Meaningless! Meaningless!
Ecclesiastes 1:2
Says the Teacher.
Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless.
Those were the musings of perhaps the wisest of all men.
But why did he write that everything is “meaningless”?
I was reading Ecclesiastes one morning years ago and the question really had the gears grinding in my head.
Solomon later writes that “man has no advantage over the animal.” The same fate awaits them both.
Pretty dreary perspective, huh?
When your life begins you are a clean slate, a zero starting point…
How you apply your energy during the time interval either accumulates positively or negatively to your impact.
I wrote long ago that “who you are” really is simply a mass of swirling atomic energy, just like all other matter that exists in the universe.
What do I mean by “impact?”
Well, viewed from a religious perspective, it is the effect on eternity stemming from the application of your energy during your particular interval.
All major religions of the world basically espouse that our actions in this life have such an impact.
But how about from a purely secular perspective?
How we apply our energy during the interval can also have an impact on the world we leave behind.
Let’s call this our legacy.
It seems that King Solomon was depressed because he just couldn’t grasp the “meaning” of life from any other perspective than its enjoyment in the interval. In other words, why should I care about “legacy”, since I am not going to be around to enjoy it?
Moreover, how can I be sure that the idiots that come after me won’t simply ignore it, or abuse it (my legacy, that is)?
Why be concerned with anything other than what I can experience during my interval?
Well, looking at it selfishly, the extent to which we are concerned about our legacy – that it is a positive one – could in fact make life more enjoyable during your interval, from a motivational perspective…couldn’t it?
So from that perspective Solomon was dead wrong…
Everything really isn’t meaningless.
Because the more one is concerned about impact, the more one is going to engage him or herself in activities that do in fact bring enjoyment during the interval!
I will readily admit that at times life does seem meaningless.
Maybe Solomon was just having one of those “days” when he wrote Ecclesiastes.
It could be within our own heads, or it could be “out there.”
But if we keep that concept of “legacy” at the forefront of our consciousness, it helps to push through, despite the resistance.
In fact, that resistance can strengthen us and thereby make our own force more impactful.
I guess I’m just not buying Solomon’s theory that “everything is meaningless.”