Sisyphus

"I leave Sisyphus at the foot of the mountain! One always finds one's burden again. But Sisyphus teaches the higher fidelity that negates the gods and raises rocks. He too concludes that all is well. This universe henceforth without a master seems to him neither sterile nor futile. Each atom of that stone, each mineral flake of that night filled mountain, in itself forms a world. The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy."

-from the Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus

When this quote first caught my attention, I read it as a expression of hope, and I immediately related it to the efforts of those social justice activists who face enormous obstacles and powerful opposition in their efforts to establish a society that is more equal and more compassionate. Their goals are often like Sisyphus' rock, always rolling back down the mountain.

I am not very familiar with the works of Camus, and only on further investigation into the topic I discover that Camus' premise is that Sisyphus is an absurd hero as he goes about his futile and profitless task. Sisyphus is condemned by the gods to this the task of rolling the rock up the mountain, he has no choice.

So perhaps my first reading of the quote was a misreading, yet, when Camus says that "Sisyphus teaches the higher fidelity that negates the gods and raises rocks" I think he speaks to the idealistic endeavour of humans to make the world a better place. There is happiness to be found in working towards goals that may never be attained. If you never give up you can never lose.