A question without an answer;
the will for man and the earth is lacking;

behind every great human destiny there resounded
as a refrain an even greater
‘in vain!’

The meaninglessness of suffering,
not suffering itself,
was the curse which hitherto lay over mankind…

Any meaning is better than
no meaning at all.

From now on will something –
it was almost a matter of indifference
what, why, with what he willed:
the will itself was saved…

On the Genealogy of Morals by Friedrich Nietzsche, trans. by R. J. Hollingdale, What Is the Meaning of Ascetic Ideals, aphorism 28

Today is Sunday. I suppose some of my neighbors are preparing to make their way to a house of worship. Why this custom?

Because life for everyone is marked by an unforeseeable quotient of suffering, and thus far no note of justification has appeared, has materialized that satisfies us, a rationale explaining why all of our projects make a difference. Presence, membership in a congregation promises to bridge the yawning chasm of not knowing “why.”

“The will for man and the earth is lacking,” wrote Nietzsche.  After all, our species, homosapien is of this earth, and our future intertwines that of the earth. You and I, with this earth and all of her living beings, made the journey thus far…

So, God-damn it, do something, anything. But do something!  You and I must-do-something!

Is it inevitable that we along with the earth are fated to terminate in a self-annhilation, because our  “answers” to the interrogative which still echoes, are appallingly insufficient? The disappearance of life here, would be a wink-out, nanosecond, compared with the stars and planets in all of the galaxies.  Here “all” is a most extreme metaphor. There’s hardly any comparison between the cessation of life here, and what would remain of the universe.

Is there an enduring meaning to my struggle, and to yours? Will a mark of any kind be left upon the future? Or will our best efforts be lost as in a last great wind storm of dust? Do you matter? Or I? What of any of my striving/suffering will matter?

Sometimes there is a song that aids our grasp of our condition. This one with a melancholy refrain is perfect. Dust In The Wind by Kansas.