Precisely, Eccl. Absent God's presence in their lives, without power over others these pathetic, lost souls soon discover their miserable existence has not a shred of meaning.
Agreed. Further, they have nothing beyond this realm to look forward to. As a result, they are constantly terrified at a primal level, and so see everything either as a personal threat or, alternately, as being essential to their survival. Power to protect themselves from such threats or to attain all that they think they ‘need’ is a matte of live or death for them. Even when ‘victorious’, their security is fleeting. The need for power and control in this tragic mode of living is insatiable..