Live the Myth!

King Sisyphus of Corinth was a trickster. His most infamous act was to deceive Hades, god of Tartarus, the underworld land of the dead. Through an elaborate scheme, he managed to trick Hades into letting him return to the world of the living. Sisyphus had cleverly instructed his wife Merope not to fulfill her traditional wifely duty of burying his body when he died and his spirit descended to the underworld. Then, when he arrived in Tartarus, he convinced Persephone, wife of Hades, to allow him to return to his life to avenge his wife’s alleged affront to his dignity. He vowed to return in three days. Persephone took him at his word and secured his release by Hades.

Of course, Sisyphus had no intention of keeping his promise, and so he remained on earth to rule his kingdom once again. When Sisyphus next died, Hades performed a trick of his own. He condemned Sisyphus to an eternity of pushing a gigantic stone up a steep slope in the underworld, knowing full well that when it reached the top, it would simply roll back down again. And so Sisyphus was doomed to perpetuate the cycle of pushing the rock up the hill over and over and over and over again.

Myth Insights

How can Sisyphus possibly retain his sanity in such a situation? By changing his frame of reference! So long as he remains focused on the rock rolling back down the hill, rolling it up the hill seems futile and utterly frustrating. But if he focuses solely on rolling it up the hill, he’s strengthened by meeting the challenge of getting it to the top. He feels a sense of accomplishment when he succeeds at his task. When the rock rolls back down, it is no longer a defeat, but an opportunity to undertake the next challenge. The goal is not to get the rock to stay atop the hill. The goal is to simply to get the rock to the top. And he can do that. He can succeed again and again and again.

What does this have to do with our own life experiences? According to cognitive psychologists like Jonathon Baron, how people behave in a situation is based not only on the facts of the situation, but by how the situation is described¹. The language used to describe something greatly impacts the way people behave and view a situation. For instance, people are more excited about playing a game with a 50-50 chance of winning rather than one with a 50-50 chance of losing, even though the game is exactly the same. This is called the Framing Effect.

Like Sisyphus, we all have a rock to push uphill. We all face situations that involve insoluble, recurrent problems in our lives. It could be a dreaded job we must go back to day after day to support our families. Or perhaps we have the burden of providing ongoing care for a loved one who is terminally ill. We might express our frustration about such matters by saying things like: "I worked today, but I have to get up and do it all again tomorrow!" or "I’m doing everything I can to care for my loved one, but he just keeps getting worse with each passing day."

Faced with such hardships, it’s easy to become trapped in thoughts of hopelessness. We believe that we can’t abandon our roles or responsibilities, yet we feel that our actions can’t really change things. This frame of mind can sap our vitality and motivation to go on. The Framing Effect suggests that we can cope more effectively with such situations by changing our frame of mind. Those of us who adopt a negative outlook by remaining focused on the difficulties we encounter day to day are doomed to a perpetual sense of frustration. By changing the way we frame an event, we can change the way we respond to it. It is better to adopt a positive viewpoint by shifting our focus to the challenges posed by our situation. For example, in honoring ourselves for being able to support our families or alleviate the suffering of loved ones, we will feel more powerful. We will recognize the goals we’ve attained and be spurred to carry on.

Perhaps the most dramatic application of the principle embodied in the Myth of Sisyphus is revealed in the book Man’s Search for Meaning.² This is psychologist Victor Frankl’s firsthand account of how he and others were able to survive the Nazi death camps. According to Frankl, survival was only possible for those who changed their attitude from one of hopelessness to a sense of purpose. By developing and focusing on day-to-day goals, they were able to perpetuate their will to live instead of giving in to feelings of despair in the face of unimaginable horrors. As Frankl said, "We had to teach the despairing men that it did not really matter what we expected from life, but what life expected from us."³

In short, by applying the myth of Sisyphus to difficult life experiences, we can transform our attitudes towards any situation, and therefore transform our lives.