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“When troubled, attend even more.” This is my current 5 word motto.
I watched (attended to) a series of films on time loops: Groundhog Day, Source Code, Edge of Tomorrow, and Palm Springs in February 2025. Then I attended 4 online chats about them. In the research (more attention) I did on Palm Springs, I came across a video that placed Albert Camus's The Myth of Sisyphus, as the philosophical heart beat of Palm Springs and Groundhog Day.
Camus writes, “There is no sun without shadow, and it is essential to know the night.” While my condo situation presents an unending challenge, the “sun” in my life is undeniable. I live near a major state university, a location rich in intellectual and cultural opportunities. Libraries and performance spaces are within walking distance, and an abundance of students means an array of affordable restaurants. I can walk to the farmers market. Cafes and coffee houses provide social meeting spaces, while a large park just four blocks away offers natural respite. Seasonal festivals bring community engagement, and my home, with its decent view, is paid off. We’ve remodeled it to our great joy and satisfaction. Despite the shadow of my daily grind, I recognize the lights that surround me.
Many commentators rehash Camus’s famous question from this essay: Is one going to commit suicide? He asserts that this is the fundamental question of all philosophy. This essay is a call to stay with this life, your life. Camus argues that life’s meaning cannot be dictated by external logic or a divine order but must be created by the individual. He rejects despair, suggesting that acknowledging life’s absurdity does not necessitate surrendering to it. Instead, he embraces defiance—an active engagement with life despite its apparent lack of external meaning. To Camus, rejecting suicide is an act of authority for one’s own meaning that affirms existence in the face of absurdity.
At the top of the hill, Sisyphus experiences a moment of pause before he must begin his labor again. This brief respite is where Camus finds significance.
In film studies, the slip of time between each film frame is called saccade, and it is within this interval that the mind bridges the gap, creating the illusion of continuous movement. Camus recognizes the power of such gaps—moments of reflection between struggle—as crucial to human consciousness. He concludes that within this pause, Sisyphus can reclaim agency, choosing to embrace his fate rather than be crushed by it. It is in this moment, between exertion and renewal, that meaning is forged.
I read Camus’s essay for the first time in half a century and it spoke to my condition. Like nearly everyone, there’s a steady challenge in my life that I know I must face alone: In my condo, no one else cares to do any of the needed work to the level and quality that I do. Like Sisyphus. I could seek help, but among the current cohort of fellow owners, I have asked and their answers have been a spoken or implied “no.” I'm left rolling the boulder, and no matter how much I get done, there’ll always be more. Until the end of (my) time. Like Sisyphus.
Maybe for endless rounds of chores—that is, mundane, repetitive, and yucky tasks—the goal is to find the right perspective for oneself. My role from now until when I die may be taking on an unequal, thus unfair, amount of the work needed to keep the condo afloat and legally sound. I’ve already done this, and am doing it now. It’s yucky (pushing a boulder uphill) but I must scorn the gods of anger, blame, and laziness. I must spiritually prepare for my service to never end. I still carry on and at the end of each boulder push-up I will pause and reflect on what sun does shine on me each day.
There's no shadow without a sun, and it's also essential to know the day. Carpe Diem.
Several paragraphs were drafted using ChatGPT.
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