Episode Details

Ecclesiastes – The Futility of LifeIf you have never read the Old Testament Book of Ecclesiastes, I really recommend it. It’s about the complete pointlessness of life. Even arch-atheist Richard Dawkins has, at points, declared his admiration for this book particularly in the King James translation.Ecclesiastes is an unflinchingly honest analysis of the problem of the human condition, namely its vanity, or its futility. Unlike pretty much every other book in the Bible, Ecclesiastes is not really about God. Rather, it is about us and specifically us as we might seem to be if we don't consider God.At the beginning of the book Solomon begins to seek for wisdom is that is done in this world. Some pursuits, such as the pursuit of knowledge might seem to be more valuable than others such as the enjoyment of laughter, feasting or riches, but ultimately they are all futile. Ultimately they are all in vain.The vanity of all of these things can be observed in different ways, but there is a common root to all of it – namely, the impermanence, the transience of this life. The fact that, whatever we have, can be taken away in a moment now and will be taken away forever when we are gone. This transience lends to life a kind of absurd quality, which disturbs us, and so we try not to think about it very much. We distract ourselves from it.In our passage today, Solomon speaks of toil and riches. Why is toil so vain? Why is wealth so futile? Because, ‘I must leave it to the man who will come after me’. And he may be a fool and do stupid things with everything I’ve earned. And, what is worse, I may not even get to enjoy that which I have. ‘Sometimes,’ Solomon writes, a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it’. And, what is perhaps even worse, is that I have worn myself out in all my toil for wealth which I will not enjoy and which will be left to a fool after me.‘What has a man from all the toil and striving of his heart with which he toils beneath the sun? For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity’. – Ecclesiastes 2:23In my opinion, one of the greatest films of modern times is a film that was made in 2002 called ‘Igby Goes Down’. Igby Goes Down is about a wealthy teenage boy who lives in New York and rebels against the vacuousness of his family and social milieu. Part of the film is about his relationship with a character played by Jeff Goldblum, who is called D.H. D.H. is an immensely rich real estate magnet who exudes confidence and satisfaction but who is really deeply manipulative and even wrathful beneath the surface.In a telling exchange Igby and D.H. speak of a third person who has suffered some recent trouble. “I believe that certain people in life are meant to fall by the wayside,” D.H. says, “to serve as warnings to the rest of us; signposts along the way.” “To where?” Igby says. D.H. pauses and then says, as though the answer should be obvious, “Success.”Now, of course, the problem with that answer is that success implies some other ultimate criteria, some goal or point to life that can, at least theoretically, be fulfilled. “Success”, without reference to anything else, is a meaningless word. And that, ultimately, is the point of the film: that wealth and social prestige and “success” in all of this is futile and ugly and tasteless and empty. Just like Ecclesiastes tells us, it is vanity. It is right to feel as Igby does, repelled by it, disgusted to his core. As he says in one emotional outburst towards the end of the story, “Everybody’s cold. Cold to the bone. Cold to the brain. Cold to the marrow.”“Be on your guard against all covetousness…”The reading from Ecclesiastes is well-chosen because it is echoed in the words of Christ to a disgruntled man who asks Jesus to adjudicate a dispute between him and his brother over their inheritance.“Man, who made me a ju