Poseidon, Sisyphus & Existentialism

It might help to take a little pause and look at look at seismology from a classical perspective. The Greek god of earthquakes was Poseidon who caused earthquakes by striking the ground with his trident. He was also responsible for the creation of tsunamis which caused floods. He was brother to Hades, who ruled the underworld, and Zeus, the Sky-Father who held power over the the weather and perhaps glory too. All three shared dominion over the Earth and were often extremely volatile. They did not tolerate deceit well as can be seen by the fate of Sisyphus who for his hubris was required to perform the ceaseless task of pushing a rock up a hill in Hades only to have it slide back down on him.

The Existentialist view is that life can often be absurd and is exemplified by Camus' The Myth of Sisyphus. Camus' conclusion is that although we face trials but must "see Sisyphus happy." The lesson is that we must learn to march to the beat of a different drummer.