Meaningless
NOTE: I just realized that I missed the entry period for articles on the Hive learner topic "Why" but I finished the article and I figured I haven't written in a while so... why not his Publish. My apologies to the community for posting late.
Then I thought a little further. Nothing like an article that is two days old and out of synch to emphasize that in the end things are important for the moment and gone the next... the exact thesis of the article. Enjoy (or not)
One of the things about having two sons in their early twenties is trying to help them answer hard questions like : What is the meaning of life?. What is my purpose? and of course many other tough questions like what kind of job should they have. How should they invest and many other things.
Now some parents have great advice to give their children. My advice was admittedly less inspiring. The reason is that I had those exact same questions and I found my answer while reading the Bible. I read a chapter in the bible called "Ecclesiastes" and it resonated with me although it is not a feel good type of book.
It basically says life is meaningless.
The entire basis is: Life of vapor--here today and gone tomorrow. Life is basically vanity. We think its important when in reality it isn't.
If you want to follow the path of knowledge?
It is better to be learned and wise than a fool but there is a great equalizer: Both end up equally dead in the end.
If you want to follow wealth?
Sure its great to have wealth but money just brings trouble all its own. You get false friends and people who hang around until the money dries up. The worst part? You do the hard work, then you die, and the people who inherit it don't value it and squander all your hard work.
If you want to build things?
It mentions that they looked at building great fields and orchards. Beautiful works in their time and what happens after death? They fall into disuse and are typically forgotton.
Want to follow pleasures?
How about just living for a good time? Wine? Women? Comfort and ease? Makes people feel empty and wonder what it was all for. Death swallows up everyone in the end making all those pleasures ultimately fleeting
One of the things I remember most of all is that time is a great equalizer making all things fade. Don't believe me? Okay try this. Think of your parents. Fairly easy. Think of your grandparents? Harder. Think of your great grandparents. Do you know anything about them? Now how about your great great grandparents? I'm guessing that with very few exceptions you know nothing about those people and they were 80-100 years ago.
Or on a different note looking back at movies. If I were to ask which of these is a good movie: The Emoji Movie, Freddie Got Fingered, The Astral Factor or The Green Slime? At a guess many would know the Emoji Movie is a steaming pile of **** (apologies to anyone who enjoyed it) but the other three? They have been pretty much forgotten whether they were good or bad.
Which leads me to the point: A truly good person and a truly evil person are forgotten in time. Legendary figures may be remembered but even then the idea of how good or bad they were, what they were actually like, anything other than a key point or two? Gone. Vanished. Just like breath on a chilly morning.
What's the point?
If I read and remember the book properly the point was: Live for today and enjoy the fruit of your labor. Work hard and enjoy what that works brings you. If death swallows everything in the future and everything is for today? You only live once so enjoy it.
But as a Christian there is a little bit more.
Death isn't the end
and
People were created by God
Now those might be unpopular opinions in today's society and the God I pray to may not be the God that others pray to.
However, for me it makes all the difference.
Knowing that ultimately my life is vapor which will be forgotten within a generation or maybe two is kind of refreshing. Whether I have a prestigious job or a meager one doesn't make a lot of difference in the end. Indeed, I told my sons how I would measure their career.
I told them "I don't care if you are a Doctor or a Janitor. The measure is: Can you support your family, lead a life you enjoy, and look at yourself in the mirror and smile at who you are". If the answer is yes to those three questions then congratulations.
Then I said further "I hope you become a Christian. By my estimation either I'm right or I'm wrong about there being a God. If I'm right then I'll be glad on judgement day that I lived properly. If I'm wrong? Well, at least I had a guidebook and direction to show me a path through an otherwise aimless life".
TLDR
To sum it all up for the Hive Learners post prompt: Why?
Life only has a reason if there is something lasting. Human life isn't it. Human culture? Probably not. However, if there is a God who created and orchestrated things? If there is something after death? Then finding a spot in a grand design would be my reason for being.
And I'm quite certain my son who loves studying Philosophy would say my argument holds no water. He might be right. While I live I'm still going to follow my path and in the end? Time will eventually tell :D
Thanks for reading
Measuring your sons by whether they can support their family, enjoy life, and smile at themselves makes deep sense to me.
To sum everything up, for me it comes down to three core principles:
Fear of God
Love of God
Gratitude to God
Those who internalize these three principles, as believers, have understood the essence of the universe.
Consider Pakistani culture as an example. A mother-in-law worries about whether her daughter-in-law will care for her; a husband expects a nurturing wife; and a wife hopes her new family will understand her and support her passions. These are heavy expectations placed on people who do not share the same blood. Even within biological relationships, parents in Pakistan worry whether their sons will care for them in their old age, especially when poor diet and routine leave many elderly individuals unable to even fetch a glass of water for themselves.
All these social and moral anxieties fade when people truly fear God. When we realize that we are ultimately answerable to the Divine, caring for others becomes a spiritual duty rather than a transactional burden, eliminating these endless societal worries.
When it comes to the Love of God, many people become consumed by negativity, past traumas, and heartbreak, feeling as though their world has ended. In my work offering verbal therapy, I regularly meet individuals carrying profound grief. One of my current patients has two sons living abroad, one in America and one in Dubai, while his third son tragically drowned right before his eyes at the beach. Despite years of medication and conventional therapy, nothing has truly healed him; clinical treatments often just numb his emotions rather than help him process his pain.
His suffering is not unique. I have treated someone who lost his wife to cancer just eight months after their wedding, and we see vast human tragedy worldwide: families destroyed in Palestine, airstrikes hitting hospitals in Afghanistan, and violence against Kashmiris where families are left searching for missing loved ones. How do you offer hope to someone who has lost everything? The answer lies in a deep dive into the Love of God, understanding that temporal loss is reframed through divine wisdom, mercy, and the promise of ultimate justice and reunion.
Regarding Gratitude to God, I recently faced a repair bill of over $170 for my power backup system and had to endure weeks of load-shedding, living without electricity for nearly 12 hours a day across four daily blackouts. While many view air conditioning as a necessity, how often do we pause to consider those who cannot even afford a basic battery backup during power outages? Are we so blinded by comfort that we only notice those living in luxury? True gratitude to God forces us to look at those with less rather than those with more, anchoring our perspective regardless of circumstance.
Ultimately, how do we understand human suffering and offer genuine hope? God is the answer to it all. While atheists and agnostics may hold different perspectives, my own journey from darkness into light proved that divine connection is the true key to healing and meaning.
Absolutely right, When we do all our work to please Allah, all our actions will automatically be right. We just should stop thinking about "what others will say" and start doing what is satisfying ourselves.
I agree Life shouldn't be Lived aimlessly. we all need atleast one goal that we strive for. Mine is living for a good cause and showing others empathy
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At the end of the game all of your chips get pushed into the middle of the table. Use them while you're able to because you can't take them with you.