Is That It?

This week, we FINALLY reached the crux of the Yirei Elokim's philosophy. He FINALLY tells us how to find meaning in life. How do you find meaning in life? Man can follow this basic idea: the only thing that man can know for sure is that man does not know. Man is not in control. In the end, G-d is in control and will hold you accountable for your actions. Man must participate in this world because G-d will hold him accountable. In the end, life is about the journey.

When we first met the Yirei Elokim, I loved what he had to say. In my blog posts, I was literally singing his praises because his philosophy was so human, so real, so tangible. As the other characters attacked the Yirei Elokim's philosophy, I began to doubt his resolve and his "correctness." Honestly, that might be because he has never outright stated his philosophy before now. It has always been said in response to someone else, but never on its own. Now that we know what he's saying, or what he believes the essence of life is, are we supposed to believe what he says without contesting it? Maybe just a little disagreement? Maybe?

I personally agree that accepting the basic fact that man cannot understand is vital to one's search for meaning in life. So what happens when you understand that fact? How are you supposed to behave? You should behave ethically, I hope. If you accept G-d's dominance over man and fail to participate in the world and try, then you have still failed. Although the Yirei Elokim did mention that G-d will hold man accountable for his actions in the end, what about behavior in this world? It seems like morality should be understood, but, alas, some of the other characters in Kohelet clearly seemed to overlook this.

Let's remove this whole idea from the context of Judaism. People of all faiths, denominations, backgrounds, and nations search for meaning in life every day. If you search "meaning of life" on YouTube, you will get a mix of Tibetan Monks, Muslims, Christians, Atheists, and otherwise explaining what they believe is the meaning of life. I stumbled upon this video of the Dalai Lama, one of the world's most recognized religious leaders. What does he say is the key to finding meaning in life? Compassion.

From a global perspective, this sounds amazing. Compassion would help the world out tremendously. Now, given the compassion element, what is the meaning of life? Can this be derived from the Yirei Elokim's core philosophy?