Primarily I was disillusioned with my college education, but that feeling spread to encompass many areas of my life. Everything seemed arbitrary and pointless -- and reading the first few chapters it really was comforting to hear someone else from a completely different time saying the same things. It was like -- I'm not alone here. Many people seemed to feel this way with Bojack Horseman as well... Though I find Ecclesiastes much more satisfying at the end.
In fact, knowingly or not, many people are echoing the same sentiments here: everything is the same, nothing is new, history repeats itself -- things are bent, and there's no straightening it.
But where the rubber meets the road is this: all the suggestions people told me didn't seem to be of any help. "Just do a hobby, exercise, or travel!" is a hollow suggestion when you think everything is meaningless, "a chasing after the wind."
The author talks about the futility of work, wisdom, pleasure, relationships, even gardening! But then he even talks about miscarriage of justice, and government corruption. "Why do bad things happen to good people?" It's like he's tugging on this weed on human existence, and the more he pulls, the deeper the roots of the problem go.
I'll leave with just two verses that stick out to me:
Better to spend your time at funerals than at parties. After all, everyone dies— so the living should take this to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter, for sadness has a refining influence on us. A wise person thinks a lot about death, while a fool thinks only about having a good time.
Ecclesiastes 7:2-4 NLT
Especially as a young man, that impacted me. Much of life seems to be an effort to avoid suffering -- to the extent that suicide is seen as a viable option. But I look at Joni Eareckson Tada, and the impact her life has had on so many people, in spite of her terrible suffering.
But the jewel on top is the final chapter. It's a direct rebuttal to nihilism and absurdism. There is a meaning and purpose in life to be found in your creator. This feeling of meaninglessness was hole that only Jesus could fill. Once he was there, I found the meaningless imbued with meaning and purpose.
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