Maxim

Find meaning in the struggle itself.

Sisyphus pushes his boulder up the hill forever. The ancient myth was a punishment; the modern reading asks whether the effort itself can be enough.

Related expressions

• “and so that which is a hindrance is made a furtherance to an act; and that which is an obstacle on the road helps us on this road.”

  — Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book V.20, tr. George Long
  Watch on YouTube: David Goggins: Embrace Suffering (Tom Bilyeu) ↗David Goggins and Tom Bilyeu discuss this idea
  StoicismClassical (200 BCE – 600 CE)relation: similarVerifiedsourceTranslation: public-domain translation (George Long)

• “we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope:”

  — Paul the Apostle, Romans 5:3-4 (KJV)
  Watch on YouTube: Tim Keller: Walking with God through Pain and Suffering ↗Timothy Keller on pain and suffering
  Watch on YouTube: Arthur Brooks on true happiness ↗Arthur Brooks on struggle and purpose, with Andrew Huberman
  ChristianityClassical (200 BCE – 600 CE)relation: similarVerifiedsourceTranslation: King James Version (public domain)

• “A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.”

  — Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949), introduction; p. 30 in the 1968 Princeton edition; checked in the Internet Archive scan of the 1949 Princeton first edition, which reads "fellow man" (the Joseph Campbell Foundation site has "fellow men")
  Comparative mythologyModern (1800 – 1950)relation: partialVerifiedsource

• “The obstacle in the path becomes the path.”

  — Ryan Holiday, The Obstacle Is the Way (Portfolio/Penguin, 2014), the king's note in his retelling of "an old Zen story"; checked in the Internet Archive scan of that edition
  Echoes Marcus Aurelius, Meditations V.20: the obstacle on the road helps us on this road
  Watch on YouTube: David Goggins with Chris Williamson ↗David Goggins on facing discomfort (Modern Wisdom)
  Modern psychology & self-helpContemporary (1950 – today)relation: similarVerifiedsource

Score

Moral Rank 69.6 · Evidence E = 15.59

E = ln(1+2.71) + √2.71 + 3·2.71 + 1.5·3 = 15.59

How this is scored

Further reading

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisyphus
• Ryan Holiday, The Obstacle Is the Way (Open Library)
• Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus (Open Library)
• Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces (Open Library)