Not since Lucretius has there been so much eloquence spent on proving the validity of "unyielding despair" as the foundation of our "safety." But whatever we think of this text, it is easy to derive from it the bitter attitude of Sisyphus who knows the meaninglessness of his task and who performs it nonetheless (instead of choosing suicide) because of the supposed dignity of the gesture. It is equally easy to derive from it the only remaining program for man—other than absurd action, acte gratuit—the esthetic creation by which he creates meaning (beauty) in a universe where none pre-exists him and none will survive him.

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Not since Lucretius has there been so much eloquence spent on proving the validity of "unyielding despair" as the foundation of our "safety." But whatever we think of this text, it is easy to derive from it the bitter attitude of Sisyphus who knows the meaninglessness of his task and who performs it nonetheless (instead of choosing suicide) because of the supposed dignity of the gesture. It is equally easy to derive from it the only remaining program for man—other than absurd action, acte gratuit—the esthetic creation by which he creates meaning (beauty) in a universe where none pre-exists him and none will survive him." in the context of "Thomas Molnar, The Decline of the Intellectual (1961) Ch. 4 "The Intellectual as a Progressive," referencing Russell's Mysticism and Logic, Ch.3... "That man is the product of causes which had no prevision of the end... Man's achievement must inevitably be buried beneath the débris of a universe in ruins..."" to mean that wisdom is timeless.