Everything is meaningless

‘Meaningless! Meaningless!’
says the Teacher.
‘Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless.’
What do people gain from all their labours
at which they toil under the sun?
Generations come and generations go,
but the earth remains for ever.
The sun rises and the sun sets,
and hurries back to where it rises.
The wind blows to the south
and turns to the north;
round and round it goes,
ever returning on its course.
All streams flow into the sea,
yet the sea is never full.
To the place the streams come from,
there they return again.
All things are wearisome,
more than one can say.
The eye never has enough of seeing,
nor the ear its fill of hearing.
What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.
Is there anything of which one can say,
‘Look! This is something new’?
It was here already, long ago;
it was here before our time.
No one remembers the former generations,
and even those yet to come
will not be remembered
by those who follow them.  Ecclesiastes 1:2-11

Ever thought that way? That everything is meaningless?

What is the point of being here at all?

Work is meaningless. Housework is meaningless. Answering emails is meaningless. Weeding is meaningless.

However much work you do, there is still more to do. However much you have achieved, the to do list never gets any smaller.

What can any of us actually achieve in one small life? Think of all the generations that have come and gone. All those people who have tried their best to make their life significant…and where are they now? Completely forgotten. Who remembers us after we are gone? What difference does it actually make that we are not here any more? How long does it take for all memory of us to fade away? So what was the point of any of it?

The earth carries on regardless. It does not need you or me. The sun rises and the sun sets. The wind blows. The rivers flow. Nothing changes. It’s all the same day after day after day. It’s so predictable. So monotonous. And why does any of this happen? What is the point of it all?

There is nothing new out there. Nothing that has not already been seen and heard. Nothing that has not been attempted. We’re spending all our days reinventing the wheel. What will any of us be remembered for? Nothing! Absolutely nothing. So what is the point in even trying?

Cheery stuff,  I know. I don’t know about you, but I think that way a lot. Futility is one of my things. An overriding sense of futility is one of my weaknesses, I guess. A throwback to that long period of negative thinking and depression in my life. The all-pervading sense of meaninglessness that made it so hard to get out of bed every morning. The feeling that however hard I tried, nothing I did or was would ever be good enough, so what was the point in even trying? But it was wider than that too – a sense of futility about the universe. I really couldn’t see the point in any of it. In any part of the universe. In any living being. In humanity itself.

Maybe you get it. You see exactly where I’m coming from. I think I believed that everyone thought that way, but it seems not. Some people just get on with life and do a great job of it. I was out for a run with a friend last night discussing this, and she really didn’t get where I was coming from at all. She’s happy enough to simply live and let the universe take care of itself. She doesn’t ever stop to think about the meaning of life. And that’s great. That’s a gift, I think. I mean that. If everyone was like me, the world would grind to a halt.

Maybe you feel this sense of meaninglessness but can’t admit to it. You surround yourself with positive people and don’t want to be accused of dragging them down. You don’t want to appear different. You have a wonderful family and don’t want to upset them. You belong to a faith community that does not allow space for such thoughts.

And yes, you’re right. Thinking this way can be dangerous. It can take away our reason for living. It can rob us of our joy. It is not good to get stuck in a rut of futility where even genuine achievements are robbed of significance.

However, I would suggest that thinking this way every now and then is completely normal and nothing to be ashamed of. It is OK to say so. Even if it is a conversation killer – last time I went to have my hair cut, I was asked ‘How are you doing?’ and I replied ‘Struggling with the futility of life’. Hardly what my hairdresser was expecting, I suspect!

But I cannot allow this kind of thinking to take over my life. Most of the time, I just keep busy. I do loads and get a sense of achievement from doing loads, even if what I have done has no great significance. You would look at some of what I do and think it is meaningless. I colour. I stare at a candle flame. I write. A lot. And I do plenty of really active things too. So yes. You probably would judge some of what I do as meaningless. But guess what, I sometimes look at what other people do and think their activities are meaningless too.

But whatever stops us from feeling that life is meaningless is not meaningless.

So today, we are staying in this place of ‘Everything is meaningless’. I am not going to try to convince you any different just yet. We’re working through a book, remember, and this is where we are today. There is more to come. More that will move us on from here.

TO DO: Write down the phrase ‘Everything is meaningless’ in the middle of a piece of A4 paper. Set a timer for ten minutes. Ten minutes only. Then think about that phrase for ten minutes. Allow yourself to think the thoughts you do not normally allow yourself to think. Write things down. Reflect. Draw. Doodle. Whatever. Do not judge yourself. Do not try to say the right thing. There are no right answers.

And after ten minutes, stop. Stop thinking that way. Put the paper away in a drawer. We will come back to it.

And then go and do something. Something physical. Take a shower. Hoover. Take the dog for a walk. And get in touch with that feeling of being glad to be alive again.