TRIVIAL PURSUIT

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Trivial pursuit is a frustrating game.

But since it’s just a game—it’s nothing to get too excited about.

But trivial pursuit as a way of life is something to ponder and ask, “Why?”

I recently re-read Viktor Fankl’s book, Man’s Search for Meaning in which he said that one of the most demeaning and even damaging aspects of life in concentration camps was the assignment of meaningless tasks, such as moving piles of dirt endlessly from one site to another for no purpose at all. He wrote that he could survive any “how,” as long as there was a “why.”

We pursue great food, great sex, fame, wealth, power and for the most part we attain these things—but not satisfaction.

The writer of Ecclesiastes looked for happiness in all this “stuff” and more. He called it trivial pursuit. Well, those were not his exact words, but that’s what he meant.

Maybe it’s time we pause occasionally to ask, “WHY?”