Originally published via Armageddon Prose Substack:
In the TL;DR version of the myth, Sisyphus (Σίσυφος), wayward king of a Greek city-state, antagonized the Gods something fierce by not acting right.
Basically, he killed some people he wasn’t supposed to kill and got his dick wet where he shouldn’t have, etc. The details don’t matter; his transgressions aren’t the point of the story.
What is the point of the story is that, as punishment, they cursed him to an eternity of repeating the same task, over and over, only to have his work, each time he completed it, rendered moot.
Via GreekMythology.com:
“Zeus, fed up with Sisyphus’ tricks and cunning as well as his hubris – believing he was more cunning than Zeus – punished him to eternally push a boulder uphill. However, as soon as he would reach the top of the hill, the boulder, like a rolling stone, would roll off and Sisyphus had to push it back again. This daunting task, symbolizing the endless rolling of stones, represents the futile yet persistent endeavors that define the human spirit. This myth later inspired French philosopher Albert Camus, who saw Sisyphus’ unyielding labor as a metaphor for the human struggle against the absurdity of life, a cornerstone concept in existentialist philosophy.”
Via Britannica:
“Influenced by the philosophers Søren Kierkegaard, Arthur Schopenhauer, and Friedrich Nietzsche, Camus argues that life is essentially meaningless, although humans continue to try to impose order on existence and to look for answers to unanswerable questions. Camus uses the Greek legend of Sisyphus, who is condemned by the gods for eternity to repeatedly roll a boulder up a hill only to have it roll down again once he got it to the top, as a metaphor for the individual’s persistent struggle against the essential absurdity of life. According to Camus, the first step an individual must take is to accept the fact of this absurdity. If, as for Sisyphus, suicide is not a possible response, the only alternative is to rebel by rejoicing in the act of rolling the boulder up the hill. Camus further argues that with the joyful acceptance of the struggle against defeat, the individual gains definition and identity.”
Related: Already Broken
The Stoics offered similar admonitions about letting go of that which is subject to the forces of nature beyond — and perhaps rightfully so — human control, instead finding meaning, and freedom, and identity, in influencing that which is within man’s sphere of influence, and damn the rest.
The transhumanist technocrats, of course, have rejected such wisdom, instead hoping to fashion themselves into perverse demigods, bitterly clinging to the hope of eternal life out of fear of what might become of their own twisted, mortal souls should they ever face the eternal unknown.
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Let we on what might be called, and has been by Alex Jones and Elon Musk, “Team Humanity” serve as the force of nature here on Earth to corral them back into the natural order.
Ben Bartee, author of Broken English Teacher: Notes From Exile, is an independent Bangkok-based American journalist with opposable thumbs.
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