In his work Myth of Sisyphus, Albert Camus writes about the meaning of life and basically the question why we do not commit suicide. The first sentance says it all: “There is only one really serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide.”
Camus takes the myth of Sisyphus as a metaphor for life. Sisyphus was a smart man who managed to trick the god of the underworld to let him go back for a brief errend. Once Sisyphus gets home he refuses to return to Hades – eventually he is forced back. As a punishment he is forced to role a huge stone up a hill only to have it role down again and Sisyphus must start again from the begining.
This is usally seen as the pointless and depressing work. However Camus finishes his book with the words:
“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 strugg le itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.”
Right now I am spending long days in front of the computer attempting to reach the big deadline (see counter to the right) and hand in my Phd thesis. Its tiring and not very uplifting. At times very pointless. At this stage I am prepared to disagree with Camus. Sisyphus is not happy. He has no time for hapiness and no chance of free time to look forward to.