The lockdown journal: The Sisyphean struggle
The myth of Sisyphus goes thus:
Before he died, Sisyphus, knowing that he was headed to the Underworld, made his wife promise to refrain from offering the expected sacrifice following his death. Once he reached Hades, Sisyphus convinced kindhearted Persephone, the queen of the Underworld, to let him return to the upper world, so that he could ask his wife why she was neglecting her duty. Of course, Persephone had no idea that Sisyphus had intentionally asked his wife not to make the sacrifice, so she agreed, and Sisyphus escaped the Underworld, refusing to return. Eventually Sisyphus was captured and carried back, and the angry gods gave him his punishment: for the rest of eternity, he was forced to push a large rock up a steep hill, in itself a miserable task. Every time he neared the top of the hill, the rock would roll backward and he would have to start over, as a metaphor for the individual's persistent struggle against the essential absurdity of life.
-The upside of irrationality, Dan Ariely
Yesterday, my husband sighed in despair at chores. This is just never ending. As I cook, I see vessels piling up on the other side to be washed. I finish washing, and have dinner, and a new pile forms at the sink. I finish cleaning, and the very next morning I see a fresh coat of dust everywhere. Even as I eat, I am conscious of the fact that I need to cook up a new meal very soon.
I fully agreed with his statements, and it reminded me of this story. Household chores are exactly like this. You don't get to sit at the top of the hill and enjoy the view. Instead you watch all your hard work roll backwards, and you are forced to start afresh. How, then, can one derive satisfaction from this eternal struggle?
I remember a study investigating the meaning of labor from the same book(The upside of irrationality). This study involves building Lego Bionicles, and participants receive money(diminishing) after every bionicle they build. The critical difference is this: The bionicles that participants from the first group build are taken away, whereas the second group watch as the result of their efforts is disassembled in front of their eyes. Interestingly, money is not enough motivation(participants in both group are paid the same, so if this were so, we would see the same results in both groups).The participants in the second grow demotivated faster, and they lose interest in the task, although they loved building Legos. The result of the experiment is clear: Sisyphean working conditions overpower any liking that a person has for an activity.
How then, can we derive meaning from such labor? Maybe we take in the view at the top for as long as we can? Maybe we try and forget about the boulders even while we are pushing them? Maybe we sit at the bottom of the hill every once in a while and take a break? What is your choice, Reader?
Before he died, Sisyphus, knowing that he was headed to the Underworld, made his wife promise to refrain from offering the expected sacrifice following his death. Once he reached Hades, Sisyphus convinced kindhearted Persephone, the queen of the Underworld, to let him return to the upper world, so that he could ask his wife why she was neglecting her duty. Of course, Persephone had no idea that Sisyphus had intentionally asked his wife not to make the sacrifice, so she agreed, and Sisyphus escaped the Underworld, refusing to return. Eventually Sisyphus was captured and carried back, and the angry gods gave him his punishment: for the rest of eternity, he was forced to push a large rock up a steep hill, in itself a miserable task. Every time he neared the top of the hill, the rock would roll backward and he would have to start over, as a metaphor for the individual's persistent struggle against the essential absurdity of life.
-The upside of irrationality, Dan Ariely
Yesterday, my husband sighed in despair at chores. This is just never ending. As I cook, I see vessels piling up on the other side to be washed. I finish washing, and have dinner, and a new pile forms at the sink. I finish cleaning, and the very next morning I see a fresh coat of dust everywhere. Even as I eat, I am conscious of the fact that I need to cook up a new meal very soon.
I fully agreed with his statements, and it reminded me of this story. Household chores are exactly like this. You don't get to sit at the top of the hill and enjoy the view. Instead you watch all your hard work roll backwards, and you are forced to start afresh. How, then, can one derive satisfaction from this eternal struggle?
I remember a study investigating the meaning of labor from the same book(The upside of irrationality). This study involves building Lego Bionicles, and participants receive money(diminishing) after every bionicle they build. The critical difference is this: The bionicles that participants from the first group build are taken away, whereas the second group watch as the result of their efforts is disassembled in front of their eyes. Interestingly, money is not enough motivation(participants in both group are paid the same, so if this were so, we would see the same results in both groups).The participants in the second grow demotivated faster, and they lose interest in the task, although they loved building Legos. The result of the experiment is clear: Sisyphean working conditions overpower any liking that a person has for an activity.
How then, can we derive meaning from such labor? Maybe we take in the view at the top for as long as we can? Maybe we try and forget about the boulders even while we are pushing them? Maybe we sit at the bottom of the hill every once in a while and take a break? What is your choice, Reader?
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