![]() The life of people is like Sisyphus’s climbs and our every achieved goal resembles every Sisyphus’s step. What seems to be senseless to one man requires a deep meaning for another man.Īccording to Taylor each human life resembles the myth about Sisyphus. The difference is that the notion of meaning may be interpreted in different ways by every man. Every human deed may be explained and has certain goals and as a result, it has meaning. Every new generation differs from others but all people try to find the meaning of their valuable life.įactually, all human activities have the point but this point may be difficult to understand by other people at sight. The mankind has the history while the animals do not. ![]() The only difference is that we have consciousness about what we do and how we do and this consciousness claims to find the meaning in everything done by us. Factually, we have found the meaning for these actions and they seem to be meaningful for us. For example, the sunrise and sunset or regularly rains are repeated regularly and it may seem to be meaningless for the essence of action itself but we understand the importance of these actions. There are a lot of examples of endless repetitions surrounding us. The life that seems to be meaningless may acquire a meaning for a particular person. We may explain the essence of existence if we find the meaning of human actions. It helps to observe the myth about Sisyphus in another way. Any activity has meaning if there is a resultant culmination of it. Taylor provides the definition of meaninglessness in his work: “meaninglessness is essentially endless pointlessness” (p. Factually, the essence of toil is not changed from this point of view but Sisyphus’s attitude is presented in another way in this presupposition. Sisyphus may be presented as a happy man who likes to roll stones and he wants this work to be endless. In this case, the gods are presented by Taylor as merciful towards the fate of Sisyphus. In this case, if Sisyphus likes to do what he is doing his life is happy.įrom this point of view, it is not the punishment for Sisyphus to roll the stone as far as he wants to do it. He imagines that the gods making such punishment to Sisyphus may inspire him to do his work. Another presupposition provided by Taylor is the desire to work. As far as we do not observe such results of Sisyphus’s work the conclusion of meaningless seems to be justified. If they do not find them they make the conclusion that everything has been done in vain. People are accustomed to see the results of their work. He imagines if “all these stone instead of rolling back to their places as if they had never been moved, were assembled at the top of the hill and there incorporated, say, in a beautiful and enduring temple, then the aspect of meaningless would disappear” (Taylor, p. Taylor presents another picture of this myth. It is a well-known truth that “A cat in gloves catches no mice”. The results may be achieved only if people work hard. Taylor interprets the myth in another way.įactually, he points out that Sisyphus has the aim namely to roll the stone to the top of the hill but the gods make this toil pointless as a kind of punishment for him. It has been believed that it symbolizes the perpetual rising and setting of the sun, others understand it as man’s eternal struggle and unquenchable spirit (Taylor, p. His every day is a sort of struggle and this struggle is for nothing. Sisyphus does not have any sense of life doing the repetitive toil. This myth presents the meaningless existence of a human being. He rolls the stone to the top of the hill and the stone then immediately backs down and Sisyphus has to do one and the same work all his life. His punishment is senseless about his work. Sisyphus is known to be punished by the gods for his betrayal. Richard Taylor’s point of view is opposed to the ancient myth of Sisyphus that presupposes the meaninglessness of life.
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