When I was young, I asked more of people than they could give: everlasting friendship, endless feeling. Now I know to ask less of them than they can give: a straightforward companionship. And their feelings, their friendship, their generous actions seem in my eyes to be wholly miraculous: a consequence of grace alone - Albert Camus

The gods had condemned Sisyphus to ceaselessly roll a rock up the mountain only to see it roll back down. The gods believed that hopeless labour was the most outrageous punishment for mankind.

I believe (obviously reeling under the influence of Albert Camus) the contrary. Since childhood we are told that life has a hidden meaning and it is our ultimate aim to find that meaning. We spend our entire life looking for the mystical purpose which would lead us to nirvana. If you look at it objectively, this is the worst punishment for men. To wander in the web of metaphysical purpose… It’s like breathing into space madly hoping to find that one non existent gulp of air.

Isn’t it obvious that life has no hidden meaning. It is evident that finally man accomplishes nothing. There exists a sense of absurdity in men. An absurd man does not negate the eternal but does nothing for it either. He prefers his courage and believes in his reasoning and existence more than a point of existent culmination. He merely lives out his adventure within the span of life. He lives outside ‘God’.

It is almost impossible to reduce this world to a single point of rationality and that is where the absurd man derives pleasure but the most harrowing of all. Once the world is stripped of its creatively crafted romanticism, it is a rather inhuman, strange place to be. In an attempt to counter the feeling of the absurd, many great thinkers have either abandoned reason or turned to god or ubiquitous creations. That according to Camus is “philosophical suicide”.

Where most falter is when they are unable to accept the contradictions. It is imperative, therefore, to acknowledge the contradictions. The contradictions must be lived and false hope should be killed.

When the false hope of better tomorrow dies, only then can man be free. Free to perform his actions without thinking of consequences and live passionately without expectations weighing him down.

Acknowledging the truth is the path to freedom. Sisyphus accepted his fate and performed the drudgery without thinking of its consequence, understood the absurdity of the situation and reached a state of contented acceptance.