Sisyphus and Letting Go

Punishment in Hades

Everyone ends up in Hades eventually. For most who go there, the Greek Underworld is a gray and timeless place where nothing much happens. The dead have existence of a sort, though they feel little and appear to care about even less. It doesn’t sound joyful, but I suppose it’s not miserable.

Some places in the Underworld, however, are. They have been set aside for those who especially irritate the Olympian gods. Take Ixion, king of the Lapith people. He has spent this part of eternity tied to a burning wheel. It seems fitting, in a way, for he killed his father-in-law by pushing him onto a pile of burning coals. But although murder is enough to damn you to a Christian hell, the murder isn’t what upset Zeus. What upset him was that Ixion foolishly tried to have sex with Hera, the god’s wife.

King Tantalus, also found his way to the hellish fields of Hades. One of Zeus’s children by a mortal woman, Tantalus was welcomed to dine with the gods. While there, he learned their secrets, which he passed onto his friends. He also tried to steal the nectar that made the gods immortal and bring it back to Earth. Then he invited the gods to a meal at his home, sacrificing his own son and serving his cooked body as the main course just to see if the gods would notice. They noticed, and they were furious. Now the foolish man stands in a pool of water from which he can never drink, reaching out to a tree laden with fruit that he can never touch. Having offended the gods with a gruesome meal, he was made miserable by food.

Sisyphus Tricks Death

Sisyphus, too, offended the Olympians. Though known to Homer as wise and cunning, he was not nice. As king of Ephyra, he thought he should show his power by murdering guests at his home and travelers to his kingdom. That violated the code of hospitality.

Because he hated his brother, Salmoneus, Sisyphus sought advice from the oracle at Delphi for how to do away with his sibling without getting in trouble himself. The oracle proclaimed that if he fathered a child with Salmoneus’s daughter, that child would grow up to murder his father. So Sisyphus seduced his niece, Tryo. When she discovered his plan, she killed the boy born of their union.

Apparently, none of this disturbed Zeus. Instead, he became outraged when the king defied him.

One day, Sisyphus came across the river god, Asopus, who was searching for his daughter. Now, Sisyphus knew where she was, so he made a deal with Asopus. If the god would create an ever-flowing spring on his land, he would show him where Zeus had taken the girl.

Asopus agreed, and Sisyphus gave him the information he sought, but the king’s revelation didn’t help him get his daughter back, for Zeus only hid the girl again. It did, however, make Zeus angry enough at Sisyphus that he sent the god of death, Thanatos, to snatch the him and take him to that terrible realm of Hades to suffer forever.

But Sisyphus did not go. He tricked Thanatos, chaining him to a tree. Now, the king would not die, but neither would anyone else, for if the god were chained up, he could no longer travel the earth collecting souls.

Is that so bad, to restrain death? After all, who wants to die?

An Eternal Task

It turned out that plenty of people longed for death. The sick, the maimed, the battered all suffered horribly from their ailments and wounds, yet no matter how badly they were injured, death would not come. They cried out, begging for release. Even the gods could not bear their pleas. Rescue attempts failed until Ares, that warrior god, freed Thanatos at last.

As soon as he slipped from the chains, the god set off after Sisyphus, but this time Sisyphus had a plan. He’d arranged things with his wife, Merope. When Thanatos dragged him to the Underworld, Merope threw his body naked into the town courtyard. She placed no coin in his mouth to pay his passage to Hades, and offered no rituals. It was an affront to the king’s good name.

Down in Hades, Sisyphus made a great show of complaining to Persephone about his wife’s terrible neglect. He begged her to let him return to the Upperworld, just for a few days, to punish his wife and set things right. Then he would come back to Hades, content. The goddess agreed.

Having no intention to return to the land of the dead, Sisyphus jumped back into his old life. He had tricked the gods once more.

Yet only the gods can live forever. Eventually, Sisyphus had to die. Accounts differ on how long it took before Sisyphus finally breathed his last, but when he did Zeus enacted his revenge. He set Sisyphus to rolling a boulder up a steep hill and dropping it down the other side. As we know, the king never did reach the top. Before he could get there, the stone wrenched itself from his grasp and rolled back to the bottom. No matter how hard he toiled, his work was never done.

Meaning in Story

We no longer believe in this shadowy land where, at best, the dead languish, and at worst, they suffer the pains of eternal fire, gnawing hunger, and brutal and fruitless labor. Surely Ixion, Tantalus, and Sisyphus have long ago wandered to their rest. All the shades in Hades must be at peace by now.

But we tell stories not because they record historical facts, but because they convey meaning. Not everyone understands them in the same way. Take the myth of Sisyphus, for instance, which has stuck more in the popular imagination than the stories of the other two men.

Albert Camus, in his essay, “The Myth of Sisyphus,” emphasizes the futility of the deceased king’s task. Life is absurd, and Sisyphus’s punishment symbolizes that. For Camus’ Sisyphus, though, absurdity is not the end. In life, Sisyphus was lusty and proud. He gained glory by twice tricking the gods. How many other humans can say such a thing?

But was that glory worth the price? How does Sisyphus understand his place in the wheel of fate and fortune, as he pushes and drags and carries his burden?

I imagine that, at times, Sisyphus curses himself and the gods. Now and then, though, he surely loses himself in memory, imagining cool breezes off the water, the feel of his wife’s body pressed against his, the scent of fine wine, the heady rush of besting the gods. When he thinks about how magnificent he was in his day, how strong, virile, and cruel, does he wallow in regret? Or does he laugh?

Camus tells us that, when all is said and done, Sisyphus is happy.

Happy? What could Camus mean by that?

Sisyphus’s Happiness

From the top of the hill, Sisyphus watches the stone tumble down, bouncing on rocks, rolling through grass and dirt. For a moment, he breathes, looks around, maybe even to rests. Melancholy will follow him. He cannot fully avoid that. After all, he surely misses what once he loved. Standing near the top of his hill, he might feel that “boundless grief” Camus describes, a grief not unlike the torment of Jesus at Gethsemane as he waited for death, feeling utterly alone. [1] Like Jesus, Sisyphus knew that only he could carry his burden.

But Jesus also knew joy within his despair. Camus suggests Sisyphus does, as well. Yes, Sisyphus has meaningless work. What could be more absurd than an endless effort for nothing? Yet, as Camus writes, “Happiness and the absurd . . . are inseparable.” [2] Sisyphus’ task may be absurd, yet it is something. He acts. He accepts his toil. Though he is dead, he has substance. He has control over his being. Fate has not completely won.

It’s almost as if, by relentlessly pushing his stone, Sisyphus repudiates the gods. “See what you have done, created a universe where nothing matters? I will make meaning where you cannot.”

None of us are forever free of burdens. Life is filled with toil, meaningless or not, yet for Camus, the struggle is enough. Through the struggle, we claim our humanity, which is ultimately all we need.

Indeed, by engaging with the struggle, Sisyphus has become more than he ever was in life. He has developed an inner strength, a fortitude, a wisdom he never found through murder, betrayal, or trickery. At last, Sisyphus knows who he is. He knows his worth. And so, Camus imagines that Sisyphus is happy.

Prosperity and Persistence

Happy or not, we can at least say that Sisyphus is not a quitter. Kate Bowler, in her book about death and the prosperity gospel, shares that, since childhood, she has been enamored of this relentless toiler, impressed that, although “not every burden can be shouldered,” the king never gave up. [3]

Traditional Christianity emphasizes surrendering to God’s will. Perhaps that’s what Sisyphus is doing, yielding to the will of Zeus.

But Bowler doesn’t see it that way. Steeped as she once was in the message of the prosperity gospel, she appreciates stubbornness and defiance in the face of anything a god might throw at us. Prosperity is a decidedly American ideal. We believe in upward mobility and individual responsibility. If we follow the rules, we are certain to excel. God will grant us everything we desire. Life is a candy store, and God the indulgent shop owner.

So keep rolling that stone, for it will pay off. One day, we’ll reach the top and tip our burden over onto the other side, where it will disappear, our efforts complete, and God will open her arms to us and bring us to heaven forever.

But that’s not the end, really. Bowler is facing the specter of death. She knows that no amount of persistence can keep death at bay forever. We all have our burdens, and we carry them as long as we can. One day, we must set them down.

Changing Our Attitude

And what if Sisyphus decided to set his burden down? As Ciarân Parkes writes, in his poem, “Sisyphus Decides,” couldn’t he just “let go of the stone”? [4] Does some compulsion keep him stuck on that hill, force him to take up that rock time after time? Is he trapped by a fear of letting go? Does he worry that if he does, he will lose everything? Even in the poverty of his hellish existence, does Sisyphus fear the loss of the little he knows?

We hold onto relationships because we fear being alone, stay in jobs we hate because we need the money. Freedom comes at a cost, and some of us aren’t willing to pay that cost. Of course, sometimes the relationship turns around or the job gets better.

At other times, we find freedom by changing our attitude.

In The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Classical Mythology, Kevin Osborn and Dana L. Burgess imagine what might have happened when Orpheus descended into Hades. [5] A divine musician, he could tame wild beasts, confuse the Siren song, and entice even rivers to stop and listen when he played.

The Song of Orpheus

After embarking on many adventures, Orpheus returned home and fell in love with Eurydice. They enjoyed a few short years of marriage before she died from the bite of a serpent. Bereft, Orpheus followed her into the Underworld. It was a magical time in that forsaken land. Tantalus forgot his thirst, Ixion’s pain was eased, and Sisyphus rested on his stone, listening to that beautiful song. For that moment, at least, they felt joy.

Of course, things did not go well for Orpheus. He was allowed to bring Eurydice to Earth with him on the condition that he not look back. So much depends on our not looking back. Like most of us, Orpheus couldn’t restrain himself. It’s not often we can do what the gods demand of us.

So Orpheus lost Eurydice, and as he sadly made his way back to the land of the living, Hades lost his music. Yet for a time, the dead had it. They heard and held it. Did Orpheus’s song change the hearts of these tortured men?

I’d like to think that Tantalus learned, in that moment of happiness, that his suffering was an illusion created by his mind. If he thought differently about his plight, could he not come to enjoy the coolness of the water, the fragrance of the leaves on the tree, the memory of song? Once the music taught him that what we concentrate on is what we experience, could Ixion move through the pain of fire into a peace beyond understanding? And what of Sisyphus? As he bent down again, picking up his stone, might he have taken with him the hint of melody, wrapped himself in a shroud of that beauty? Is that where his happiness came from?

Knowing When to Let Go

As Camus reminds us, “There is no sun without shadow.” [6] Light has no meaning without the dark to give it definition. Even in Hades, the shades can see, so there must be light somewhere in that shadowy land.

We see what we focus on. The land of the dead is a dim place, where time seems not to move. For some, burdens have been set down forever. Others cannot stop toiling. Yet in that place, there is consciousness. If Sisyphus is conscious, and Tantalus and Ixion and everyone else, then they have the power to tell stories.

What story does Tantalus tell? Like all addicts, he focuses on his craving. Yet if we turn our attention away, the craving dissipates. Pain is a sensation. It is monstrously hard to move through a terrible suffering, and Ixion’s agony might be more than any soul could bear, but we can choose to fan the flames or, if not put them out completely, at least dampen the fire.

But Sisyphus has only a stone to let go of. He can drop it and never pick it up again. Yet he has convinced himself that he must continue. He tells himself a story that life is meaningless, that death is absurd. What if he changed his story? Could he make the stone go away?

Of course, letting go is not always what we need. Without the shadow, we would never notice the sun. Happiness would elude us. There is time for burdens and time to release them. The challenge is to figure out when to do what.

In faith and fondness,

Barbara

Credits

1. Camus, Albert, “The Myth of Sisyphus,” https://schmieder.fmp-t.info/collectibles/pdf/sisyphos_eng.pdf, accessed 10/10/21.
2. Ibid.
3. Bowler, Kate, Everything Happens for a Reason and Other Lies I’ve Loved, New York: Random House, 2018, 117.
4. Parkes, Ciarân, “Sisyphus Decides,” The Threepenny Review, No. 140 (Winter 2015) p. 16, https://www.threepennyreview.com/samples/parkes_w15.html, accessed 10/13/21.
5. Osborn, Kevin and Dana L. Burgess, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Classical Mythology, quoted by InfoPlease, https://www.infoplease.com/culture-entertainment/mythology-folklore/classical-mythology-undying-love-orpheus, accessed 10/12/21.
6. Camus.

Photo – “Sisyphus,” Giovan Battista Langetti, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Copyright © 2021 Barbara E. Stevens. All Rights Reserved.