No doubt there’ll be some readers who might recognise that the title for this article is the title for a 1972 hit song released by English progressive rock band ‘The Moody Blues’. In the early 70’s when this song’s haunting classical melody with rich orchestral backing came on the scene, I was going through a searching phase trying to figure out the meaning and purpose of life. The introspective nature of the song’s lyrical themes around the uncertainty and fragility of life, linked with its appealing musical arrangement, posed questions that I wanted answers for. As a ‘boomer’ like so many at that time, I felt lost and adrift, filled with melancholic feelings of pensive sadness and emptiness in life.
Murray Smith
The song provided no answers. It only amplified inner longings and emptiness. Actually the song’s title, as presented on the original album never had a question mark. It imposed the contemplative lyrics as a statement of fact – that life is strange. I’ve since learned that while it can be… it needn’t be. Drawn into pondering imbedded meanings in this song’s words – such as, ‘Can we ask for more, As each day passes by…?’ I came to believe that there had to be more to my existence….
The futility and ‘hopeless’ message echoing from the lyrics of, “Isn’t life strange,” went further deploying imagery that is actually pretty depressing…. “Losing another a day to…The quicksand of time…You know it makes me want to cry cry, cry…”
It’s startling to compare living out our time on earth to being like trapped in ‘quicksand’. If you watched the Indiana Jones or Jumanji movies you may recall panicking characters slowly slipping helplessly deeper into quicksand until becoming totally engulfed. The notion of being swallowed whole, though graphic, is apparently scientifically implausible – getting stuck in quicksand is survivable. Believing it’s not, is a common misunderstanding.
Speaking of misunderstandings, sadly there’s one that so many people commonly buy into… it’s the terribly mistaken belief that the Bible is irrelevant to our lives and that it’s got nothing in the way of answers for life’s big questions. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Book of Ecclesiastes, written by King Solomon appears at first glance to be about as hopeless as The Moody Blues, “Isn’t Life Strange.” Solomon starts out his book by stating four times that everything is “meaningless,” or “vanity,” as some translations might read. The word, ‘meaningless’, comes from the Hebrew word ‘hevel’ meaning “smoke” or “vapor.” Solomon’s point is that just seeking temporal, fleeting things of this world makes our life like a vapor or mist, devoid of lasting meaning because it lacks God’s eternal perspective. He observes that ‘living under the sun’ signifying living your life out of human effort without God, misses the very point of existence.
Just pursuing the pleasures of life, power, fame and fortune or any goal that doesn’t have God at the centre, will cause life to slip through our grip and we’ll never apprehend our true purpose and meaning. I’m eternally grateful to Jesus for the day He lifted my gaze ‘above the sun’ to find lasting meaning for my existence.
The Moody Blues arrive at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, The Netherlands in 1970. Creative Commons
