When you lay in bed alone at 3AM, amidst the serenity of the night, have you ever contemplated upon the meaning of your life, the purpose of your existence? People all lead very diverse, individualized lives: some are successful, some are not; some are delightful, some are tragic. However, one thing in common for all human beings is their relentless search for the meaning of life. Now, if I tell you that there is a person who dedicated the entirety of the latter half of his life to rolling a giant boulder up a hill, only to reach the peak and wait for it to roll back down, would you say that there is a purpose in this person’s life?
 
This, is the story of Sisyphus, king of Corinth of ancient Greece, known for his cunning and trickery. The man who cheated death twice was condemned by Zeus to the task of pushing a giant boulder up a hill for eternity. The story supposedly demonstrating authorities of Greek Gods gradually became a symbol of tedious but futile endeavour. By common belief, most people would likely claim that there is no point in this man’s miserable life since he is not getting anywhere with his efforts. However, contrary to popular belief, French philosopher Albert Camus argued that there is a point in Sisyphus’s life filled with sweat and toil. In his philosophical essay “The Myth of Sisyphus”, Camus discussed the ideas of existential philosophy and the meaning of life through the stories of Sisyphus. People often attempt to find meaning and explanations for every entity in their perceived world. However, those attempts often fail miserably as human being’s logics and reasoning are rather limited. Things like the “existence of God” and the “meaning of life” are often the most explored subjects. Some people, when unable to find a purpose for life after many attempts, often derive the urge of escaping from that disparity, and one simple and common way to do so is suicide. This is what Camus would refer to as a “logical suicide” as it is an attempt to find logic and reasoning in the things we cannot perceive.
 
In the case of Sisyphus, a logical suicide would be to stand in the boulder’s way when it comes crashing down and escape the punishment forever. However, this is exactly what Camus advocates against. He believes that with people’s limited perception and reasoning, it is of certainty that one cannot understand many things through logic; Thus, the birth of Absurdism, a philosophical belief stating that existence is generally absurd and lacks meaning or higher purpose. Life is supposed to be something not fully intelligible by reason. For the inevitability of such phenomenon, Camus suggests that it is best to accept and embrace the current reality with passion and devotion. Fleeting into illusion or death is not truly the way out but merely a temporary delay of encounter. In his mind, Sisyphus is the perfect representation of this philosophy, the ideal “Absurd man”. Sisyphus is unable to find meaning in his repetitive punishment; the only moments he can escape from those tedious, trivial endeavours of life is when the boulder is rolling back down. That is the moment he truly has space for himself to contemplate upon the consequences of his own actions, to realize the cruel truth of reality but still embrace it with open arms.