Ecclesiastes
Vanity
The life of drudgery and vanity is, according to the Wisdom of Ecclesiastes, manifold. It is all around us. It takes many different forms. In fact, it often takes form in the very lives most vehemently determined to strive for greatness.
Ecclesiastes, it turns out, will argue that all human life is vanity. All our lives, divorced from God and fear of Him, are but a striving after wind.
We’ll go over some of the forms human vanity takes.
Let us begin with the most popular one.
The Life of Vanity
“So I became great and surpassed all who were before me… and whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them.”
Ecclesiastes 2: 9-10
Jordan Belfort speaks openly about the indulgent lifestyle he led during his stint as the “Wolf of Wall Street”. He himself says that he hit a point where he opened up a magazine and realized that any woman he saw in that magazine could be his girlfriend.
He describes himself as a kid in the candy store who wanted all the candy, and indeed got to taste all the candy.
In effect, Jordan was getting filthy rich by scamming people into buying garbage stocks, then spending that money on cocaine, sexual depravity, and an overall luxurious lifestyle.
Now, this story has a gravitational power that draws many people to want to learn more. Despite Jordan’s obscene laundry list of degenerate acts, hardly anyone who hears his story vilifies him. In their eyes is not contempt but rather fascination. I believe that in many cases this is because we live in a culture that has heavy hedonistic tendencies. Thus, most people are willing to forgive grave offenses if they ultimately lead to what they consider flourishing.
But Jordan did not flourish. His life led to 22 months in prison and restitution costs of $110 million, which as of writing this article seems to have only been partially paid to the victims of Jordan’s scams.
Ecclesiastical Response
Ecclesiastes makes a few good points as to the vanity of this life:
- No matter what you do, we all die. No amount of money, no amount of knowledge or worldly honor, will keep you from ending up six feet underground.
- So much striving for getting and taking, experiencing of pleasure, is utterly devoid of meaning. Hedonistic lifestyle is that of someone who identifies with animals, who sees the object of life as nothing more than tickling the sensations of the body.
- Toiling at building an empire is futile when you consider that other people will enjoy the fruits of your labors after you without having had to work for them. Either your children, the state, or someone else in your life will come into possession of all you’ve built, and you have no guarantee that they will even use your fruits toward anything useful. They may waste it all.