Does anything have any meaning?

Every so often, each man will take a few moments and wonder if anything in life has any meaning at all. Things that bring a man happiness will fade over time and a man must continuously achieve more and more things to continue to experience some sense of achievement. But in the end, we are all just going to die. What is the point of doing anything?

If you create some new product or service, you can bring some joy or convenience to several people. But eventually, they will just die anyway. You can fight your way out of poverty for decades and eventually retire from a career only to find out you have nothing to do with your free time. If you want to achieve greatness as an athlete or musician, you can develop great skills only to get bored with your hobby and view it as a chore. What ever advancements you do get will not bring lasting happiness. In a sense, we are all just waiting to die, and we take our lives to amuse ourselves the best that we can.

It is a very somber point of view but for some reason, I don't find it depressing. It just is. Even if life has no meaning, I'm still going to wake up, go to work, make money, and try to plan a future for myself. I still want to achieve several things before I expire. In that sense, my life is just hedonistic and I see nothing really wrong with it.

To cope with this reality, maybe some men turn to religion. I can't remember what book or verses it was but there was a passage about a very wealthy man. He had everything. He experienced the taste of the most expensive wine, he enjoyed the finest food, he had great material wealth, and he had all the women he could want. However, people can adapt to situations very quickly and he soon became bored of all of it and saw no meaning of it. I think this was the reason that he started worshiping God. Nothing else of the world provided any sort of meaning but submitting to a higher being might.

Unfortunately, I've been a Christian for several years and have failed miserably in carrying out God's will, doing his work, or being devout. I've forsaken my God several times. I couldn't find meaning in God and I failed as a Christian. I don't want to discourage any Christians reading this. Your experience will most likely vary from mine.

In the end, I come to the conclusion that the only meaning to life is to just amuse yourself. The best reason to stay alive is that it is better than the alternative. This is why I decided not to jump in front of the train several years ago. With life, a man will experience pain and frustration but he will also experience the joy of it too. As trivial as it may be, I really do look forward to the sausage and cheese biscuit with my cup of coffee at 7 am in my office.

Compare that to death or nonexistence. It is pretty hard. I can't remember anything that happened before I was born and I won't perceive anything after my death. It will just be nothing. Given that perspective, maybe 12 hours in an office space is worth that sausage biscuit and coffee in the morning.