Life Is a Sisyphean Endeavour
By
Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
16 December
2022
A few days ago while reading the French
existentialist Albert Camus, I chanced upon a startling sentence: ' When
there's no soul, how can there be a soul-mate? ‘Life’s a Sisyphean endeavour
and no one else carries our burdens. One has to bear ones cross all alone. Age
teaches you that the so-called soul-connection is a dysfunctional or dystopian
idea.
We find
several soul mates who walk along the path with us but despite the concept of
'till death do us part’, each of the duo walks a singular path. What seems like
total compatibility, is apparently one making compromises to make the other
happy by choice or by compulsion. Every being has a singular journey.
Individually,
those who amount to nothing, need the collective to feel some strength and need
the wrap of hollow concern and care to get a sense of belonging. A sojourn or an odyssey is for the individual
to choose according to his mental make-up.
In the inane act of living, man afraid of his mortality, seeks company,
inane conversations, and groupings. Man fears lest he should face the
unavoidable truth that he came into this world alone. This is his singular
journey; an eternally solo trip undertaken not always on smooth highways and
bituminous roads.
It is he
who makes or mar it. Often we need silence and solitude to sort out our inner
moorings and steer the ship of life along its true journey: A journey of
courage and conviction, far from the machinations of the maddening crowd to
listen to that inner voice that you have quelled in your need for inane fun.
Everyone needs solitude to comprehend that he or she is the captain of the ship
and the mistress of one's own destiny. Nobody but the person is responsible for
the onward journey. You cannot allow anyone to make or mar your life. There is
no need for fear or favour. It calls for solitary onward rowing. That's why it
has been found that extremely individualistic people (including yours truly)
choose to stay alone if not aloof. The great Sahir Ludhianvi and the legendary
singer Sir Cliff Richards chose to stay single and when someone asked Sir
Cliff, why he never tied the knot, Sir Cliff wittily replied, “I’ve always
loved solo numbers, I could never like duets."
----
A
regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative
religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the
world's premier publications in several languages including Persian.
URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/sisyphean-endeavour/d/128643
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