A Physicist’s Reflection on Sisyphus: Finding “meaning” in the Struggle.
I study physics in university, so I only read philosophy when I feel a genuine personal need for it. I have read The Myth of Sisyphus a few times, but my background in this area is limited. This reflection comes from an idea that helped me persevere through some of my worst moments of despair, and I want to share it to get honest feedback and clarify my understanding.
"He who has a why to live can bear almost any how."
(Nietzsche / Frankl)
At face value, this idea often feels disconnected from absurdism because it sounds like a search for desire, purpose, or grand meaning.
What if we look at the "why" differently? What if the "why" is not an invented purpose or an internal enlightenment, but purely the conscious choice to confront the absurd?
Reading essays and myths gives us the vocabulary we need to make sense of our experience. Finding that shared language brings comfort, and that comfort is an important part of recovering from deep personal turmoil.
At the same time, we cannot let ourselves get too comfortable living inside someone else's words. That initial relief is only a flag planted at the top of the mountain. The goal in life is never to balance the boulder at the summit. The real task is walking back down to the base and finding our peace within the physical effort of pushing the weight back up.
Living this out is fundamentally solitary, but that is not a flaw in the philosophy. The weight belongs to each of us individually, and recognizing that responsibility is where real freedom actually begins.
For those more familiar with Camus and existentialism: does viewing the "why" as the sheer choice to struggle make sense within absurdism, or does it miss the point of his philosophy? I would appreciate your honest thoughts.