Meaning(Less) of Life ; An Ecclesiastes Study

And Finally, Be Truthful

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.

(Ecclesiastes 12 : 13, NIV)

As I've mentioned earlier, Ecclesiastes is one of the 3 wisdom literature in the bible and was called skeptical wisdom. What he's trying to promote is not about to give more rules to the readers or a piece of helpful advice. What he's mostly doing is about examining the world's rule and how he said that almost all of them are hevel. Life is continuously going every day and not a single human can tackle it and understand it perfectly. Some things in life are too absurd or difficult to be understood, and sometimes we called it unfair. Some things are too mean, dark, and bad for the soul. And that's what the writer is tried to elaborate, observe, and cursing the hevel.

The meaning behind hevel life

So, what's the meaning behind our temporal life? That's what we're trying to find, isn't it? To find a meaning, to search for, or to formulate. Some of us manage it, some of us don't. And after all, life still goes on and spinning around. In some sense, the writer never mentioned about the purpose of human beings in general, because whether we're rich or poor, wise or fool, good or bad, a common destiny (death) comes to us all. We're just like the animals that live and die, come and go, in the eyes of the universe.

Well, at least God put some moral intuitions into our hearts so that instead of doing bad things and make the situations go worse, we try to do good things at least for ourselves and the surroundings. We all do good things, at least most of our time, but do we do it right? Do we do it properly? Or if there's any chance that we ourselves do this because of our hidden desires to be recognized? To be loved? Or to hope for others' kindness as well?

Immanuel Kant saw this as a problem and at some point, also the problem for the religion. He thought that to do a good thing and spread kindness but also thinking about the credit, reward, or even good karma for ourselves is a bad intention. It creates expectations for others that they too must do the same thing to us and surely, we'll be disappointed to them and to ourselves. He suggests another alternative to guide us. Instead of "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you", he revised the rules into do good things to others, because it's the right thing to do. Period. And that's what the writer was trying to tell us at the end of the book.

If life is meaningless, why we need to know God and fear Him?

We've discussed before that we sometimes didn't get about our life meanings, right? It's all empty and everything that we do is worthless. So, why bother to do even truthful things? To know God, fear Him, and keep His rules? Isn't all of that just pointless and vague because in the end, we all are going to die anyway, the world will never remember us as well, also it often makes us do things that we don't like? Well, the answer is simple. Because at least, that's where we started. Start simple and start doing something right, even if it's a small one.

To you who are still looking for an answer, hopefully, this could help you to start. We all know God exists according to our personal interpretations. Then, to maximize our personal experience to the existence of God, we need to explore more about Him. To seek knowledge, discussions with friends, whatever that it takes. And, at some level, you'll see that God does not just exist for the world, but more personally, exist for you. He's not just the Great Creator, but also a loving Father. And to fear him (other terms for to obey His Words) is another step to take, in the path of light.

Yes, it's fearful and scary things to do. What if what we do is wrong? What if it leads me nowhere? That's the leap of faith that Kirkeegard mentioned. You'd never know the answer until you go for it. It's not like following the orders blindly, although it seems like one, it's about following the orders with a sense of logic. We don't know what will happens next, or what will come to us, but at least we know that it's the right thing to do as a believer.

Skeptical that leads to enlightenment

I always love Paul's quotes to 'test them (could mean knowledge, belief, fact, or story) all; hold on to what is good", and that's the way I find my faith in Him, not by merely following what my parents or teachers want me to do, but to take a good look with my own faith, examine everything, even criticize it, and if all of those things don't feel right, I have the will to let it go and abandon it. Sometimes, skeptical itself leads to enlightenment. I found myself when I'm being skeptical of my faith, God didn't forbid me to act like that.

That's when He encouraged me, to read the Ecclesiastes book about a pearl of skeptical wisdom. A pearl of wisdom that questioned almost everything in the world. To put on test things that are appealing to the human's soul and criticize them. He even criticizes himself! A wise, wealthy, and powerful king criticize about wisdom, richness, and authority. Yes, it's one crazy book. But even when he said that almost everything in this world is hevel, in the end, he stated to us (the readers), to always choose to do the right thing. Since then, my faith has been attached to my mind, my soul, and my heart deep down that I feel like a free man. The Truth Hath-Set Me Free.

To speak the truth, live with truth, and hold on to the truth is always a better option, but it's never an easy option. Sometimes it's easy, but often it's not, because truth never considering personal feelings. Truth doesn't exist so that people could live comfortably. Even Jesus said that he came not to bring peace, but to put the sword. Although the truth is liberating me, what it most often do, is to seek flaws and bad things that embedded in our soul. That's why we sometimes can't be comfortable to stay in the path of light.

Life gets tougher when we started to live in truth, but it's always worthwhile doing, and although it leads you to the unknown, it cleanse our soul so that we could grow better (Peterson, 2018). It's the reason why Communism ends in the Soviet Union. When someone stands up to the truth and speak truthfully. It's the reason why we all love heroes' story whether it's Horus, Harry Potter, or even Jesus. Because we all know that truth sometimes is a tough choice, it could even be made the heroes suffer or even killed (In Christ's case). But in the end, it's always the right thing to do.

When all things crumble and vanish

When all things are crumbling, the system is failing, humanity has lost its touch, the morality has vanished, and bad things happened to our lives, we all are afraid, terrified, and lived in terror. It must've been difficult to do the right thing, because it may threaten our lives. There is no guarantee that it'll lead us to a better way, and this is when the Teacher finally challenged us. Will you do the right thing, even if it horrifies your soul? Will you still loyal to the truth, even If it gives no good in return? Will you stay to be truthful, just because it's the right thing to do? And He answered, Yes. Do it, because that's our duty.

So, will you still hold on to the truth, even if you knew that you'll go to hell, eventually?