mountain, to see it calmly roll downhill and then walk down and repeat the operation. In this case, the difficulty of the assigned task is definitely inferior as compared to that which Sisyphus was condemned to previously; so what do we say about the horror of the task itself? At these conditions, which are less difficult, maybe the task seems less horrible? The horror of the task is not mainly hidden in the more or less demanding strain, but in its absolute and supreme uselessness. And not only since the task does not produce anything. Each one of us confronts himself daily with tasks that may be unsuccessful, making all our efforts to reach the goal vain: despite the engagement… no results!
In this failure there are melancholy, regrets, remorse and the collapse of one´s self-esteem. The true defeat …Hence the double horror of Sisyphus´ task. Whether it be simple or difficult, the point is not only the condition of a defeated Sisyphus, but in the peremptory impossibility of succeeding: there is nothing to give Sisyphus hope for success. His task has neither meaning nor objective. His work is futile and useless. His efforts, independently if they are great or minor, do not have any sense. Maybe we are tempted to think that Sisyphus is simply fulfilling his destiny. This destiny has been imposed upon him as a punishment by Zeus. Let us then suppose that Zeus in a moment of goodness (mercifulness) decides to be less violent and make Sisyphus feel an irresistible and irrational pleasure when moving stones of any type and dimension (a chemical substance, an elixir etc.). Let us suppose that
Sisyphus is happy to move the stone every time; his sole desire would then be to push stones uphill.
It is early in the morning and we
are going to work, mixing with
many other people that are going
somewhere. We notice a person
among the crowd: maybe he is going
to the office, where he will perform the
same activities as the day before and where
he will repeat them again tomorrow. Maybe he
likes the things he does and maybe not. From the outside, it seems to be a typical Sisyphonean day: he will perform his tasks and why? Probably he has a mortgage to pay. The mortgage represents a sort of modern punishment that substitutes that of Zeus.
Do we recognize ourselves in any of these situations and are we part of the “rolling stones” group like Sisyphus? Do some of our tasks resemble the punishment of Sisyphus? Do we receive tasks without sense or – even worse – do we assign them to our collaborators? Is it useful to be happy with a job that has no sense? What does Sisyphus transmit to us then? Absurdness!
Everything seems absurd and “Absurdness” is a characteristic that defines human existence. Often our lives are absurd.This absurdity circles around the conflict between two different perspectives that we have of ourselves. The conflict regards the meaning our actions have for us and that which they have (or seem to have, in good or bad faith) in the eyes of others. Practically speaking: on the one hand there is that which we think we are realizing, on the other that which we actually realize. For example, the task and the quality of the work we perform and the judgement that others make upon it or even an action as a whole and the interpretations (good or bad) that individuals make. Another example: if I decide to enter a market and select people to do so.
Conflict between presumption and reality. For the individual it is a matter of experiencing two stories at the same time: the first regards the way in which we present ourselves to others; the other regards the story that others can tell us. And as regards the group decisions, there is a difference between the group´s interest and the motivations of the individual.
The things that guide our lives, the things we desire, our plans, projects and objectives (that we call “motivations”) are the result of the action of forces that we cannot control. Work, our ideas, thoughts and actions - everything that we do is characterized by this duality: there is something that turns inside us and we exercise a certain control of it, whereas we in other situations are quite simply "one" among others; a character whose presence on the stage of life (or of the company) is determined by others.
(Albert Camus)
It is difficult to please
it is difficult to meet
it is difficult to lie
it is difficult to engage.
It is difficult to be wrong it is difficult to understand it is a long extenuating fatigue an infinite agony.
[…]
for now I rest
you think about it
let give this fatigue a sense or you will see me no more
"…Others do not encounter our body, but its image, and we do not encounter bodies, but their images. And we are slaves of this image.”
(Aldo Carotenuto)In Frankenstein we have a deep analysis of the conflict between interior
and exterior life. Imagine yourself in the place of the monster: you are born and immediately you start to drown due to the fact that you
are enclosed in a metal cage filled with placenta.
When you finally manage to get out of this
death chamber, in a weak and confused
state, some women try to kill you with
an axe. Then you are hit and
suspended, hanged on a rock, left
there to die. It is not an easy
birth/life/existence.
You manage to flee, escaping along
the road, but the people you meet try
to kill you. At the end you reach the
countryside, where you try to help a
farming family (including the blind
grandfather and an insolent child),
but also here your intentions are
interpreted in the wrong way and you
are forced to escape again. Being a
sensitive monster, you are upset. Being
an intelligent monster, you try to give
everything sense. You cannot write
and therefore not read, but you learn
quickly.
