Where Is Meaning? Series

People try all avenues to bring meaning and purpose to their life.

I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.” But that also proved to be meaningless. (Ecclesiastes 2:1)

You name any field, professional sports, business, politics and if you do just a little searching you will find that what they found in the end was, it did not bring meaning and purpose. Even the awards that they sacrificed to achieve do not satisfy after they reached the height in their field.

Leonardo DiCaprio finds fame "empty and pointless". He said, "You learn, after you've been in the business for a while, that fame is empty and pointless."

Today many are re-evaluating the lifestyle of seeking pleasure. The rich and famous are coming to the same conclusion of another rich and famous person Solomon, “meaningless”.

It would be wonderful if we could learn from others’ mistakes. We are drawn into the meaningless pursuits. We neglect the meaningful in pursuit of the meaningless. It happened to the son of King David, and it still is happening all around us. How do we keep it from happening to us?

“Laughter,” I said, “is madness. And what does pleasure accomplish?” 3 I tried cheering myself with wine and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their lives. (Ecclesiastes 2:2-3)

As a baby you most likely learned to laugh before you learned to say your first word. Our laughter can create a powerful connection with others. There are many wonderful benefits to our lives from laughter, but at some point, it fails in bringing the deep meaning to our lives. There are some gifted comedians who made us laugh but their lives were very empty.

It is great to have a sense of humor, but if we lack other range of emotions, we will have a shallow life. In the next chapter Solomon says there is a time to weep and a time to laugh.

Along the same line as laughter, Solomon says the same for cheering ourselves up with wine. There may be some short-term sense of cheer, but that is different than long term meaning. Look at how Solomon is searching. He said, I wanted to see. He was seeking. He could really say he had been there and tried that. When he said laughter and wine are not bringing meaning it is because that was his experience.

What about the pleasures of wealth. Solomon was an expert in this. He was the wealthiest person in the world. He is not talking theory here.

Probably everyone has come across a person who felt like if they won ten million dollars in the lottery then everything would be great for them. It is shocking to read stories of those who do become instantly wealthy, and it destroys them and has just the opposite effect of what they thought would happen with wealth.

There are some things money can do. It can allow you to run your air conditioner on a hot day. You could afford a reliable car. But money controls people and soon chasing money is stealing our quality of life not adding to it. This is summed up as the rat race. When no amount of money satisfies, and everyone wants more.

The story of the Mexican village fisherman points out the folly of the rat race. A boat was docked in a tiny Mexican fishing village. A tourist complimented a local fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took him to catch them. “Not very long” he answered.

“Why didn’t you stay out longer and catch more?” The fisherman explained that their small catches were sufficient to meet his needs and those of his family. “But what do you do with the rest of your time?” “I sleep late, play with our children, and take siestas with my wife. In the evenings, I go into the village to see our friends, have a few drinks, play the guitar, and sing a few songs. I have a full life.”

The tourist interrupted, “I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help you! You should start by fishing longer every day. You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat.”

“And after that?” The fisherman asked. “With the extra money the larger boat will bring, you can buy a second one and a third one and so on until you have an entire fleet of boats. Instead of selling your fish to a middleman, you can then negotiate directly with the processing plants and maybe even open your own plant. You can then leave this little village and move to Mexico City, Los Angeles, or even New York City!!! From there you can direct your huge new enterprise.”