Modern man thought that in throwing off God, he had freed himself from all that stifled and repressed him. Instead, he discovered that in rejecting
God, he had only succeeded in orphaning himself. For if there is no God, then man's life becomes ultimately absurd. It is without ultimate meaning, without ultimate value, without ultimate purpose.
If each individual person passes out of existence when he dies, then what ultimate meaning can be given to his life? Does it really matter whether he ever existed or not? Now, it might be said that his life was important because it influenced others or affected the course of history. But that shows only a relative significance to his life, not an ultimate significance. If all of the events are ultimately meaningless, then what significance is there in influencing any of them?
Mankind is destined only to perish in the eventual heat death of the universe. Thus, the contributions of the scientist to the advance of human knowledge, the efforts of the doctor to alleviate pain and suffering, the efforts of the diplomat to secure peace in the world, the sacrifices of good people everywhere to better the lot of the human race. In the end, all of these come to nothing. They don’t make one bit of difference, not one bit. Therefore, each person’s life is without ultimate significance and because our lives are ultimately meaningless the activities that we fill our lives with are also in the final analysis meaningless. The long hours spent in study at the university, our friendships, our interests, our jobs, our relationships – all of these are, in the final analysis, ultimately meaningless. This is the horror of modern man. Because he ends in nothing, he ultimately is nothing.
If each individual person passes out of existence when he dies, then what ultimate meaning can be given to his life? Does it really matter whether he ever existed or not? Now, it might be said that his life was important because it influenced others or affected the course of history. But that shows only a relative significance to his life, not an ultimate significance. If all of the events are ultimately meaningless, then what significance is there in influencing any of them?
Mankind is destined only to perish in the eventual heat death of the universe. Thus, the contributions of the scientist to the advance of human knowledge, the efforts of the doctor to alleviate pain and suffering, the efforts of the diplomat to secure peace in the world, the sacrifices of good people everywhere to better the lot of the human race. In the end, all of these come to nothing. They don’t make one bit of difference, not one bit. Therefore, each person’s life is without ultimate significance and because our lives are ultimately meaningless the activities that we fill our lives with are also in the final analysis meaningless. The long hours spent in study at the university, our friendships, our interests, our jobs, our relationships – all of these are, in the final analysis, ultimately meaningless. This is the horror of modern man. Because he ends in nothing, he ultimately is nothing.
31-35, MNew
