There comes a time (or in my case, multiple times) in one's life when one has to ask oneself, "What's the point?" With the ins and outs of life, the monotony of daily routine, pain and trials, etc., it is easy to wonder if our lives are really all that meaningful. Even armed with a faith in God and knowledge that we have an eternal life after this temporal one on earth, it can sometimes be a struggle to find a true purpose and  meaning in our day-to-day lives, whether you are a stay-at-home-mother picking up toys for the thirtieth time today, a CEO at a Fortune 500 company wondering whether your legacy will be more than the hours you put in at work, or a pastor at a church questioning the effectiveness of your ministry. This struggle to find meaning in a seemingly meaningless life, all while buffeted by despair, angst, boredom, and the absurdity of life is the focus of Existentialism, a philosophical school of thought that credits its beginnings with such 19th and 20th century philosophers as Soren Kierkegaard, Gabriel Marcel, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Nietzsche. However, perhaps the first documented existential struggle found in writings from around the 3rd century BCE: the Book of Ecclesiastes. As I read through Ecclesiastes, I find Solomon's struggle for meaning as almost a how-to handbook on working through existential despair.

From the beginning of Ecclesiastes, we find Solomon decrying the vanity of it all, declaring,"“Meaningless! Meaningless!...Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” (Ecclesiastes 1:2). He finds it offensive that a man will diligently develop his life's work, but it will profit him none; he will pass away and another will take his place, and no one will remember him: <strong>"</strong>There is no remembrance of the former things, nor will be any remembrance of things that are to come by those who will come after" (1:11). Furthermore, neither he nor his contributions to the world are unique: “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1: 9). In fact, Solomon, perhaps most known for seeking wisdom from God, goes on to say that wisdom, while it may make your life on earth easier, really has no eternal value. And pleasure, riches and treasures, skills, popularity, and youth? These too are all utterly meaningless.

But wait, it gets better. Not only is everything meaningless, but it also doesn't matter if you try to do the right thing, because, "All things come alike to all: one event happens to the righteous and the wicked; to the good, the clean, and the unclean; to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner; he who takes and oath as he who fears an oath" (9:2). Solomon's complaints that there is no reason or meaning behind who suffers and does not, who prospers and does not, and those who are righteous or not are similar to the Existential concept of the Absurd, the conflict between the human tendency to seek value and meaning in life, coupled with the human inability to find any. This is in contrast  to the karmic equation that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people. Rather, there is no rhyme or reason to it, for: "the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of skill, but time and chance happen to them all" (9:11). If you have struggled with the question of why good things happen to bad people (and vice versa), take heart!  Even Solomon wondered at it and struggled with how our righteousness (or lack there of) is meaningful, if it seemingly makes no difference to what happens to us here on earth.

I find comfort in Solomon's initial struggle in Ecclesiastes, for a few reasons:

First of all, Solomon was a man who knew God and was given incredible wisdom from Him, yet he still struggled with the meaning and purpose of life.  It could be that it is wisdom itself to struggle with the meaning of your life, or it could simply mean that gaining God's wisdom will not make you immune to a very normal, human struggle.

Secondly, Solomon learned something I think we should all take to heart: whenever you seek for meaning in transient or changeable things, you will inevitably end up in despair. If you seek for meaning in possessions or money, or even pleasure and adventure, eventually you will find that they do not have eternal significance nor do they bring true happiness. If you seek to find meaning in life from your job or vocation,  you may despair if you believe your job is not important enough or prestigious enough. Or, like Solomon, you may despair when you realize that years from now, no one will remember you or your work, so what does it matter?  What happens if you define yourself by your work or vocation, and then, like a dancer who loses a leg in an accident or a pianist whose hands are crippled, you are no longer able to do that which defined you? What then? We need to realize that true meaning in life is not found in earthly things or possessions, or even in what we perceive to be our calling or vocation. These are things God gives us that we should enjoy while we are on earth, but in the end, they should not be the source of meaning for our lives.

Lastly,

By the end of Ecclesiastes, I'm not sure that Solomon has truly worked through his existential crisis.  He does conclude that, regardless of how things may appear in our earthly life: "Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man's all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil." (12:13-14). While his final conclusion perhaps is not the full meaning I would wish for, it does rest on something unchangeable and incorporeal: God. While our time here on earth is transient and it may struggle with whether anything we do here has meaning, in the end, there is a God in Heaven whom we must serve.  We are immortal souls housed in mortal flesh in an absurd world that is riddled with sin. It is a difficult task to find our meaning in the everlasting when we are so daily faced with temporal and earthly distractions and pains. I think that God is okay with us struggling with the meaning of life and it's apparent meaningless at times. He is okay with us questioning why bad things happen to good people. And perhaps, this very struggle is a necessary and even good part of coming to an understanding of the purpose of our time, on earth and eternally.

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