I was very intrigued by the story of Sysiphus. Banach keeps saying "Think of Sysiphus as happy." And I didn't really get it at first. I mean how could someone subjected to rolling a rock up the hill for life be happy? It just doesn't make sense. But then when I see it as a reference to human life it suddenly made so much more sense. Many pessimists might think that the troubles we go through in life are pitiful and not worth doing because in the end death will take all that we've achieved back. We slave all day and night for ourselves only to face an inevitable loss. But it's fine. This is life and for me, I rather go through it enjoying everything it has to offer, challenges and all, instead of sitting by a corner for the rest of my life waiting for the end. Like Banach says, it's not what you accomplished that matters, it's the process and the steps that you took that got you there, whether it's failure or success. It's the lessons you gain from these experiences that makes all your work worthwhile. You can push the rock as high as it goes only to watch it come back down and have to roll it back up again, but see it as a chance to meet new challenges and learn new lessons instead of a meaningless road of sweat and turmoil.
This post brought me new hope. I hate the thought of death sometimes. Knowing the world would go on without me, and facing the loss of not only my life but everything around me, people and possessions and all. The feeling of knowing that I would never have the chance to enjoy new experiences again just depresses the hell out of me. But it's this fear that drives me into wanting to make my life meaningful, to better myself as my own person, to fill it with lessons learned, and not with physical materials or accomplishments. It's made me dig deeper beneath my surface, beneath my stack of materials and artificial desires, and made me reevaluate the importance of my family and friends. Life isn't a competition. It's about being the best and most selfless person you can be. It's about bringing joy to the people you love and to let them know how much they really mean to you. I know it's like getting so corny right now. But once you really like really understand the feelings behind those sentences, the words become so much more meaningful and real.
I feel like our existence doesn't have to have a meaning and life just happened because it just did. There's no preconcieved purpose. I think we just happened to be given a life and what we make of it is up to us. It doesn't matter. We do what we do and we change the "course" of nature just like every other situation would. There is no preconcieved course that we have to follow, nor any other object that exists have to follow. Everything is cause and effect. The road is being built behind us, not something we walk on.
This post isn't even referencing Banach anymore. Sorry, got carried away. Plus, I'm so confused about part five that I don't even know where to begin with that.
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Thanks for your post Carrie.
ReplyDeleteYour post cleared the fog I had about Sysiphus. At first, I was in the same position as you were; what was the point of Sysiphus? But after reading your post, it the story of Sysiphus actually did make sense. As I read half way through your first paragraph, it started to remind me of Snyder's class. Half way through the first paragraph, it seemed as if Sysiphus was doing the same thing over and over again and yet he was still happy. It also seemed you were trying to say that rolling up rocks were better than sitting at the bottom of the hill and doing nothing. I was going to ask you whether yu thought sitting in front of your computer and doing the same thing over and over again waas a happy thing. But as I read on, it seems that there are more to just rolling up rocks over and over again; there is the challenges you meet when doing so.
But really, does sitting in front of your computer doing the same thing over and over again make someone happy? On one hand, I think it makes me happy when I am chatting with friends on AIM or writing a comment on your post. But on the other, it really does seem like a waste of time to stay on the computer.
I think it was worth it to tangent away from Banach. Your post was really optimistic, really inspiring. What I was thinking though, iis that we all have something to live for; what happens, when that thing is no longer there? Do we just give up on life like some people do? Or do we find something new to live for? If we find something to live for, how do we go about looking?
I really loved your post; as always, really inspiring.
I'm so grateful that you figured out Sysiphus because I had no idea what that was all about. I really like how you rambled and came across some very intriguing ideas. I'm totally with you on the whole death-is-depressing-to-think-about thing. I actually really like that you thought that maybe life doesn't have to have a meaning. So many people spend their whole lives questioning what the purpose of life is. Maybe it is just that simple; that there is, in fact, no meaning. But a statement like that also raises questions like if there is no meaning, then why do we do the things we do? Why NOT just sit in a corner doing nothing? I love the idea that "Everything is cause and effect. The road is being built behind us, not something we walk on". Even if you stopped referencing Banach, your intital ideas came from his lecture.
ReplyDeleteThis post was great!