For some people, choosing the optimal purpose in life is made difficult by the temptation to take a self-centered perspective. This is shortsighted, and any honest person exploring that path will quickly find that it doesn’t yield the joy and happiness it purports to. This is the path King Solomon walked.
Solomon’s main question was, “what is the purpose of life?” To find the answer, he purposefully set out to test every hypothesis he could think of. He tested pleasure, wine, women, property, and money, and found that none of these delivered enduring happiness that exceeded their cost (see Ecclesiastes 2). He tested wisdom and knowledge, and found that when weighed on the scales of personal benefit, the cost to obtain and exercise wisdom and knowledge exceeded the benefit.
Solomon’s principle conclusion was that the purposes pursued by most were nothing but vanity—without worth, empty, or fleeting.
Solomon correctly concluded that, for those who seek what this world can provide: “There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour....” (Ecclesiastes 2:24)
Solomon drew so close to what he sought, but he never obtained it. Although he went farther in his pursuit than most who have dwelt on this earth, he stopped short of his final destination. Though he realized that setting one’s heart on the things this world provides is indeed vanity, he failed to discover the key to increasing joy. He realized that the pursuit of “wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.” (Ecclesiastes 1:18) He didn’t realize, however, that while it is possible to increase sorrow without increasing wisdom or knowledge, those whose sorrow comes in the pursuit of either will invariably also encounter commensurate joy. The key he failed to discover was that enduring joy sought for self can never be obtained.
Solomon failed to discover the value of serving others. Solomon sought to maximize his benefit from the world, not to the world. He focused on what he could receive instead of what he could give. Enduring joy can only be found in selfless love for others.
Like Solomon, those who only see this life in the context of what they get out of it will find only pain, disappointment, and emptiness. Though they may find temporary pleasure, it will eventually be taken from them, and they will conclude that it is better to never have been born and that the best they can do in this life is enjoy the things they have and to avoid the unnecessary complexity found in excess.
For those who are paying attention, it is clear that loving improvement and loving others is the clear path to maximal joy. What inhibits us isn’t confusion over that fact, but rather the challenge of seeing ourselves as capable of developing a character similar to God’s or having any sort of meaningful impact on the lives of others. The rest of this chapter focuses on believing in your divine potential.