When standing at a precipice where one must choose between life and death, one must consider: why strive to prosper in life if all individuals are destined to ultimately perish? This is a major focal point in Ecclesiastes, one of the books of the Old Testament. Some of the primary concepts discussed include the vanity of our ambitions and accomplishments since all of mankind will inevitably die; the narrator of Ecclesiastes, who refers to himself at a Teacher, attempts to find pleasure in life, but he eventually declares that the wise and the fools will meet the same fate, which is a great shame. Essentially, the book of Ecclesiastes adopts an unconventional view of life with its nihilistic philosophy. There are many aspects in which Ecclesiastes conveys the futility of life. Firstly, the Teacher …show more content…
The philosophy of existential nihilism essentially states that life carries minimal value; Nietzsche elaborated greatly about the belief that the declination of meaning and purpose could prove to be catastrophic for humanity. This is depicted in Ecclesiastes, as the Teacher feels ambivalent regarding his own achievements and questions whether his strife was for the greater good or if it was futile. therefore, one must find meaning in life. The Teacher fosters this concept by declaring that, in spite of the inevitable death that awaits everyone, those who are living should enjoy their lives accordingly and that “whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.” This bears a great resemblance to the statement that Nietzsche uses in some of his works, “amor fati,” which essentially means that one should embrace life and what it brings, whether positive or negative; Ecclesiastes emphasizes the good and evil present in life, and states that God will ultimately cast judgment upon both the righteous and the