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John P. Weiss's avatar

We admire the actor who perseveres for years in obscurity, certain of his/her talent, who eventually achieves success and recognition. But when that same person was our restaurant waiter, telling us he/she is really an actor, we smile and think “good luck.” Knowing when to topple that wall, and when to go around it, can be difficult to discern when we are lost in the passion of our pursuit. Perhaps we should steal a page from finance, and embrace a bit of diversification? Pursue your goal, but have a few other side hustles, so if the goal starts to become that Sisyphean boulder, at least we can bypass it at some point and pivot to one of our side hustles.

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Caz Hart's avatar

Camus's essay is about the absurdity of life and the question of suicide. Sysiphus is about the futility of his daily task, but having chosen life, we can indeed imagine him happy, as Camus states, despite that rock. (Camus does talk about physical exertion and repetition.)

These aren't the themes or philosophy being addressed by Sontag.

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