Useless Activity

All activity is useful even it its usefulness is only to distract us from uncomfortable feelings and realizations.  In Sisyphus’ situation his activity was a method of punishment.  It served the purpose of satisfying his enemies and his energies would be used to perpetuate his own torment, not anyone else’s.

Activity that we engage in from a state of emptiness does not create Karma.  Activities that are mindless ie reactions (desire and aversion) patterns or habits imbed us more deeply into karma.  The more imbedded we are the more like Sisyphus we become.  The cycle of birth and death continues in a kind of endless rut.  We do the same things over and over and achieve the same results.  This is the futility of karma.  On the other hand, each time we are presented with a situation we are free to change our reaction or the way we think about it.  It’s like reading a sentence over and over and then finally getting it.  Unfortunately for Sisyphus he did not have the choice to change once he was in Hades.