Essay Sample on Human Condition According to Camus' Myth of Sisyphus

Introduction

Camus presents an essay that illuminates a belief about the human condition and their existential living with reason and freedom. Humans accept and live in the world by accepting that they have meaningless life and therefore, the world has no meaning or purpose for them. Albert Camus is a philosopher and a proponent of the myth Sisyphus who is widely recognized in the work of an absurd hero which explains the existentialist movement of the human condition (Newark 197). The central belief is described by the absurd hero that is, the conflict experienced between what the hero want from the universe and what already exists in the universe. The human condition can be explained in terms of conflict between what has meaning or reasoning and the formless devoid chaos in the universe.

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The essay denotes that, even if humans will get a meaningful life by placing their hopes and leaping their faith towards God, they will at one point conclude that life has no meaning to them (Hayden 34). The possibility of the belief is concluded from the existential living in which humans struggle on earth to see their hard struggles through by developing hope that God will intervene, but they experience the same conditions without any prior assistance. They, therefore, find life meaningless in the fact that, they can think of committing suicide because life itself is devoid. The absurd according to Camus' is a contradiction created which cannot be changed and even if it is changed, it will still create a meaningless world where humans cannot be able to escape from the struggles.

Recent studies conducted by philosophers such as Kierkegaard, phenomenologists, to mention a few, arrives at the contraction between the absurd although they try to escape from the consequences (Newark 207). To them, they do not find meaning in existentialist living but on a different approach they try to look for meaning from the meaningless life as explained by Camus'. Their study lacks the absurd nature in the fact that, it looks at life in a different perspective indicating that, if life was meaningless, then people will have committed suicide in case of suffering putting their hope and faith in God (Hayden 40). Human condition according to Camus' is accepting that life is meaningless and then complying to live by the contradiction. When humans face the absurd, it does not directly indicate that there is a need for suicide but rather living the life to the fullest enjoying every opportunity in life.

There are three illustrations of an absurd life that is, revolt, freedom, and passion (Newark 201). Camus denotes that, in the first place, human life encompasses many struggles and therefore, starting with the revolt attribute, humans are not supposed to accept any reconciliation during their struggle. They should not take in any answer in regard to their struggle but rather they should work in order to avoid the struggle. Consequently, humans should have their own freedom in order to think for themselves and have their own space to enjoy their life. Humans should be free to carry out their activities on their own without any pressure or interference from the universe. They should behave as they want and also think for themselves in the free world because they live in the world which is devoid and meaningless.

The concept of passion according to Camus is a third characteristic that explains human condition and it explicitly showcases how humans should have an opportunity in life to pursue their skills and key points of interests according to their own experiences. Humans have different passions and therefore, different experiences which if given freedom and revolt they can change their lives to avoid the contradiction of struggles that culminates them to a meaningless live. However, the life of passion is also described differently in the fact that, it begins with the seducer. Like many humans, they like to pursue passions that are immediate meaning that they will always work with the passions of the moment. The absurd art explains human condition as a compilation of particular matter which aims at universal themes. The condition in which people live is ravished to achieving immediate results hence making the absurd aspect to look formless and meaningless.

Camus presents Sisyphus as a hero and goes further to explain how his absurd belief reflects the human condition (Grover 112). The story is about Sisyphus life and how the Camus myth is brought about to collocate how humans contradict their life purporting that it is meaningless and formless. Sisyphus is attempting to roll a rock up a mountain but the stone outlawed him and falls back because of its weight. The accusation from this event is centered towards the ignorance of the gods as the illustration goes that, the hope and faith built towards God are existential and meaningless. Sisyphus could even steal the secrets and vanish leaving an abduction to the people especially his father. He knew the condition of the people but because of the voice of reason as they call it, he has the revolt passion which does not allow for consolation and allowing room for any argument something which means more than a threat.

The stealing of the secrets and the abduction of the gods to human condition creates a much contradiction in the sense that, if there was the reason for the same, Sisyphus could not ignore the gods. Instead, he sees himself as the most powerful creature that by no means existed in the world and could move by the freedom to get what he could demand at any time (Grover, 119). Similarly, Sisyphus put chain death complying with other philosophers that there are solutions to the contradictions of the absurd. This means that death will not strike human generation according to his perception. The incidence such as throwing his buried wife body to the public squire indicate that passion has overthrown love, compassionate, and logic making human beings to be clearly rational and meaningless.

Further ideas explaining human condition emerge from the seduction of ideas and concrete experiences (Newark 201). When Sisyphus stole the secrets, he disregards the gods and goes underworld causing abstraction. However, the concrete experiences assist him in making rational judgments about the human condition. He put death into chains in order to overcome the enemy in the struggle. When he is given a chance by Pluto to return to the earth, he is seduced by personal experiences and makes an abstract solution of choosing water. The conclusions he made indicate that he did not belong to earth anymore, he belonged to another world and he had just resurrected from the underworld in the sense that, whatever he does have no logical reasoning. It makes him act in a contrary to the expectations of society and therefore, the people especially Camus.

Human beings are radically free although when applying to the concept of Sisyphus, it is not true to some extent. However, Camus explores how freedom affects humans in the sense that, they end up losing value in their lives and start doing things that are in existence. Sisyphus is free in the fact that being a prison, people should be locked in cells to avoid much ado to activities that do not comply with the moral constraints. Instead, he is condemned for the act of pushing a rock on Sisyphus Mountain which outweighs him risking his life. Among other actions like talking to gods, putting death to chains, doing what he wants to mention a few events put him to punishments. This mean, Sisyphus freedom is free and it is people's actions make them free surrender to the punishments.

From the existentialist perspective, the greatest and important way to be happy is to avoid the worries of the world and then focus on personal events (Verhoef 541). The struggles of life as Camus depicts can be neutralized by avoiding such actions, for example, if Sisyphus could have not pushed the rock up the Summit Mountain, they could have been no consequences. From the juxtaposition of the events, human beings can also be happy and maintain their free life by looking at the absurd hero from a positive perspective. To justify this, the world does not impose stress on people but the person who develop perceptions and behavior towards the struggles which can rather be controlled by the freedom of reasoning.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Sisyphus is an existentialist absurd hero who works on the principle that, he does not allow reason to dictate his life. He works with his passion, experiences, and freedom given to him to accomplish purported goals on the universe. He makes use of passion to make rational judgments on the actions by focusing on pleasure and putting things that shine around him at the forefront. To him, human condition which is seen through the conflicting forces that life is meaningless differentiates meaningful reasoning from meaningless and formless actions.

Works Cited

Grover, Kshitij. Living with Sisyphus. Diss. California Institute of Technology, 2017.

Hayden, Patrick. "Human Existence and the Tragic Beauty of the Absurd." Camus and the Challenge of Political Thought: Between Despair and Hope. Palgrave Pivot, London, 2016. 21-41.

Newark, Daniel. "Leadership and the Logic of Absurdity." Academy of Management Review 43.2 (2018): 198-216.

Verhoef, Anne H. "Sisyphus, happiness, and transcendence." South African Journal of Philosophy 33.4 (2014): 537-546.