Gravity and Sisyphus

Sisyphus was punished by being forced to roll an immense boulder up a hill only for it to roll down every time it neared the top, repeating this action for eternity.

Most of us look at this like a curse and a punishment. I have started to believe otherwise. What if, instead of rolling up the hill, Sisyphus had to let the stone roll down the hill, to find it again at the top of the mountain.

Our actions can be divided into these two mutually exclusive categories. Acts of pushing against gravity do not happen by themselves, viz. writing, meditating, workout, kindness, etc. On the other hand, acts of rolling down the hill would happen but stopping them is difficult, akin to stopping the boulder rolling down. Gossip, Web surfing, social media, series binging, food binging, etc.

A pursuit of happiness is akin to the work of Sisyphus. As Camus said, one must consider Sisyphus happy. I think Sisyphus is the only one who is happy. In other words, we pursue happiness when we work against the gravity rather than with it.