It was a warm evening in the desert, the sun beginning to set on another glorious day. A slight breeze carried through the air, and in the distance the mountains looked majestic under the darkening sky. Not far from where I was standing, the crowds were beginning to build in preparation for another endless night of partying, drinking and gambling. Yes, here I was in the midst of endless debauchery, the capitol of sin, Las Vegas.
This evening found me alone here in this city, with plenty of time to observe the human condition in this place. People were carrying on, laughing, celebrating, and throwing money around everywhere. “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” is the mentality that seems so prevalent here. Beyond the surface of the exterior emotions, people seemed to largely be walking in a hollow, empty shell of life. Throwing money after money, chasing pleasure after pleasure just to stave off the feeling of utter destruction just a while longer. These are my thoughts as I wandered the city, to observe what the human condition is like.
2:1 I said to myself, “Come on, let’s try pleasure. Let’s look for the ‘good things’ in life.” But I found that this, too, was meaningless. 2 So I said, “Laughter is silly. What good does it do to seek pleasure?” 3 After much thought, I decided to cheer myself with wine. And while still seeking wisdom, I clutched at foolishness. In this way, I tried to experience the only happiness most people find during their brief life in this world. – Ecclesiastes 2:1-3
Trying to find meaning, it seems that we as humans will search every corner we can find. But, what if, after all that searching, we never find meaning? If everything we try is meaningless, do we then just fritter all our time away on pursuing ‘Pleasure’? In contemplating this state of the human condition and contrasting the words of Ecclesiastes, it seems that a logical conclusion is to become depressed with what this world holds. Yet, the book ends with what I consider to be a great message of hope…
12:8 “Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless.” … 12:13 Here now is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is your complete duty. – Ecclesiastes 12:8-13
Since anything we can hope to accomplish effectively boils down to meaningless, our only duty, the only thing that we have to do is to fear God and obey his commands. By following His commands, we find that the two most important things we can do are to love God, and to love others. So, in studying the human condition, I have come to the conclusion that the highest goal, my highest calling is to simply show love – to every person I possibly can.
