The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem: “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” (Eccl 1:1-2).
Many people consider Winston Churchill the greatest person of the Twentieth Century. Most of us know he was the Prime Minister of Great Britain during World War II. Many people know of his oratorical skills. Fewer know that he was a writer and author of highly regarded histories, including histories of the English people and of World War II. Fewer people know that he was also an above average painter. His life and career began near the end of the Victorian Era and extended until the 1960’s. He retired from Parliament at ninety. Near the end of his life, as he pondered his life and the decline of Britain, he exclaimed over and over again, “All has been for nothing.” [1] If Winston Churchill could not find meaning in his achievements, what about the rest of us?
At our staff meeting this week, we talked about the many futuristic movies that come out each year: many are what are called Dystopia’s. Utopia’s are ideal societies Dystopias are degenerate societies. Both Utopia’s and Dystopia’s represent what writers and moviemakers think the future will be like. Increasingly, movies describe a future that is violent and dangerous. Movies like Deviant, Blade Runner, the Terminator movies, 1984, Fahrenheit 451, and others portray a society characterized by poverty, violence, corrupt governments, police states, squalor, suffering, oppression, and social decay. Make no mistake: these movies are successful because people increasingly fear this is the future we face. More and more young people view the future negatively. They don’t see life as having any stable meaning. They distrust existing institutions and see little hope for their improvement. They lack hope for the future and confidence in historic faith and morals. This is a big problem for our nation and for many other nations
In the last blog, I talked about the problem of suffering and the wise life. This blog deals with the problem of meaning and the wise life. As I mentioned in the prior blog, the wise men and women of Israel were aware that undeserved or disproportionate suffering was a challenge to their notion that wisdom brings blessings, including prosperity to a people. They were also aware that wise living, as important as it is for successfully facing life’s practical problems, does not guarantee meaning and purpose in human life.
The Problem of Meaning.
Practical wisdom has its limits. It can only profit human beings in the practical things of life. it can help us chose wisely, make a living, save for retirement, make friends, raise children, build a business, and the like. Practical wisdom cannot, however, answer life’s most difficult questions. Questions involving the meaning and purpose of life, the reason for suffering, and the often-dubious moral nature of the universe cannot be answered by human wisdom. These questions require a supernatural wisdom.
The search for wisdom is a human enterprise, and like all human enterprises, it is limited by our human finitude, sin, and shortcomings. Because we are human and understand that we must some day die, all of us are in some way aware that what we do, what we look like, what we accomplish, what we experience, where we go on vacation or to enjoy our hobbies: these things cannot give our lives ultimate meaning or purpose. They are all doomed to pass away. Therefore, all merely human attempts to construct a meaningful life are doomed to failure. This is one reason why the so-called “Enlightenment Project” has failed so spectacularly. It is also why modern attempts to construct an ultimately meaningful life outside of some religious tradition (such as existentialism) have largely failed. Over the long run, they simply cannot succeed.
Not long ago, two authors, Richard Leider and David Shapiro wrote a book entitled, “Repacking Your Bags: Lighten Your Load for the Rest of Your Life” [2] In writing the book they found that most people’s number-one fear is living a meaningless life. According to a recent poll, 97 percent of “Generation Y” (twenty-somethings) are looking for work that will allow them to have an impact on the world. Even in our secular culture, the search for meaning is important. It is also important for Christian faith to address the issue of meaning, for it is in religious faith–a faith whose ground lies beyond the horizon of human life and human potential–that ultimate answers to the greatest questions of life, including the question of meaning, are to be found.
Therefore, if the problem of meaning was important in the ancient world, it is even more important today and in the emerging post-modern culture of our society. Today, people and especially young people, live in a culture of meaninglessness. In movies, on television, in the media, and in the lyrics of songs, they and we confront a culture in which many cultural elites and ordinary folks have lost confidence in the things that for generations gave life meaning. In particular, there is a kind of revolt against the “American Dream” and the notion that increasing affluence and personal peace can make life meaningful.
Solomon: The Ultimate Example
The Book of Ecclesiastes was written as if Solomon were the author. The book and Solomon’s life are one big illustration and meditation on the problem of life’s meaning and purpose. Solomon began well. He began his adult life with a sense of his limitations and a pleasing humility. When David died, Solomon carefully solidified his power, relying on this mother and some of David’s closest advisors, like Nathan the Prophet (see 1 Kings 1-2). He made wise diplomatic alliances (1 Kings 3:1). When God appeared and offered to give him whatever his heart desired, Solomon asked for wisdom (1 Samuel 3:7-9). God was so moved by Solomon’s request for wisdom that he promised Solomon that he would receive wisdom, riches, honor, a long life, and all the many other things for which Solomon might have asked—and that is exactly what occurred. Solomon was the most successful king of his day, known all over the ancient middle east for his wisdom. Unfortunately, his life did not end in the way it began.
Solomon’s initial wisdom is nowhere more obvious than in the most famous incident from his life. Two women, both prostitutes, brought a child to him. [3] One of the women had rolled over in the night and smothered her baby. Both women claimed the living child was theirs. No one could tell who was the real mother. Solomon ordered the baby cut in half, with half given to each woman. Naturally, the real mother cried out at this result, offering that the other woman her baby. Solomon awarded the baby to the woman who cried out in defense of the child. The people were amazed at Solomon’s wisdom.
The writer of Ecclesiastes recounts all of the ways in which a wise and active king like Solomon might attempt to find or create meaning in life. He undertook great building projects, just as Solomon undertook to make Jerusalem a lovely city with the Temple to God as its centerpiece. Unfortunately, his building projects could not give his life meaning. The writer had many women and enjoyed all of life’s pleasures. Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines (1 Kings 11:3). Many of these women were, however, from foreign countries and brought foreign gods with them. In marrying these women, Solomon violated God’s command that the people of Israel were not to intermarry with the surrounding people (I Kings 11:2). Just as God prophesied, Solomon’s wives led him astray. These women did not provide meaning or purpose for Solomon’s life. Solomon has children to whom he may leave his throne, but his son is foolish and his kingdom does not last but a short time after his death. In the end, the story of Solomon is of a man who begins well, but ends poorly.
In Ecclesiastes, the writer, like Solomon, begins his quest for meaning by seeking wisdom. He studies, observes, and reflects upon life. But, the complexities of life are too great. In the end, he admits that achieving all-embracing wisdom is beyond human capacity (Ecclesiastes 7:23). Faced with the realization that the search for wisdom is unending, the writer seeks to find meaning in success and pleasure. He exercises his human abilities, building houses and gardens, acquiring flocks and herds, and planting crops and fruit trees (Ecclesiastes 2:4-7). He eats and drinks to his heart’s content (Ecclesiastes 2:1-2). He amasses great wealth (Ecclesiastes 2:8). He denies himself nothing his heart desires. In the end, it does not give his life meaning (Ecclesiastes 2:10-11). The message is simple—not even Solomon, the greatest and wisest of the Jews, could give his life meaning and purpose by his accomplishments and experiences. Neither can we.
The story of Solomon is like the imaginary story of Allen I tell in Path of Life. [4] Allen is introduced as a successful businessperson who built a fairly large company and is, by any standard, a wealthy person. He has several homes, a private airplane, and many of the outward signs of wealth. For a time when he was younger, he kept a mistress. His success was not without cost, however. He worked long hours and sacrificed time with his family and children. By the time his children were in college, they were all more or less estranged from him. His son, who he once hoped would take over the family business, has not been home for some years and lives in a different state. Some years ago, his wife left him—tired of living alone with a man who most often ignored her. Since the divorce, Allen spent most of his time working. Not so long ago, he was visiting with his lawyer about his will. It was a difficult conversation. Finally, the lawyer looked at him and said, “Allen, you are trying to run your business from the grave—and you cannot do that. When you die, it is all over.” Allen comes to see the wisdom of that remark. His years of work seem wasted. As he reflects on his life he thinks, “I have just a few months to live, and I have to wind down this business or sell it. My life’s work is wasted.”
In each of our own ways, we can end up just like Allen: we can spend our lives on things that don’t really, ultimately matter. We live in a materialistic and romantic culture. We all, whether rich or poor, are tempted to find meaning in possessions or in experiences that bring us some form of pleasure. Experience teaches that these attempts ultimately fail us. When I was in seminary, I worked for a few weeks at a retirement home. It was filled with all sorts of people. Interestingly, those who had a religious faith were most often content, if sad that they had to leave their home. Many were walking with a kind of calm dignity towards the end of their lives. Those who were not, were often people who placed all of their sense of worth and meaning on accomplishments, things or experiences of the past.
The Limits of Wisdom
In the end, the writer of Ecclesiastes like a burned-out shell gives up the search for meaning. The search for meaning and purpose, whether by wisdom or foolishness, by work or leisure, by the search for beauty or a life of self-denial, whether by goodness or self-seeking selfishness, fails. Ecclesiastes concludes that all a reasonable human being can do is enjoy the simple pleasures of life and accept what comes from the hand of God (Ecclesiastes 2:24-26). It turns out that a good marriage, honest business partners, children who are well-raised and who take care of parents when they are old, using our God-given talents as best we can for the benefit of ourselves and others, having a good name, and all the other teachings of wisdom are good things we should practice. They just cannot provide ultimate meaning.
Our human quest to find ultimate meaning within the boundaries of one finite human life cannot succeed. Yet, the author of Ecclesiastes is not a nihilist or a moral relativist. In fact, he is quite the opposite. Faced with the limits of human wisdom, the writer is thrown back into the arms of God (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14). Despite the limitations of human life, we are still well-advised to respect God and obey his commands. In this world, and in the next, we will be called to account for our practical and moral failures. However, for meaning, we must look elsewhere.
This is not to say, we should not enjoy life and its simple pleasures. While it is true that our accomplishments cannot provide meaning and purpose for life, this does not mean we should not enjoy them. One good piece of advice the writer of Ecclesiastes gives is that we should enjoy the pleasures of youth while we are young because they will not last forever (Ecclesiastes 12:1-7). The writer believes that we should be good and follow the law of God, but remember that this law is for this life. It cannot give our lives meaning and purpose. The writer believes we should enjoy food, family. feast days, good wine, the love of our spouse and all the other blessings of life. We just cannot ask more of them than they were intended to provide for us.
When All is Said and Done
I love the image attached to this paragraph. [5] It is a series of four pictures representing the spring, summer, fall, and winter of life. In the beginning, there is a young boy flying a kite, perhaps on a family farm. Then, there are two young lovers kissing at the same place, representing the summer of life with all its passion, commitments, and striving. Third, there is an old man looking at his wife’s grave at the spot they first kissed, remembering their love. Finally, there is no one, just two graves at that sacred spot.
Ecclesiastes reminds us that our earthly lives have a beginning, middle, and end. We cannot be children forever. We cannot be young lovers forever. We cannot succeed forever. We cannot build forever. Life is a journey from the cradle to the grave. We don’t even know for sure how long that journey will be. The best we can do is love and respect God, live with wisdom and goodness, love God and other people, and enjoy at each stage of life the pleasures that stage or time of life offers to us. However, we cannot give those things ultimate meaning. For ultimate meaning, we must look to God and to Easter morning.
[1] Richard Toye, Churchill’s Empire: the World that Made Him and the World He Made (New York, NY, Henry Holt and Company, 2010), 303. This quote appears in my book, Path of Life.
[2] See, Hugh Whechel, “Fear of a Meaningless Life” (July 3, 2012) at blog.tifwe.org/fear-of-a-meaningless-life/#sthash.oLyPv99I.dpuf. I have not read the books quoted; the passage is based on the blog.
[3] This story is found in 1 Kings 3:16-28.
[4] As always in this series of blog posts, a great deal of this blog is from G. Christopher Scruggs, Path of Life (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2014).
[5] See, http://souljournaler.blogspot.com/2010/07/examining-scripture-xc-under-sun-i.html
Copyright 2014, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved