The Myth of Sisyphus

There once was a king called Sisyphus.

Now, Sisyphus was a conniving king and always tried to pull a fast one on the gods of Ancient Greek mythology.

Well, one day, he had the clever little idea of capturing and imprisoning Death himself. As a result, people on Earth could no longer die.

So we’re suddenly left with immortal human beings which, as you can imagine, angered the gods greatly.

After the gods went ahead and freed Death, they decided to punish Sisyphus for his actions by condemning him with the futile task of endlessly having to push a large boulder up a hill, only for it to roll all the way back down once it reached the top.

An eternal punishment for our cunning king for daring to defy the gods.

Quite depressing, isn’t it?

But… there’s a catch.

In 1942, French philosopher Albert Camus wrote the philosophical essay titled The Myth of Sisyphus, which aims to explain his philosophy of the absurd.

He ends the essay with these final words — “One must imagine Sisyphus happy.”

And when you really think about it, he has a point.

Given his situation, Sisyphus is left with one of two options:

One: He can push the boulder up the hill for all of eternity, forever wallowing in his own misery of having to perform such an inherently meaningless task…

Or… he can pull one final trick on the gods and do the task happily. For there is no greater rebellion than accepting the reality of the situation and choosing to be happy in spite of the meaningless eternal punishment that has been inflicted on our absurdist hero.

This pendant is a reminder of the absurdity of life, and to always remember, through all of our struggles, that we must imagine Sisyphus happy.

Always. :)