are for ALL of us, and we all “transform into into a rule of life what was an invitation to death” by our mere act of conscious being, and we “refuse suicide”! I cannot think of a more empowering way of looking at our existence.
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