溫故知新 Old wisdom, today’s insight — ONGO
If All Is Vanity, What Still Remains?
If all beneath the sun vanishes like a breath, what is still worth holding onto?
Vanity of vanities; all is a breath.
Ecclesiastes' declaration that "all is vanity" left humankind the question of how to face emptiness. The Preacher himself moved through this vanity toward gratefully enjoying the plain portion of now. The Stoics and Epicureans gave another answer: since all things pass, set down attachment and keep the mind at peace. Modern existentialism, by contrast, accepted this emptiness as the starting point of the human condition, holding that where no meaning is given, one must make meaning oneself. Does the sense that life is vanity lead to resignation, to gratitude, or to creation? The question still divides us along three roads that fork before emptiness.
The experience that even our achievements soon feel empty still visits us. The Preacher's question — what remains even when we know its vanity — never ages, as long as emptiness exists.
Having tasted wisdom, pleasure, and wealth in full, the Preacher reaches a frighteningly honest conclusion: all is vanity.
📝I, Too, Stand Before It
Having tasted wisdom, pleasure, and wealth in full, the Preacher reaches a frighteningly honest conclusion: all is vanity. The Hebrew "hevel" is a breath one cannot grasp, a mist soon gone. He does not deny life's emptiness but stares straight at it. I find this honesty, oddly, a comfort. Only after admitting that all things pass does he receive the plain daily portion — to eat, drink, and work — as a gift. Perhaps only one who has known vanity can be grateful for the now. Before things that will vanish, I too ask what still remains.
✍️Your Answer
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