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“Life is a tragedy for those who feel and a comedy for those who think.”

This witty remark by La Bruyer, a famous French philosopher, is worth pondering. It is an insightful saying that allows us to define life in the perspective of two classes of people: those who feel and (2) those who think. Those who feel are the nihilists while those who think are the skeptics.

Nihilists despair about the pointlessness of existence. For them, life becomes a tragedy because they are blatantly pessimistic. Think about those who would be willing to die and kill because they believe that the world must have a new beginning; that utopia can only be achieved by radical means.

There is neither value nor purpose in one’s existence. This belief is referred to as existential nihilism, a philosophical discipline founded on the premise that the world and man is devoid of meaning. In effect, all action, suffering or feeling is senseless.

For example, in Macbeth, William Shakespeare had his notorious hero express this very thought near the end of the tragedy when he said:

Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more; it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

Another literary reference for existential nihilism can be extracted from the story of King Sisyphus in Greek Mythology. In the story, King Sisyphus was punished in the tartarus by being cursed to roll a huge boulder up a hill and then watch it roll down again throughout eternity.

In describing life as Sisyphean, therefore, by nihilistic reckoning, we mean that life is pointless and unrewarding. This is the very essence of La Bruyere’s remark that life is a tragedy for those who feel.

The last portion of la Bruyere’s quote, on the other hand, is reflective of the skeptical view about life. Here, the objects of our discussion are those who think. The skeptics don’t absolutely believe that life is pointless; they just simply doubt that there is a higher meaning or purpose to it.

For the skeptics, life becomes a comedy because they are at loss in trying to make sense of it. For example, when the author of Ecclesiastes said that “Everything is meaningless,” he didn’t mean it in an absolute sense. He simply found it hard to decipher the meaning of existence given the reason that he looks for it “under the sun.”

The context of the book of Ecclesisastes is that the Teacher, as the author calls himself, tried everything under the sun in his quest to find the meaning of existence. In doing so, he excluded, anything above it and failed.

We can never find meaning in life if we will look for it in improper places. True to the skeptic’s argument, doing so would make life a comedy because it won’t make sense. Take it from the wisest man in history who said, “everything is meaningless.”

The skeptics, however, do not realize that there is a more fitting option in this myriad of choices: the Christian point of view.

Near the end of his book, the Teacher realized that life will only make sense when lived with eyes focused on someone above the sun- God, Himself.

La Bruyere’s quote delves on a very important discussion about existence. There will only be two choices for us if we will choose to exclude God from life’s equation: (1) endure it like a tragedy, or (2) laugh at it nonchalantly as a comedy. Either way we will despair.

So why not make the right choice. Look to God today. Your life will be different

Photo above by .p a n e.

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