The Purpose of Life

Day 3,216, 10:48 • Published in Canada Canada • by Jesse2016

People have been searching for the purpose of life for countless years, and it’s still very uncertain about why exactly we are here and for what reason we exist. Is it to gain wisdom and intellect; to try and know everything there is to know? Is it to gain mastery over the earth, it’s animals, plants and other natural processes? Is it to marry and have children to populate the earth with humans? Is it to accomplish our best in sports, accolades and gain prestige in society?

Well the Bible has a very interesting book called Ecclesiastes and it is essentially all about the smartest person that ever existed trying to figure out the meaning and purpose of life. His name was king Solomon and he tried many different ideas that might be the purpose of life but ultimately comes to a conclusion at the end of the book. But let’s start off with the introduction, he starts by saying what do people gain by toiling in their labour in the sun. He goes on in Ecc 1:4 saying “Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.” He then says in Ecc 1:9 “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.”

Solomon goes on to test wisdom and he finds that “For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief. (Ecc 1:1😎” He even mentions psychology in saying that studying madness and folly are also a chasing after the wind (Ecc 1:17). He admits that wisdom is greater than folly but he realizes that both the fool and the wise will both meet the same fate (that is death) in the end and there is no advantage to being wise (Ecc 2:15). He says “For the wise, like the fool, will not be long remembered; the days have already come when both have been forgotten. Like the fool, the wise too must die! (Ecc 2:16)”

Next Solomon tests pleasure to see if this is the meaning of life, but he also finds that this too is meaningless. He states laughter is madness and he tries cheering himself with wine, building great projects such as houses and vineyards. Ecc 2:5-6 says “I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees.” He amassed tons of gold and silver, had male and female slaves, and a harem (a group of wives and concubines), which he says is the delight of a man’s heart (Ecc 2:😎. But in the end he says “I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my labor, and this was the reward for all my toil. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.”

Labour and toil were tested next and Solomon found that all that he worked for will end up for the one after him (i.e. his children) and that toil is meaningless (Ecc 2:1😎. He says in Ecc 2:21 “For a person may labor with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must leave all they own to another who has not toiled for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune.” Therefore he says the best a man can do is to eat, drink and find satisfaction in their labour but that even this is meaningless (Ecc 2:24-26).

Solomon even says advancement is meaningless and while he says a wise but poor youth is better than an old foolish king, he says initially people will like the wise youth as the successor to be king but later on people will also dislike the youth. This means that although one may be popular for a moment, they may lose their popularity just as quick over time.

About wealth, Solomon says in Ecc 5:10 “Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless.” He also says the more stuff is produced, the more is consumed by people, but all you can do is to “feast their eyes on them” (Ecc 5:11).

Furthermore, Solomon states that if a man has a hundred children and lives a long life but if he does not enjoy his prosperity, a stillborn child is better than he (Ecc 6:3). He even says that much study wearies the body and that there is no end to making books (Ecc 12:12b).

In the end, Solomon concludes by saying in Ecc 6:13-14 “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.” Therefore, obeying God’s commands and having a healthy fear of God’s punishment is the purpose of life, there is nothing better than to please your creator and that is the reason why we are here.