I leave Sisyphus at the foot of the mountain. One always finds one’s burden again. But Sisyphus teaches the higher fidelity that negates the gods and raises rocks. He too concludes that all is well. This universe henceforth without a master seems to him neither sterile nor futile. Each atom of that stone, each mineral flake of that night-filled mountain, in itself, forms a world. The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.
Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus
In the last five years, I have hauled -and placed – at least fifty truckloads of stones for the Stone Sanctuary. There have been many, many times when I have questioned the rationality of what I have been doing; much of the time it has felt like an absurd – yet necessary – task. It was hard not to be constantly reminded of Sisyphus, condemned by the gods to roll a boulder repetitively up a hill.
And yet recently, after five years and the completion of the last major wall of the Stone Sanctuary, it feels as if there is more to it than just a Sisyphean, futile task; the Stone of Sisyphus has found a place, among many other stones.
This “Mount Sisyphus” was the last work of the fall of 2016, completed on the day the first snowfall. It took three of us to get that large stone into place; Sisyphus could have used such help.
so beautiful, thank you for sharing.