The mythic image of Sisyphus, of a muscular man pushing a rock up a hill for eternity, represents something that needs to be known in us. We can consider it in various ways. For some, it’s about punishment by the gods for immoral behavior. For others, it’s a metaphor for an unfulfilling, demanding life. Or it can be a jumping off point from which to ask the larger questions of life. We can be taken by these characterizations, yet the Sisyphus image can open us to some other possibility. This talk is about inner world conversations, or interviews, that the speaker had with Sisyphus based on questions evoked over years by the image. How does Sisyphus endure his fate? What motivates him? What rock am I pushing up a hill? Do I have to struggle like I do? Who am I? What am I doing here? The Sisyphus story and Camus’ writing about it can only offer so much insight into the human condition as we are willing to explore for ourselves. We generally seek to be relieved of a burden we don’t want to feel. To go beyond that and resolve our own personal story requires an inner necessity that won’t leave us alone, a courageous intention to look into our own lives as opposed to looking to others for answers. It is lawful that help is available when we have a real need. Perhaps eternity does not exist and there is only doing what needs to be done in the present, here and now. We are binary beings who see life in terms of good and bad due to our thinking. We can’t open to an unknown quality of life beyond myth, to the path beyond self, by thinking. Feeling something “off the page” that is beyond thinking allows words to be used in a more refined context. Spiritual icons can be portals into another reality that can teach us. Tom Lennon, Ph.D., is a retired cultural resource consultant. He leads groups with the intention of supporting the spiritual process in others.
