Smile of Sisyphus

There are so many myths related to the Greek god Sisyphus, the most familiar being the man continually trying to roll a huge boulder across a slope, and the stone rolling back due to its weight... His was a futile effort to roll the stone across, and all his life is spent in such meaningless routine task, not knowing that it is next to impossible for him to do it. But at least 80 percent of the population in the world do just that, involved in works, chores, activities which do not bring much joy to them. Just to keep ourselves from hunger, starvation, nakedness, scorching sun and pattering rain, we run from pillar to post, ... but we don't stop there. Every little success is the starting point of yet another attempt to climb up the social, economic, cultural ladder. But have we ever paused for a while to check if we are truly enjoying the fruits of our labour?

Today the most important word in the information highway is "speed"; there are people who wish to compete with the speed of light, and would be happy to over take even that. Speed in our personal lives brings in its own share of drudgery; the people who move from one activity to another are the most miserable of all human beings. Many of us thus become machines... even a smile is mechanical, even love-making becomes a routine exercise, and what is there to enjoy? The false promises of the world will not dawn to them, until they are stuck by a lightening or thunder and find that they are on the verge of bidding goodbye to the world.

If I don't enjoy what I do each day, each hour and each minute, I can regret for wasting my precious days. It is not strange that if I hope I will like up to 90 years and if I am standing at the threshold of 42nd year, I am nearing my midpoint. And that means I still have 48x365 days, and that amounts to 17,520 days. That is all my life, and now let me look at this magic figure and tell myself do I intend to make best use of these days - to enjoy life to its maximum, or am I prepared to regret that I had forgotten to look at the rising sun, the numberless stars on a clear sky, the birds of the air returning home at dusk, listen to the cry of a child, feel the chill breeze brazing through my skin, let the rain drops splash on my body... if not today, then when?

That is the second myth of Sisyphus that I wish to look at today; he wished to test the faithfulness of his wife, and when she fails, Sisyphus pleads to Pluto to send him to the world from the netherworlds to punish his wife; but when he returns to earth, he sees color all around, the sun-rise, the golden rays of the sun, the gentle breeze, the colorful flowers, the rumbling streams; he is so enchanted looking at the world, that he forgets to punish his wife, and forgets even to return to the netherworlds. Once we begin to see the beauty and splendour of the world we live in, we will make a conscious effort to cherish every moment we live in here.

Today I would like to take just one minute at any particular moment of the day, during the day time preferably, and stop my psychological, social, cultural, religious clock... I close my eyes, and see the whole world pausing for a while... I become conscious of my little self, as being part of the limitless ocean, the endless sky, the ever-flowing stream, the never-ending waves of the sea, a shade in the thousand hues of the blossoms, the sigh in the melody of the birds... Let me 'see' with my full being the wonder of myself and the world around; let me 'hear' the sweet melody running into my ears, drink the soothing odour.... Let me be truly a citizen of this wonderful planet called earth, far beyond the narrow boundaries of 'my' nation, 'my' state.