Sisyphus owns an absolute knowledge of himself. There is security, certainty, and predictability. There is no surprise awaiting him, no fear of the unknown, no anxiety of what the future might bring. He knows perfectly well what tomorrow brings.

Secondly, SisyphusвЂ™s task is repetitive and predictable. This surely brought some peace of mind to his restless thinking. This mind that during life did nothing but try to outsmart others was given a responsibility that is immune to thought. The simplicity of the task he was given must have brought him some peace of mind. In his afterlife he was given a task that cannot be overcome by trickery, craft, or forethought. He was also a king and, according to Homer, the craftiest of men. After all, he managed to trick death twice, made a fool of Zeus, and even outsmarted his own wife. But can we imagine, even in these terrible conditions, at least three reasons for him to be happy?ДЇirst of all, during his life Sisyphus was an outstandingly smart and skilful person. At least this is how his punishment is usually interpreted and why Camus views this myth as a reflection of a miserable and absurd life. Sisyphus has no choice but to try to do it again, knowing that his efforts can only bring him more suffering. Whenever he comes close to the summit, the boulder falls back to the bottom.

This permanent lack of achievement and perpetual failure is what Sisyphus experiences when he heaves a boulder of enormous weight near to the top of a mountain. We can almost see the despair on his face coming from the unfulfilled desire to bring the work to a close. We can almost feel the pain that results from knowing that all his hard work is for nothing.

The famous punishment he received can be considered an ideal of hell вЂ“ an endless effort put into a task that can never be completed. But I believe there are more reasons why we can imagine Sisyphus happy, and not only momentarily, even if the circumstances of his afterlife are usually painted as a grim picture of endless suffering. CamusвЂ™ main message is that we must imagine Sisyphus happy to be able to accept the absurdity of our own lives. I assume you are referring to Albert CamusвЂ™ interpretation of the Sisyphus myth, and I highly encourage you to dig into the core text because it is brilliant. This is from Ordinary Beast by Nicole Sealey, published by Ecco, 2017.Thank you, Gaurav Sharma, for this great question. We were-were we gods rolling stars acrossД«elieving a thing as sacred as the sun risesДeer sniff lifeless fawns before leaving, Itself, so the moonlight does not convince It let me sit at the bottom of the well where most of my howls were born, where I wailed until light came. Listen: that reservoir upon which happiness flows-it is the same place which let me embrace the monster clawing at her face. Do you think this was always here somehow, this place, for us? What stories we have in our pockets, what aches we carry. IвЂ™ve been thinking of all the roads we took to get here. That which allows for the tiny tickle under my lungs until a laughter is bursting forth, an explosion of joy. That which gives us cherry blossoms, and the stars. What is the force that makes the world move, I asked a friend. I was unable to do any of these, and felt that there was something fundamentally wrong with me. IвЂ™ve been told to shrug it off leave it up to God it will pass why canвЂ™t you just let it go think happy thoughts think happy thoughts think happy thoughts. The more I try to climb back up the more I unearth and dig my own grave.

I remember when I was in one the deepest pits IвЂ™ve ever been.