Living Life

"Vanity of vanities, all is vanity," so begins the section of the Bible: The Book of Ecclesiastes.

This was brought to my attention by an article written by Neil Strauss entitled "The Meaning of Life and the Secret to Happiness."

I found the quotes he used from the Book of Ecclesiastes particularly interesting:

"I searched in my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine, while guiding my heart with wisdom...I made my works great, I built myself houses... I became great and excelled...

...I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on the labor in which I had

toiled, and indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind...."

The author is looking back on his life and all he has accomplished. He has achieved very much, but he says, "all was vanity and grasping for the wind." So is he saying all that he has done is worthless? Does he have regret? The following quote, his conclusion, sheds some more light on this dilemma:

"Eat your bread with joy and drink your wine with a merry heart... Let your garments always be white and let your head lack no oil... Live joyfully with the wife whom you love...Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for there is no work or device or wisdom in the grave where you are going."

In my interpretation, what can be taken away from this writing is: Live your life to the fullest, enjoy the happiness that you find, and learn to be lived by a love that is larger than you. Live the dream.

Omnia Vanitas - All is Vanity, originally referred not to the obsession with one's appearance, but to the ultimate fruitlessness of man's efforts in this world. All your work, all your achievements, everything that you accomplish may not make a difference in the grand scheme of things. However, what is important is that you experience life to the fullest and find happiness and love wherever you can because you only live this life once.

I would like to keep this in mind as I write this blogg, which will be about my life experiences, what I learn, what I like, my adventures, my conquests, my thoughts.