Here is a interesting essay on Camus' "The Myth of Sisyphus"

[Swede]

"I leave Sisyphus at the foot of the mountain! One always finds one's burden again. But Sisyphus teaches the higher fidelity that negates the gods and raises rocks. He too concludes that all is well. This universe henceforth without a master seems to him neither sterile nor futile. Each atom of that stone, each mineral flake of that night-filled mountain, in itself forms a world. The struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy."

http://www.levity.com/corduroy/camusabs.htm

[midnight]

1. This sums of this election cycle:

Sisyphus is conscious of his plight , and therein lies the tragedy. For if, during the moments of descent, he nourished the hope that he would yet succeed, then his labour would lose its torment. But Sisyphus is clearly conscious of the extent of his own misery. It is this lucid recognition of his destiny that transforms his torment into his victory. How were you looking at this essay?

[Warpy]

2. Perhaps the punishment lies not in realizing an end

even mentally, but that there is no alternative to shoving that rock up the mountainside over and over again.

That's the part of the myth most of us can relate to, that need to do a task set out by somebody else and without direct reward to ourselves, over and over again without end, our performance always falling short of the end set out by the people who require the task.

That's the tragedy of Sisyphus, that pushing the growing stone up the mountain is all there is and that his struggle can never have a positive outcome and that he knows it.

[Jim__]

3. Sisyphus task is a great metaphor for our plight.

And Camus is a great inspiration to live life to its fullest.

[donkeyotay]

4. Thank you for this. I don't usually venture into this forum.

I happened to catch it on the latest posts. Very nice. Thank you.