Clarifying Your Mission In MidlifeMuestra

Meaninglessness—How do we find meaning when life seems pointless?

The Hebrew name of the author of Ecclesiastes is Qoheleth (often rendered “teacher” in English), and many biblical scholars believe that Qoheleth is King Solomon.

Popular wisdom has it that if Solomon wrote Song of Songs, it was probably in the spring of life, when he was flush with first love. He likely wrote Proverbs in the middle of his life, at the height of his intellectual and political power. And finally, he wrote Ecclesiastes late in life, when the only thing left to tally was the bottom line.

Considering all of Solomon’s accomplishments, from one perspective, his life is quite impressive. But it lacks one teeny, tiny thing: meaning. For Solomon, somehow it all feels absurdly worthless.

Ecclesiastes soberly assesses all the chasing and toiling we do, deflating its value and deleting its meaning. Then he says, “There you have it: that’s life.” What’s the point?

But his assertion is not that life really is pointless. Qoheleth simply knows that you have to face the meaninglessness of your self-made life before you can find meaning from another source. So he writes from a perspective “under the sun”—under the glaring light and relentless heat of our earthly grind. Concentrate for a moment on this life—just this life—as if that’s all there is, viewing life the way most people do. And then imagine another perspective.

With wealth and power at his disposal, Solomon spent his time and energy pursuing his own passions, leaving no desire unfulfilled, no stone unturned, in a quest for meaning. His conclusion: “Take it from an old man like me; most of what you think matters doesn’t.”

Qoheleth's opening assertion, “Everything is meaningless,” is sweeping but not quite as absolute as it seems. He’s just putting his thesis out there. Like a great teacher, he follows it with a question:

“What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun?” (Ecclesiastes 1:3)

And here’s the blunt answer: Nothing, if we are toiling for things that don’t ultimately matter.

The good news for midlifers is this: Just because there’s no meaning under the sun doesn’t mean there is no meaning beyond it. To use the oft-quoted line of C.S. Lewis, “If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.”