The story of Sisyphus

Philosophy
1

Most times, it seems, we read a story very literally or someone says this is what the story is about and everyone just nods - there seem to be little or no new ideas, esp when it comes to religion

We all know the story of Sisyphus - a man condemned to push a boulder up a hill only to watch it roll back down and forced to repeat the process endlessly

To me, the Author was talking about Heaven

I have asked this question so many times to Theists - What does one DO in Heaven? Can you describe a DAY? ONE DAY?
And each time i get cheap easy answers -“We will be working hard”, “There will be work, don’t worry”(Well, concern was the last thing on my mind) or my personal favorite, “The work will be so fulfilling it will be the best thing you have ever done in your life”
But pressed for details and I never hear from the again

I don’t think I am the only one asking such questions - I am sure many in the past have done so but a Christian media have done a wonderful job in suppressing such questions - let’s say ants in the pants questions

The problem is obvious - we are talking about a being who has created this entire universe! What would he or she possibly have to get done? And that too need our help?
You see the problem here - as with any Ponzi-scheme or fantasy - once we get down to the details, the nitty-gritty, they fall apart - hence the running away of Theists from such questions

Fortunately for them they dominate the media and so do an excellent job of censoring such questions(I can’t get such questions published despite writing to almost every newspaper on the planet) + add a brainwashed academic & philosopher community, the cheap easy promises of religious people continue - “Heaven will be so wonderful, it will be so great, you won’t believe it!”

But back to Sisyphus - in such a censoring environment, mockery of this concept of heaven(Sugar Daddy God happy to run a Charity Retirement Home for billions of people to just sit and sponge off him for eternity) has to be disguised and this is that story - what does one DO in Heaven? Well, like Sisyphus - A pass the baton to B, B pass the Baton to C and C pass the Baton to A! Endless “work”
Or like Sisyphus, “work” in Heaven is being condemned to an endless days of nonsense - push the boulder up the hill, watch it come down, come on down and push it up again, watch it come down, come on down and repeat ad nauseam!

2

[quote=“vanamali, post:1, topic:10447, full:true”]
Fortunately for them they dominate the media and so do an excellent job of censoring such questions(I can’t get such questions published despite writing to almost every newspaper on the planet) + add a brainwashed academic & philosopher community, the cheap easy promises of religious people continue - “Heaven will be so wonderful, it will be so great, you won’t believe it!”

What is “The Myth of Sisyphus” About?

“The Myth of Sisyphus“ is an essay first published in French by philosopher Albert Camus in 1942. It analyzes the philosophy of nihilism—the idea that there is no inherent morality, and existence is without meaning or purpose—while simultaneously advocating for an absurdist point of view. Camus uses the Greek myth of Sisyphus to highlight his point on the struggle of man against the universe. In the myth, Sisyphus is condemned to forever push a rock up a hill only for it to always fall back to the bottom of the hill; this is an endless cycle of repetition which he can never escape.

Camus began writing the essay during the German invasion of France. The masses of refugees and the suffering of untold millions prompted Camus to ask how something like the Nazi assault on Europe could happen if the universe was created by a just god. According to author Robert Zaretsky, Camus realized that either a world-changing event like the war or a minor inconvenience could prompt someone to ask “Why?”, thus leading Camus to consider the absurdity of existence.

https://study.com/learn/lesson/existentialism-the-myth-of-sisyphus-albert-camus-analysis-ethics.html#

3

I’ve heard there will be singing and praising of God. Like one endless Sunday worship. Dreadful.

1 Like
4

Extremely dreadful. Why anyone would want that is beyond me. They’d have to be very delusional, but then again, the feel good neurotransmitters in the brain would be working overtime, so maybe they like that.

5

I also like Matt Dillahunty’s point, that it won’t be you. When you get to heaven, you won’t be bothered that people you knew are in hell. The problems of the world won’t effect you. In other words, your personality is wiped clean.

6

Yes, but all this is anthropomorphism.

In nature, life, intelligence, and consciousness are “emergent” properties. This means that before life, intelligence, and consciousness existed in living organisms, the terms “God” or “Heaven” had no meaning at all.

When we die we actually reverse the chronology and immediately begin to lose consciousness and intelligence until we are reassembled in some other form of universal physics, but that is a whole new story and not an exact repeat this one.
But heaven…? Nahhhh…

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Even hydrogen had a moment of its survival being threatened and it formed into clouds that then became stars. What was the motivation? Does it matter that there was no concept of death or the future? The processes, the actions, that occurred worked to continue growth and change and lead to complex life. When did “why” occur, and is it needed for life? If we can express it, hasn’t it always been part of the forces of physics?

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The Standard Model Lagrangian is one of the most powerful and beautiful equations in physics. It describes particle interactions via 3 of the 4 forces of Nature: Electromagnetic, Weak a Strong Interactions.

8

Yes, and in a dynamic environment that is the formula what eventually produced self-sustaining life.

Fundamentally, I see life as an expression of dynamic interactions. If we look at humans, we find that the human biome contains more foreign, albeit symbiotic, living organisms, which actually keep us alive.

In spite of our sophisticated brain, we could not live without our bacterial symbionts.

9

If we’re talking about properties of the universe, how do we define “foreign”? If we are monkeys that talk, and we came from rocks, the possibility of consciousness was there all along.

10

I agree. My position is that over time, cellular “communication” of complex organisms may lead to self-aware communication.
This is made possible by the cellular ability to store memories.

A perfect example is the single celled slime mold, that already displays quasi-intelligent behaviors.

On the other hand, plasmodial slime molds start out as individual amoeboid cells, but join together to form a multi-nucleate mass having only one cellular membrane (a “super-cell” containing multiple nuclei). This mass is referred to as a plasmodium and is frequently observed as threads of “slime” on rotting wood. Sep 28, 2020

image

In the laboratory, slime molds have demonstrated the ability to navigate a maze in order to reach a food source, and to anticipate the reward of food at a future time after having been fed on a regular schedule at one location. They communicate via chemical signals to others of their kind. That’s pretty impressive for an organism without a brain! They can be found throughout the world, but the Pacific Northwest and Mount Rainier National Park provide ideal habitat for these amazing creatures.

It responds to light, temperature, taste ( it prefers oats), it learns and remembers.
In my book that qualifies as quasi-intelligence and can only evolve into more sophisticated data processing and consequent increase in intellectual abilities.

There is no magic involved. Eventually, natural selection touches every aspect of spacetime mechanics.

Reality is a durable state of logical self-referential dynamic interactions.
Dynamism (growth) is the proto-state of “life”.
Memory (differential equation) is the proto-state of “consciousness” and “knowledge”.

11

At the end of the day have we progressed that much? The success of Christianity & Islam rest on the promise of an everlasting life of ease & comfort
And all we have to do to get it is to believe and blindly support the “right” God!
Like how things get done in Corrupt countries - “works are not enough” - one either need to grease the right palms or know the right people
We see supporters of Putin raping, torturing and killing those who do not support their Sugar Daddy, their source for a life of comfort
And we see religious people doing the same
Honestly the willingness of people to hate and divide based on just a cheap promise, that any fool can make, is disturbing and frightening

12

I read the analogy similarly. It’s a con-man’s tool.
To me the story proposes that life is an inescapable lifelong chore and that we must adapt to life’s demands. This, of course, is a perfect vehicle for a con-man or an autocratic government to tell you what your life’s demands are and what is “expected” of you.

In a theocracy, it is absolute obedience to the church that fills the concept of Sisyphus.

“The Myth of Sisyphus“ is an essay first published in French by philosopher Albert Camus in 1942. It analyzes the philosophy of nihilism—the idea that there is no inherent morality, and existence is without meaning or purpose—while simultaneously advocating for an absurdist point of view.Mar 19, 2023

https://study.com/learn/lesson/existentialism-the-myth-of-sisyphus-albert-camus-analysis-ethics.html#