According to Greek mythology, King Sisyphus of Ephyra committed the frightful crime of defying the gods. Instead of a swift execution, his punishment was eternal, trapping him in a cycle of pushing an enormous boulder up a hill in the underworld.

As soon as Sisyphus reached the top, the rock rolled back down, and his toils began again.

The wisdom of the ancient Greeks flows through time, and the story of Sisyphus has become a metaphor for humankind’s search for purpose, an existential conundrum explored in French philosopher Albert Camus’ 1942 essay, The Myth of Sisyphus.

He argued that the only way to cope with the “Sisyphean task” of an endless, futile routine was to create a delusion that it was meaningful.