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Why doesn't Sisyphos simply stop pushing the stone?
by hoseja 2y ago
Why doesn't Sisyphos simply stop pushing the stone?
- eastbound 2y agoBecause he was condemned to do it. Perhaps what all those Greek epics taught me, is that once someone condemns you to a destiny, then that’s it. No other destiny can open up.
- klyrs 2y agoWhat, and do nothing for eternity instead?
- Detrytus 2y agoBecause he was promised that once he gets it to the top, he'll be free. So, he keeps pushing, hoping that this time he'll succeed.
- simpaticoder 2y agoHades has total control over the (physical) rules of the underworld[1]. Hades can make the stone roll back for arbitrary reasons. But keeping hope alive in Sisyphus is the harder problem. Hades can essentially force Sisyphus to keep trying by making it arbitrarily painful to stop trying, but then hope is no longer his motivation. Hades could reset Sisyphus' memory such that hope remains, but then this loses the profundity of an eternal punishment. The more interesting case is that Sisyphus can contemplate the nature of the system, and reason toward an out that involved undermining Hades power over the Underworld. If he could pause and do experiments, discover the limits of the enchantment, and work around them, that would be ideal. However such an option would also be an excellent way for Hades to extend and deepen the severity of the punishment. A god's arbitrary power is arbitrarily powerful, after all. 1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisyphus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisyphus