. †. Ecc 2:8b . . and I got myself male and female singers,
Makes you wonder what kind of music a brilliant, sophisticated guy like Solomon preferred. Rock? Jazz? Pop? Chorale? Rap? Country? Classical? Folk? Blue Grass? Opera? Broadway? Ballads? Spiritual? Barber Shop? New Age? Since electricity had not yet been harnessed in his day, the music available was somewhat primitive, and all live and all natural: nothing electronic, nothing amplified, and no mixing either.
†. Ecc 2:8c . . as well as the luxuries of commoners— coffers and coffers of them.
"coffers and coffers of them" is apparently a colloquialism similar to "oodles and oodles" or "a ton of 'em" or "a boat load of them" Actually the phrase "as well as the luxuries of commoners" is literally "luxuries of the sons of men." Which could easily be paraphrased "every luxury known to man."
Webster's defines luxury as: 1) a condition of abundance or great ease and comfort; 2) sumptuous environment; 3) something adding to pleasure or comfort but not absolutely necessary; 4) an indulgence in something that provides pleasure, satisfaction, or ease.
No doubt a filthy rich guy like Solomon, seeking the meaning of life, and seeking the best way to pursue life, indulged his every whim in an effort to find out what truly makes life worth living. The man was totally livin' large.
†. Ecc 2:9 . .Thus, I gained more wealth than anyone before me in Jerusalem. In addition, my wisdom remained with me:
That was fortunate; the part about retaining his wisdom. Some people go so far overboard in Hedonism that they mess up their minds. Curt Cobain, the driving impetus of the punk rock group Nirvana, at the peak of his success— wealthy, married, living in a beautiful home, and everything going for him —ended his life with a shotgun at age 27 because of deep emotional problems. That's awful. If only he had kept his mind in all of his success. They say a mind is an awful thing to waste. Well, a mind is an awful thing to lose too.
†. Ecc 2:10-11 . . I withheld from my eyes nothing they asked for, and denied myself no enjoyment; rather, I got enjoyment out of all my wealth. And that was all I got out of my wealth. Then my thoughts turned to all the fortune my hands had built up, to the wealth I had acquired and won— and oh, it was all futile and pursuit of wind; there was no real value under the sun!
Some of us would no doubt be very pleased to obtain all the enjoyments money can buy, but Solomon felt enjoyments aren't adequate; something was missing. It would seem that wealth should obtain for its owner more than just luxury, and entertainment, and property, and homes. It should at least make us feel content with life. But it doesn't. So you've got to wonder: just exactly what works? What does gain us contentment? What really does make life worth the living? What really does make life more than just a pointless human experiment? If only Hutchence and Cobain had known some satisfactory answers to those questions, maybe they'd still be here.
Curly, the tough 'ol leathered trail boss in the movie City Slickers, said the meaning of life is just one thing. When asked what that one thing was, he replied; "That's what you've gotta find out." You see; that one thing is not the same one thing for everyone. You have to find out what that one thing is for you because until then, your life is quite pointless.
. †. Ecc 2:12a . . What more can the king's successor do than what has already been done?
Many of the kings of the Davidic dynasty did pretty much the same thing Solomon did. They initiated building programs and public works, built themselves nice homes, accumulated wealth, built a harem, and lived in luxury. None of them ever equaled Solomon's grandeur, but they all did pretty much the same things he did. Solomon recognized that he wasn't an unusual king; just one more doing the things that kings typically do; and when he was dead and gone, the next king would do just what he did. Because of that, as a monarch, he felt predictable and unremarkable. Even though practically everything the man did was on a grand scale, he was still a foregone conclusion.
There can be entertainment and satisfaction in the doing of great projects; but what happens when the task is finished? Oftentimes there's a feeling of let-down; like when finishing a long, complicated, quest-type video game and/or when New York City's sand hogs completed Water Tunnel #3 after thirty-eight years of boring, drilling, and blasting. There's a sudden feeling of emptiness; a feeling of being adrift, and of what-do-I-do-now?
Solomon found delight "in" all his efforts, but afterwards, when they were all done, and he leaned back to appreciate his accomplishments, he was disappointed because he felt so empty. So he would begin a new project because it is in the doing of the work where a satisfactory sense of achievement is truly found. Henry Ward Beecher once said; "Success is full of promise; until men get it, and then it becomes last year's nest from which the birds have flown."
During my youth, growing up, I heard a lot about the so-called "work ethic" which Webster's defines as: a belief in work as a moral good. Well, there is nothing wrong in work per se, but what about workaholism? Is that really a moral good? Is that really beneficial towards mental health?
I have a friend who can't relax. He has to be doing something productive all the time; even during mealtime. Oftentimes he’ll prune his roses while eating a sandwich for lunch because he feels that sitting down to eat is wasteful. He never goes to the movies; nor even watches TV unless it is on while he does the dishes or vacuums the carpet. He has never read any books other than the ones everyone had to read in school. He gets TIME magazine in the mail, but rarely bothers to glance at any of its articles.
He can't take drives in the country because he feels he could better use the time to mow the grass around his rental properties. He arrives at work a full hour early, and volunteers for all the overtime. Some years ago, he bought a computer; but it's still in the box because he was afraid he might spend too much time on it. That was prior to color monitors— the very first version of Windows wasn't even on the market yet. Now he can't buy software for his computer because it is so obsolete. My friend is a true workaholic.
Work, for work's sake, can't satisfy the human heart no matter how successful the endeavor may be. This helps to understand why so many achievers are basically unhappy people. A single achievement is not enough. Achievers cannot sit back on their laurels. They have to keep finding new things to achieve. When Alexander the Great fought his last battle, it is said that he sat down and wept because he had no more kingdoms to conquer. The poor man was despondent because he had nothing to live for. People like Alexander have a very narrowly defined reason to live. Take it away, and they're adrift.
When workaholics retire, they often feel useless, and sometimes die from lack of meaningful activity. Well; Solomon came to the conclusion that work is okay when it's kept in perspective. But work alone can't provide lasting satisfaction. Looking over his works, Solomon felt very unfulfilled; and contentment continued to evade his grasp.
. †. Ecc 2:12b-13 . . My thoughts also turned to appraising wisdom and madness and folly. I found that wisdom is superior to folly as light is superior to darkness;
Light has always been superior to darkness. Light cannot be dispelled by introducing darkness into a lighted room because darkness is not something that can be produced. It's simply a default condition in the absence of light.
Science and engineering has given us a flashlight, but has yet to invent a flashdark. You simply cannot shine a beam of darkness like you can shine a beam of light. Light is energy. Darkness is totally inert.
The word for madness is from howlelah (ho-lay-law') which means: folly.
The word for folly is from cikluwth or sikluwth (sik-looth') which mean: silliness.
So that verse could be better rendered: "My thoughts turned to appraising wisdom and folly and silliness. I found that wisdom is superior to silliness as light is superior to darkness "
Solomon found that wisdom is superior to silliness, but not to folly; which is kind of odd because Webster's defines folly as: (1) lack of good sense or normal prudence and foresight (2) criminally or tragically foolish actions or conduct i.e. evil and wickedness; especially lewd behavior.
So in the end, after careful consideration, and personally testing both styles of life, he found that it is far better to behave prudently than to act silly, and silliness is the default in the absence of good sense. I guess that all goes without saying, but he just had to see for himself.
†. Ecc 2:14a . . A wise man has his eyes in his head, whereas a fool walks in darkness.
Silly people just naturally get themselves into trouble all the time because they don't stop and think. We could create a huge list of dumb things that silly people are famous for doing. For example: If you've noticed, many of the advertisements on television target silly people. Why? Because Madison Avenue knows that most viewers of certain kinds of programming don't shop intelligently. They often buy impulsively, guided by their emotions rather than by their better judgment. Silly people are typically sensual rather than sensible; for example:
Studies show that the average voter typically selects a candidate based upon how they feel about the candidate; and then use their intellects to fabricate a justification for their choice. A case in point is America's current US President. Did people vote for Mr. Obama because of his executive ability? No, the man was no more qualified for US President than Hollywood actor Arnold Swarzenegger, the current governor of Cauleefornyah. People voted for Mr. Obama on the basis of just two elements of his persona: his charismatic speaking and the color of his skin. (Ironically, voters elected a candidate who campaigned as a Black man; but in reality had a Caucasian mother; making him a mulatto: an hybrid which is neither black nor white. Mr. Obama's skin is actually coffee rather than black; and he's no more an African American than the pop singer Mariah Carey.)
†. Ecc 2:14b . . But I also realized that the same fate awaits them both.
uh-oh! Now we're getting to the heart of the matter: the brevity of life. Solomon is looking ahead to the reality of death; and death is the great equalizer after all isn't it?
†. Ecc 2:15-16 . . So I reflected: The fate of the fool is also destined for me; to what advantage, then, have I been wise? And I came to the conclusion that too was futility, because the wise man, just like the fool, is not remembered forever— for, as the succeeding days roll by, both are forgotten. Alas, the wise man passes on just like the fool!
Have you ever heard of Hannes Alfvén? He won a Nobel prize in 1970 for discoveries in magneto-hydrodynamics. Wow! Yeah, okay; wow. But how often does Alfvén's name come up in conversation around the average dinner table? Probably never; in most homes. He might be well known among those who share his interests in magneto-hydrodynamics; but Alfvén might just as well have been a nameless, homeless bum sleeping under an overpass for all the fame he has among everyone else.
Most educated people know who Mozart was. But where is the great maestro today? He's gone. He's just as dead as all the people of his day who had no more talent for music than an ostrich. What lasting good did it do him to be a genius? His genius couldn't give him immortality. Mozart's opera The Magic Flute lives on, but the man who composed it was washed away long ago.
C.L.I.F.F.
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Last edited by Webers_Home; 23rd October 2009 at 07:53 AM.
. †. Ecc 2:17 . . And so I loathed life. For I was distressed by all that goes on under the sun, because everything is futile and pursuit of wind.
The "loathing" Solomon felt wasn't hatred, but rather, just plain old cynicism born of disillusion. When you're young, life is exciting and promising. But as the years go by, life loses its luster and becomes a drag, and as we get ever older and more debilitated, life becomes something to just get over with.
Just about the time you really get set in life, and have a few things figured out, and start to enjoy it, the aging process moves in to spoil your fun. One of my biggest gripes about life is that youth is wasted on the young. It's us oldsters who need youth, not the young because youngsters fritter away their youth on air-headed nonsense.
One morning on television, Kelly Rippa, of Regis and Kelly, said her little boy was in a hurry to be older. He was only 5 then and wanted to skip the next two years and go straight to 7. See? That's what I'm saying. Kelly's boy was too young to appreciate how valuable his youth is. He wanted to shed youth because in his immature mind, older is better.
It's not until our youth is gone that we can fully appreciate it's worth; but by then it's too late. In all of our young, self absorbed stupidity, we carelessly squander away the treasure of youth on meaningless pursuits because when you're young, you don't realize just how serious it is to age.
†. Ecc 2:18-21 . . So, too, I loathed all the wealth that I was gaining under the sun. For I shall leave it to the man who will succeed me— and who knows whether he will be wise or foolish?— and he will control all the wealth that I gained by toil and wisdom under the sun. That too is futile. And so I came to view with despair all the gains I had made under the sun. For sometimes a person whose fortune was made with wisdom, knowledge, and skill must hand it on to be the portion of somebody who did not toil for it. That too is futile, and a grave evil.
It's bad enough that the wealthy have to leave their fortunes behind, but even worse when foolish relatives end up with it and fail to appreciate the toil and conscientious effort put into accumulating that wealth. The dumb ones start living it up, not taking into consideration that money spent is money gone forever. What will be left for the next generation if the first wastes the primary inheritance and fails to invest for the future?
Some people try to write their wills in such a way that their estates can't be wasted; but don't always succeed. In spite of the instruction and good example they may give, fathers and mothers have no way of knowing what their posterity will do with the wealth and property they worked so hard to accumulate during their lives.
†. Ecc 2:22-23 . . For what does a man get for all the toiling and worrying he does under the sun? All his days his thoughts are grief and heartache, and even at night his mind has no respite. That too is futile!
One of the disadvantages of striving to gain wealth is the sleep that's sometimes lost over it. Solomon observed that a rich man's abundance won't permit him to sleep (Ecc 5:12); for example: Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley, the most popular youth-oriented male singers ever to record music, shared a common malady: both had trouble sleeping. In contrast, I'm an obscure retired welder whose wife complains falls asleep too easily. Well, the difference is, I have peace of mind; whereas those two guys didn't.
†. 1Tim 6:9-10 . . People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
Managing an empire is no picnic. There's long hours, employee disputes, tax problems, investment risks, OSHA, EPA, legal hassles, Federal interference, lawsuits, deadlines, time pressure, accounting errors, loan calls, and all that sort of thing.
†. Ecc 2:24-26a . .There is nothing worthwhile for a man but to eat and drink and afford himself enjoyment with his means. And even that, I noted, comes from God. For who eats and who enjoys but myself? To the man, namely, who pleases [God] He has given the wisdom and shrewdness to enjoy himself;
A person's financial means can enhance their peace of mind and feelings of security. But to hoard wealth, to stock-pile it, being miserly and stingy, never doing something worthwhile with your means, never doing even yourself any good with it; is not wise. Some years ago, I heard about an elderly couple who died. When the house in which they had lived for many years was torn down, an amount of cash was found in the walls totaling about $40,000. The coroner's determination of cause of death? Malnutrition.
Money is a medium of exchange. Unless it's spent, it can do little or nothing for you. You can't eat money, but it will buy your food. It can't keep you warm, but it will buy your clothing and heating oil. Money is not a conveyance— it can't be ridden like a magic carpet to transport you from point A on over to point B; but it will buy you a car, a bicycle, or a bus ticket. It can't chew your food, but it will pay a dentist to fix your teeth. Its possession doesn't make you a rock star, but it will buy you a ticket to an AeroSmith concert. Money has no scenic glaciers, but it will buy you a birth onboard a Princess Line cruise ship to Alaska.
†. 1Tim 6:17 . . Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.
That verse reveals that all the opportunities this world has to offer are provided by God for Man's enjoyment. Therefore, it is absolutely not a sin to enjoy life. Some people feel guilty about success. But that is an unhealthy attitude. Others take vows of poverty in order to enhance their piety. But it isn't necessary to be poor in order to please God. Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, were all very wealthy men whose circumstances— which enabled them to live high on the hog —were made possible by God's providence. Wealth isn't intrinsically sinful. It's how people use their wealth that matters.
†. Ecc 2:26b . . and to him who displeases, He has given the urge to gather and amass— only for handing on to one who is pleasing to God. That too is futile and pursuit of wind.
That scene is repeated over and over again in American tort jurisprudence. Business moguls in this country continually amass fortunes upon fortunes, only to be hauled into court and surrender some of it to the people they oppressed and beguiled in their quest for riches. The Firestone tire scandal was one, and the on-going situation between smokers and Big Tobacco is another good example.
And, oh! …. here's a really good one. Back on April fool's day of 2001, Jodee Berry, a waitress at one of the Hooters restaurants won a beer sales contest in which she was led to believe by management that the prize would be a brand spanking new Toyota. When it came time to pay up, Jodee was taken, blindfolded, out into the parking lot and presented with a toy Yoda— a figurine of the Star Wars Jedi master. Well, Jodee didn't think that was very funny and took Hooters to court. The case was settled, and Jodee's lawyer said she won enough money to buy any Toyota she wants.
C.L.I.F.F.
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Last edited by Webers_Home; 24th October 2009 at 09:41 AM.
. †. Ecc 3:1 . . A season is set for everything, a time for every experience under heaven.
This next section smacks of fatalism and predestination, but actually it only speaks of events that are quite normal and commonplace under the sun.
†. Ecc 3:2a . . A time for being born and a time for dying,
Those two events are open ended and their precise moments aren't chipped in stone. Every person experiences a birth, and each will experience a death too. Birth and death are like appointments. As soon as a women senses that she has conceived, she knows it's only a matter of time before she gives birth to a child so she has to begin planning for its arrival. Same with death. We all know we're going to die some day; it's just a matter of time.
†. Ecc 3:2b . . a time for planting and a time for uprooting the planted;
Farmers are constantly cultivating, planting, harvesting— and then tilling what's left after the harvest to prepare for the next crop.
†. Ecc 3:3a . . a time for slaying and a time for healing,
A rabid dog has to die. But when your pet is hit by a car, you take it to the vet.
†. Ecc 3:3b . . a time for tearing down and a time for building up;
My dad worked many hours with his bare hands building us a home when I was a kid. He sold it when I was 11 years old. Twenty-three years later, all of dad's hard work was torn down and hauled off to make way for an RV storage lot; and the property denuded of trees and scraped bare by bulldozers. It’s like we were never even there.
†. Ecc 3:4a . . a time for weeping and a time for laughing,
Sometimes people laugh and weep all at the same time; like at a wedding.
†. Ecc 3:4b . . a time for wailing and a time for dancing;
In a war, the victors celebrate and the vanquished mourn— like in professional sports. The cameras always show the winners elated, jumping up and down, clapping themselves on the back, emoting for the press, and pouring ice on the coach; but over on the other side, the losers are all glum and silent and dragging themselves back to the locker room.
†. Ecc 3:5a . . a time for throwing stones and a time for gathering stones,
It would be nice if the Palestinians would follow that and pick up after themselves when they're done pelting Israeli soldiers.
†. Ecc 3:5b . . a time for embracing and a time for shunning embraces;
Sometimes lovers and friends need to make up and settle their differences before they hug.
†. Ecc 3:6a . . a time for seeking and a time for losing,
In other words: A time to search and a time to give it up for lost.
†. Ecc 3:6b . . a time for keeping and a time for discarding;
Today's rave fashion is tomorrow's Good Will donation.
†. Ecc 3:7a . . a time for ripping and a time for sewing,
When doctors need access to an injured patient's body, they often cut clothing off with scissors rather than fussing with buttons and zippers. The very same clothing can be repaired later by needle and thread.
†. Ecc 3:7b . . a time for silence and a time for speaking;
They say silence in golden, but sometimes it's yellow; know what I mean?
†. Ecc 3:8a . . a time for loving and a time for hating;
A time for love might be when your friends come over for dinner— through the front door. However, if they sneak in the back way while you're out, and steal your 50" plasma TV so they can sell it for meth; that might be reason enough to dump your friends for new ones.
†. Ecc 3:8b . . a time for war and a time for peace.
Peace is much to be preferred to war. But sometimes war is necessary to procure and to preserve peace. We live in a big bad world where there are people more than happy to oppress you, control you, restrict your speech, take away your wealth and possessions, destroy your home, separate you from your family, and put you to work in a gulag where you'll be underpaid, malnourished, constantly hungry, politically indoctrinated, and poorly clothed for the rest of your life.
. †. Ecc 3:9 . .What value, then, can the man of affairs get from what he earns?
In other words: What does the worker gain from his toil? Well . . one thing he does not gain is control over the "times" listed in the previous eight verses because many circumstances in life are unpredictable and out of our hands no matter how much money a person might be prepared to spend.
†. Ecc 3:10 . . I have observed the business that God gave man to be concerned with:
The business of course just being the daily round of life beneath the sun.
†. Ecc 3:11 . . He brings everything to pass precisely at its time; He also puts eternity in their mind, but without man ever guessing, from first to last, all the things that God brings to pass.
Man is fraught with anxieties; and some of those anxieties are aggravated by uncertainty about the future. Within no sphere is that more evident among Americans than in their thoughts about retirement. Oftentimes people are so concerned about their futures that they fail to enjoy the present; so life slips past them until one day they realize they should have lived life when they had the chance instead of waiting till they retired.
†. Ecc 3:12-13 . .Thus I realized that the only worthwhile thing there is for them is to enjoy themselves and do what is good in their lifetime; also, that whenever a man does eat and drink and get enjoyment out of all his wealth, it is a gift of God.
There's nothing intrinsically wrong with preparing for the future, but surely not to the expense of missing out on life in the present. It's far better to enjoy life as you live it, and thank whatever God it is that you recognize for the pleasures you have at hand right now, not for the ones that may or may not come your way later.
NOTE: throughout the book of Ecclesiastes, the author uses a generic name for God which is 'elohiym (el-o-heem') a plural noun that means: gods. `Elohiym is an ambiguous word used of either gods in general or of one specific supreme being.
The three sacred names for the Bible's God— Shadday, 'Adonay, and Yhvh —are nowhere in Ecclesiastes. The reason for that is quite simple. Solomon— if indeed he's the author —refers to a supreme being in Ecclesiastes in a general sense; sort of like the common expressions: "Thank God nobody got hurt" and "God forbid!" There's nothing seriously religious in those kinds of expressions: they're just loose-fitting colloquialisms.
†. Ecc 3:14a . . I realized, too, that whatever God has brought to pass will recur evermore: nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it—
That frustrates and irritates some people because they would like to make some changes in the universe and change the world to suit their feelings. But the gods aren't budging. They're the ones in control. Man is not the one controlling the scheme of things. Man is a prisoner of God's sovereign control and there is not one single thing he can do about it.
†. Ecc 3:14b . . and God has brought to pass that men revere Him.
Unfortunately Man hates God for being the one in control. They neither fear Him, nor respect Him, nor yield to His sovereign authority. On the contrary, they very much resent God, and want Him deposed.
†. Rom 8:5-8 . . For those who live according to the flesh are concerned with the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit with the things of the spirit. The concern of the flesh is death, but the concern of the spirit is life and peace. For the concern of the flesh is hostility toward God; it does not submit to the law of God, nor can it; and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
†. Ecc 3:15 . .Whatever exists today and whatever will exist in the future has already existed in the past. For God calls each event back in its turn.
What's that saying? History repeats itself? Who would have thought that people 3,000 years ago shared today's evaluation of world events? Modern man isn't really so modern after all; is he.
C.L.I.F.F.
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Last edited by Webers_Home; 26th October 2009 at 09:55 AM.
. †. Ecc 3:16 . . And, indeed, I have observed under the sun: Alongside justice there is wickedness, alongside righteousness there is wickedness.
Back in the early days of movie making, good and evil were well defined. The bad guys were bad and the good guys were good. Today, the difference between the good guys and the bad guys is blurred. The people we consider to be on the side of right, are often very immoral. They're dishonest, they sleep around, they steal, they break into people's homes, they don't respect private property, they bicker and quarrel, and they are exceedingly insubordinate with their superiors. The difference between the good and the bad is no longer black and white; but relative. The bad guys are badder than the good ones, but the good guys themselves are bad too.
The current on-going pedophilia scandal in the Catholic community is a glaring example of wickedness in the same place as righteousness. With alarming regularity we see more and more criminal cops in the news— cops who should be upholding the law, not breaking it— and who should be protecting people, not intimidating them, breaking their arms, and shooting them full of bullet holes. To every bad cop I would like to say: Wearing that badge doesn't make you right; it just makes you a bully with a gun and a canister of pepper spray.
Imagine the chagrin of a San Diego municipal judge back in the 80's when one day, to his utter shock and dismay, a hooker he frequented appeared in court as a witness to testify in a case he was hearing. Upon taking the stand, the hooker greeted the guardian of jurisprudence and expressed amazement that one of her Johns was a judge.
†. Ecc 3:17-18 . . I mused: God will doom both righteous and wicked, for there is a time for every experience and for every happening. So I decided, as regards men, to dissociate them [from] the divine beings and to face the fact that they are beasts.
God made man as close to a copy of Himself as a creature can possibly get.
†. Gen 1:27 . . And God created man in His image
†. Ps 8:5-6 . . what is man that You have been mindful of him, mortal man that You have taken note of him, that You have made him little less than divine, and adorned him with glory and majesty;
But his God-like status does not give Man immunity from retribution.
†. Ps 82:1-7 . . God stands in the divine assembly; among the divine beings He pronounces judgment. How long will you judge perversely, showing favor to the wicked? Selah. Judge the wretched and the orphan, vindicate the lowly and the poor, rescue the wretched and the needy; save them from the hand of the wicked. They neither know nor understand, they go about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth totter. I had taken you for divine beings, sons of the Most High, all of you; but you shall die as men do, fall like any prince.
†. Ecc 3:19-20 . . For in respect of the fate of man and the fate of beast, they have one and the same fate: as the one dies so dies the other, and both have the same life-breath; man has no superiority over beast, since both amount to nothing. Both go to the same place; both came from dust and both return to dust.
Some people are inclined to think it is arrogant of Man to suppose he's the only form of intelligent life in the universe. But what is Man anyway but an unsanitary primate with a 3-pound lump of flabby organic tissue for a mind? We should want more of his ilk in the universe? I don't think so. Man is hardly more intelligent than an orangutan; and ten times more immoral. And besides; he's made of clay. And you know what happens when clay is all wet? It gets stuck on itself.
C.L.I.F.F.
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Last edited by Webers_Home; 27th October 2009 at 12:56 PM.
. †. Ecc 3:21 . .Who knows if a man's life-breath does rise upward and if a beast's breath does sink down into the earth?
Solomon has a point. Who today has a red-phone line connected to the afterlife? Nobody. People pride themselves on their faith in holy books like the Bible and the Koran; but really don't know for certain whether or not all of the writings in either book are actually true; do they? Solomon had even less to work with than today's Christians and Muslims. The Bible he inherited was just a little bitty thing; a partial Tanakh. He had zero prophetic writings and no Koran and no New Testament at all.
Solomon never met anyone who came back from the dead with a tale to tell about the afterlife. How about you? Who have you known personally who died, was buried, and then later came back? As brilliant and as intellectual as the man was, he was just as much in the dark about life after death as everybody else. Can you prove beyond a shadow of all reasonable doubt that there exists another life for human beings after death? No, you can't; and you won't know for sure until the day comes when you actually make the trip yourself.
†. Ecc 3:22 . . I saw that there is nothing better for man than to enjoy his possessions, since that is his portion. For who can enable him to see what will happen afterward?
There used to be a commercial on TV that went something like this: You only go around once, so do it with all the gusto you can get! Is that really such bad advice seeing as no one really knows for sure what happens after we die? What if all those super pious churchians who practice a life of strict self denial discover later after death that it was all for nothing? Wouldn't that be tragic? It is stupid to suffer self denial when no one really knows for rock-solid sure whether or not it counts for anything.
What if it turns out that a supreme being gave those ultra saintly pew-warmers many chances to enjoy life and that they, in their elitist, ascetic stupidity, snubbed all their God-given opportunities for happiness in the hope it would earn them a better life after death? How is the supreme being supposed to feel about that? Should a supreme being be happy they scorned His blessings and counted them all as evil enticements to sin? I don't think so.
. †. Ecc 4:1-3 . . I further observed all the oppression that goes on under the sun: the tears of the oppressed, with none to comfort them; and the power of their oppressors— with none to comfort them. Then I accounted those who died long since more fortunate than those who are still living; and happier than either are those who have not yet come into being and have never witnessed the miseries that go on under the sun.
I'd be curious to know just exactly when, where, and how Mr. Born-with-a-silver-spoon-in-his mouth king Solomon "observed" the tears of the oppressed. Maybe he was talking about all the hapless Jewish men he conscripted to work like slaves in his stone quarries and logging camps.
Some people really are better off dead, and also better had they not been born. I mean, for some people, what's the point of living at all.
It's difficult for the average American to appreciate the misery of people in other countries living in poverty, want, squalor, tyranny, despotism, and oppression. When I was a little boy living in San Diego back in the early 1950's I went on a trip with my parents to Tijuana. As we walked across a bridge over the Tijuana River, I looked down below at a pitiful community. The jam-packed homes (rudimentary shelters actually) were constructed of cardboard, sheets of plywood, corrugated tin, and sign boards. The children were all bare foot and there were no streets and sidewalks; just riverbed soil.
Those people down in that riverbed weren't living; they were existing, and that with no more dignity than a lichen. (In later years, the community was washed away by unusually high water and subsequently the site permanently closed to squatters by the government.)
Hafez al Assad, deceased father of the current dictator of Syria, Bashar al Assad, was ruthless towards his political opponents. In the early 1980's, he dispatched his air force to bomb the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood's densely populated neighborhoods in the area of Hama. (I'm talking about Syrian citizens in a Syrian city; not foreigners in a foreign country). Afterwards, Hafez had his army bulldoze the smoking remains. Between 10,000 and 40,000 people were killed, and thousands more were jailed, tortured, and left to languish in prison. Protests from human rights organizations bounced off Hafez like a sonar ping.
Ryan Crocker, a US ambassador who served in Damascus during the transition from Hafez to Bashar, said of the son: "Any suggestion that Bashar is a push-over is an illusion. He's so personable that it's easy to underestimate him. But rest assured, he is his father's son." Mr. Ryan is so right. It isn't unusual this very day to be dining out in Damascus while at the same time having to listen to dreadful screams coming from a second-floor window of the Bab Touma police station. In the street, people cast each other knowing glances but nobody says a word because someone might be listening.
There's little to no justice in China. Fully 99 percent of all trials result in a guilty verdict. If you're executed with a gun, the state sends your family a bill for the bullet.
In Kim Jong-Il's North Korea, three generations of a family can be punished for one member's alleged crime. As of 2008, Mr. Jong-Il had 200,000 of his own countrymen detained in labor camps.
Every year, Parade Magazine publishes a list of the world's ten worst dictators. Their bios make for some interesting reading.
†. Ecc 4:4 . . I have also noted that all labor and skillful enterprise come from men's envy of each other— another futility and pursuit of wind!
Most of us are pretty satisfied with what we have until we see someone with something better. Just because the Devil wears Prada, is it really essential that everyone else does?
†. Ecc 4:5 . .The fool folds his hands together and has to eat his own flesh.
Just the opposite of those who labor for trendy things, is the lazy good-for-nothing, who can't be motivated to go out and find work or start a business. The others have it all, while he has nothing at all. At least the trendy people have food on the table and a place to live. The fool is homeless and probably lives out of dumpsters, or worse, pan handles and mooches off friends. (One of my all-time favorite pan handler's makeshift signs said; Dreaming of a cheeseburger.)
†. Ecc 4:6 . . Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind.
In between the trendy people, and the homeless bums, are the moderate people. They don't have to have the best that life has to offer and they don't want it. Their motto is: Better isn't necessary when adequate will do. These are happy with what they have and make do with what they can afford.
Moderate people aren't lazy, but then again, they're neither achievers nor overly industrious. They don't need a lot, they're easy to please, and are usually very content; e.g. when they shop for diamond jewelry, the stones don't have to be flawless; just sparkly and pretty. They might splurge on a Tissot or a Seiko, but won't shell out the dough for an Omega or an IWC even though they're the better time pieces. They prefer cars that are economical rather than cars that are cool and fitted out with the latest GPS. They eat at ordinary buffets and restaurants rather than fancy, black-tie supper clubs, and their back yards are likely to have just as many weeds as ornamental shrubs. While others chase status, moderates prefer to chase sales and clip coupons.
C.L.I.F.F.
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Last edited by Webers_Home; 29th October 2009 at 06:47 PM.
. †. Ecc 4:7-8 . . And I have noted this further futility under the sun: the case of the man who is alone, with no companion, who has neither son nor brother; yet he amasses wealth without limit, and his eye is never sated with riches. For whom, now, is he amassing it while denying himself enjoyment? That too is a futility and an unhappy business.
That surely describes people like Ebenezer Scrooge— Charles Dickens' friendless loner in A Christmas Carol —the prince of misers. The man has great wealth, and sees the amassing of wealth as the only justifiable reason to be alive. He despises family life, shuns circles of close friends, and regards charitable causes as theft. The man won't even spend his money on decent food to nourish himself; let alone wood or coal to heat his dismal home. His fortune does neither him nor anyone else any real good at all except provide him with questionable old-age security.
†. Ecc 4:9-10 . .Two are better off than one, in that they have greater benefit from their earnings. For should they fall, one can raise the other; but woe betide him who is alone and falls with no companion to raise him!
Webster's defines synergism as: interaction of discrete agencies, agents, or conditions such that the total effect is greater than the sum of the individual effects.
John Nash put that principle into his Nobel Prize-winning economic theory. He felt that it is possible to not only do yourself the better good, but at the same time to do it in such a way that your efforts mesh with the efforts of others so that all benefit.
Marriage is a synergic arrangement. Partners are more secure, and usually accomplish much more together than an individual on their own; and they look out for each other too. When a wife gets a muscle spasm in her back, and can't walk, then the husband can put her on a blanket and drag her down the hallway to the bathroom. When the husband's car blows a heater hose on the way home from work, the wife can use her own car to come and get him at the repair shop and bring him home for dinner. Plus, if both work, their combined income makes it possible to carry a mortgage instead of throwing money away on rent.
†. Ecc 4:11 . . Further, when two lie together they are warm; but how can he who is alone get warm?
To be warm, as in Ecc 4:11, implies more than merely warding off a chill. It means to be comforted. There is very little solace to be found in solitude. Loner type of people often end up plagued with depression and dark thoughts because God didn't create Man to live alone. People are designed to be couples.
†. Gen 2:18-19 . .Then Yhvh God said; It is not good for Man to be alone; I will make a suitable aid for him.
The word aid isn't spelled with an "e" as in aide; but rather as in First Aid. So women weren't intended to be a man's assistant, but rather his assistance; viz: someone to lean on. So then, women who compete with men— and/or ridicule, carp, chafe, dominate and demean them —are twisted females, and total failures at being women. They've got the gender; but lack the heart to go with it; and God pity a man's children who grow up with a mother like that.
†. Ecc 4:12 . . Also, if one attacks, two can stand up to him. A threefold cord is not readily broken!
All he's saying there is that a single strand of hemp by itself is weak; but when woven together in multiple strands, becomes very strong.
In the darkening days in which we live in America, jogging and bicycling alone can be very dangerous in a city park; especially after sundown. It's far more sensible to mingle with others; even if they're strangers. People alone are easy marks for muggers and wilding attacks. Nobody's invincible. Even a tough guy like Chuck Norris can be taken down. Like Arnold Schwarzeneggar said in the Hollywood movie Predator: "If it bleeds, we can kill it."
C.L.I.F.F.
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Last edited by Webers_Home; 30th October 2009 at 09:40 AM.
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