"All is meaningless--says the Teacher--meaningless, meaningless!
For here was a man who toiled in all wisdom, knowledge and skill; and he must leave all to someone who has not worked for it. This is meaningless and a great misfortune. For what profit is there for a man in all his work and heart-searching under the sun? All his days bring sorrow; his work, grief; he hasn't, moreover, peaceful rest at night: that, too, is meaningless." - Ecclesiastes 1:2--2:21-23
(All is meaningless! Meaningless! We are used to the ancient translation of this verse: "Vanity of vanities. All is vanity!" Actually, the first word of the book designates in Hebrew a wisp of straw. It is without weight and flies away at the slightest breeze, like vanity, a nothing. It is also what escapes our grasp: it is a future that is uncertain and illusory, or something which does not satisfy our spirit, on which we can build nothing; it is "disconcerting," it "has no sense.")
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