October 7, 2012: The Meaninglessness of Breath and Vapor – Michael Hidalgo

In the first two verses of Ecclesiastes we encounter one word five times. Meaningless. It literally means breath or vapor. The only thing that life shows us is that it is a vapor. This can bring us to the point of depression or to a place where we tell lies to cover up the truth. Asking questions like, “Is this it?”

 

Perhaps this is our greatest fear in the world today. What if at the end of all of this nothing that I have said or done matters at all? Is this the great ruse of religion? Perhaps. But this raises an interesting question. Who defines meaning?

 

If the writer is able to say that something is meaningless, then he must understand meaning. Which raises another question, what gives meaning its … meaning? These questions must be wrestled with so they can serve as a framework for how we organize and live our lives everyday. It can inform who we are and exactly what we are called to do and be in our world.