Soul Food, part 3
This is the third, and final part of a three part post on my views of the soul and immortality. I suggest that if you haven't read the previous two posts that you start there before attempting this one. I know it's long, and I will be surprised if many read all three of these through to their completion, but again, I write these more for my own
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According to Greek mythology, Sisyphus did some horrible thing, and the gods wanted to give him the most painful punishment that could come up with. And what they came up with was: for the rest of eternity, Sisyphus had to roll a huge boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll back down to the bottom again, at which point he would have to roll it back up again, and so on. The idea was: the Greeks thought one of the most painful punishments around was completely useless / futile labor.
Camus then came around with a new spin on it. He said pointed out that while we are engaged in an activity, while we are caught up in it, when we are living in the present, were are not depressed: in fact, that is when people are usually happiest. It is only afterwards, when we look back on what we did and analyse it and think, "Oh, that was useless".... only then, we feel depressed.
So Camus decided that Sisyphus was happy... except for that brief moment each time he reaches the top of the hill and watches the boulder roll down again. Then, he would reflect, and be sad. But 99% of the time, while his muscles are straining and his face is pressed against the rock... then, he is happy.
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