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#Post#: 3119--------------------------------------------------
Re: Solomon's World View
DIR By: Olde Tymer
Date: January 10, 2019, 7:19 am
---------------------------------------------------------
.
● 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 harems, 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 pretty much 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
discombobulation.
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 to one's 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
_
#Post#: 3138--------------------------------------------------
Re: Solomon's World View
DIR By: Olde Tymer
Date: January 11, 2019, 6:57 am
---------------------------------------------------------
.
● 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.
Solomon found that wisdom is superior to folly, which Webster's
defines 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 stupid, which is the default in the
absence of good sense. I guess that all goes without saying, but
sometimes intellectuals are prone to overstating the obvious.
● 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 defense for their choice. A
case in point is America's past 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 ex governor of Cawleefornyah.
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 had a Caucasian mother; i.e. in reality, Mr.
Obama is neither black or white; he's mulatto. 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!
Who's ever heard of Hannes Alfvén? He won a Nobel prize in 1970
for discoveries in magneto-hydrodynamics. Wow! Yeah, okay; wow.
Or how about Georges Lemaître? He proposed that the universe is
expanding in all directions before Edwin Hubble figured it out.
But how often do Alfvén's or Lemaître's names come up in
conversation around the average dinner table? Probably never; in
most homes. They might be well known among those who share their
interests in astronomy and magneto-hydrodynamics; but Alfvén and
Lemaître might just as well have been two nameless, homeless
bums sleeping under an overpass for all the fame they have 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 if it couldn't give
him immortality? Mozart composed something like 600 pieces of
music, but the composer of it all was washed away long ago one
month short of his 36th birthday.
_
#Post#: 3149--------------------------------------------------
Re: Solomon's World View
DIR By: Olde Tymer
Date: January 12, 2019, 8:37 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: you're optimistic and ready to roll
into the future full speed ahead. 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 through
and 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 Live With Regis &
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 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 and sometimes foolishly tempt fate
in extreme sports because when we're young, it's all too easy to
perceive ourselves suspended in some sort of time-stasis where
we'll be forever 21. To our immature minds; older people appear
to be born that way and we fail to comprehend that every time we
encounter someone older, we are looking at our own futures.
"Time is the fire in which we burn."
Dr. Soran, Star Trek: Generations
● 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 and the vigilance required to keep it.
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 and trusts 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.
"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." (1Tim 6:9-10)
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; not to mention debt. Haw! debt is the the Grim Reaper for
quite a number of mega businesses like the auto industry. Debt
is what ultimately toppled the energy giant ENRON; wiping out
1.2 billion dollars in retirement funds, and 2 billion dollars
in pension funds.
You know what else befalls empire-builders? Broken homes. Ray
Kroc, the McDonald's mogul, was on his third marriage when he
passed away. Jesus once said that you can't serve God and
mammon. Well; you can't serve money and family either.
Wealth-seekers generally serve the money and leave their
families to more or less sink or swim.
_
#Post#: 3167--------------------------------------------------
Re: Solomon's World View
DIR By: Olde Tymer
Date: January 13, 2019, 8:04 am
---------------------------------------------------------
.
● 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.
"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." (1Tim 6:17)
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.
When him who displeases donates to charities, his contributions
don't earn him any points with God whatsoever because one of
Solomon's proverbs says, in so many words, that a bad person's
gifts are detestable. (Pro 15:8)
I seriously doubt that it is God who personally urges a bad
person to donate to charity. I just think it's the bad person's
own conscience working on them. Well; seeing as how God created
the human conscience, then I guess you could say "He has given
the urge". Maybe that's how Solomon saw it; I don't really know;
but it seems logical.
NOTE: The mention of a supreme being throughout Ecclesiastes
reveals that the author, though quite philosophical, wasn't an
atheist. He was what might be called a theist; roughly defined
as someone believing in the existence of one god viewed as the
creative source of the human race and the world, who transcends
yet is immanent in the world.
The author's god is never once named, instead, referred to as
'elohiym (el-o-heem') which isn't a personal moniker like Yahweh
or Brahma, rather, a nondescript label that pertains to all
sorts of deities; both the true and the false, and the real and
the imagined, plus the gods of myth, superstition, and
tradition.
The three sacred names for the Bible's God-- [I]Shadday[/I],
[I]'Adonay[/I], and [I]Yhvh[/I] --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/or "God forbid!" There's nothing
particularly religious in those kinds of expressions.
_
#Post#: 3181--------------------------------------------------
Re: Solomon's World View
DIR By: Olde Tymer
Date: January 14, 2019, 7:59 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.
But the problem with death is its stealth. We're young only till
somewhere in our mid thirties and then to our horror begin to
gradually wither. One of the biggest surprises of Billy Graham's
life was age. He always believed he would die some day, but
Billy wasn't prepared to get old first. His is not an unusual
case. Most of us readily anticipate death; but seldom anticipate
losing form and function.
● 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 be put down. 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 water 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 hot couture 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,
abuse your human rights, control your movements, restrict your
speech, clamp down on dissent, 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.
_
#Post#: 3198--------------------------------------------------
Re: Solomon's World View
DIR By: Olde Tymer
Date: January 15, 2019, 9:37 am
---------------------------------------------------------
.
● 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. I've actually known men in my line of work
who stayed on the job as long as age allowed just to get that
very last penny of retirement benefit only to die within two
years after leaving.
● 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 the gods' 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.
● 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?
_
#Post#: 3214--------------------------------------------------
Re: Solomon's World View
DIR By: Olde Tymer
Date: January 16, 2019, 7:26 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 totally bad and the good guys were
totally 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 should be protecting people, not
intimidating them, breaking their arms, electrocuting them with
stun guns, 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
1980'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 on the bench.
● 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.
When you get right down to it: when you strip away people's
accouterments; what's left is really little more than human
wildlife. In point of fact, to call a human being a beast is an
insult to the animal kingdom because people are capable of doing
things that are lower than an animal. I've yet to hear of an
animal getting drunk and beating his wife; nor have I yet to
hear of an animal betting the family's entire week's food budget
on one pony at Belmont; nor have I yet to hear of an animal
rolling a car into a lake with their kids inside in order to
keep a boyfriend.
● 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 sufficing 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. But death
is the great equalizer.
Beasts die and people die too; so people really have no
advantage over a cow in that respect. True: a cow won't die
rich, but then the rich take nothing out with them when they
die; same as the cow: so who's really better off in the ground?
the bovine or the rich man? Neither: they're equals in that
respect.
● 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 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 Solomon 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?
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
ascetics practicing 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.
NOTE: Seeing as how Ecclesiastes is one man's world view, rather
than a specific religious dogma, then it's no surprise when we
encounter things in here from the point of view of common sense
quite often.
_
#Post#: 3234--------------------------------------------------
Re: Solomon's World View
DIR By: Olde Tymer
Date: January 17, 2019, 8:00 am
---------------------------------------------------------
.
● 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 was exposed
to 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
just like the community filmed in the movie Slum Dog
Millionaire. The jam-packed homes (rudimentary shelters
actually) were constructed of cardboard, sheets of plywood,
corrugated tin, and sign boards. The children were all barefoot
and there were no streets and sidewalks; just riverbed soil. I
have no clue what they did for sanitation. It's my guess all
their offal went into what there was of the Tijuana River as raw
sewage.
Those people down in that riverbed weren't living; they were
existing, and that with no more dignity than a hog in a wallow.
(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 BB off
of depleted uranium plating.
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 North Korea, three generations of a family can be punished
for one member's alleged crime. As of 2008, an estimated 200,000
North Korean citizens were detained in labor camps: and don't
get me started on Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.
● 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? Gordon
Gekko, of Wall Street/Money Never Sleeps, said : "While I was
away, it seemed greed got greedier; with a little bit of envy
mixed in. Hedge funders were walking home with 50, 100 million
bucks a year". They say money is the root of all evil. Well, I
would have to say that envy is money's kissing cousin. Bring
those two together and the markets can become very volatile and
just as vulnerable.
● Ecc 4:5 . .The fool folds his hands together and has to
eat his own flesh.
Just the opposite of those who strive to get ahead, 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 greedy and the envious have food on
the table and a place to live. The fool is homeless and probably
lives out of dumpsters, or worse, panhandles and mooches off
friends. (One of my all-time favorite panhandler's makeshift
cardboard 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 go-getters, and the homeless bums, are the
moderate people. They don't have to have the best that life has
to offer, nor the most money, 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, neither are they
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 consumer-priced
Bulova or a Seiko, but won't shell out the extra dough for a
Breitling or an IWC even though they're the better timepieces.
They prefer cars that are economical rather than cars that are
cool, fast, and fitted out with the latest electronics. 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.
But the sad part is; those greedy, leveraged-to-the-hilt
hedge-funders are the very ones ravaging the moderates'
retirement plans. And if the fund goes belly-up-- as many did in
the last sub-prime blood bath --what do they care? It wasn't
their money that was lost; it was yours while they escaped with
a bail-out and/or a golden parachute. And the bail-outs? Who
pays for those? Duh . . . the moderates; via federal taxes, of
course.
_
#Post#: 3254--------------------------------------------------
Re: Solomon's World View
DIR By: Olde Tymer
Date: January 18, 2019, 7:34 am
---------------------------------------------------------
.
● 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 feelings of isolation, depression, and dark
thoughts.
● 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; viz: the combined strands become force multipliers.
In the darkening days in which we live in America, jogging,
hiking, and bicycling alone can be very dangerous in a City,
State, or National 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 tough guys like Chuck Norris and Jason
Stathan can be taken down. As Arnold Schwarzeneggar said in the
Hollywood movie Predator, "If it bleeds, we can kill it".
_
#Post#: 3286--------------------------------------------------
Re: Solomon's World View
DIR By: Olde Tymer
Date: January 19, 2019, 4:29 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
.
● Ecc 4:13-16 . . Better a poor but wise youth than an old
but foolish king who no longer has the sense to heed warnings.
The youth may have come from prison to the kingship, or he may
have been born in poverty within his kingdom. I saw that all who
lived and walked under the sun followed the youth, the king's
successor. There was no end to all the people who were before
them. But those who came later were not pleased with the
successor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
That passage observes the instability of political power, and
the fickleness of popularity. The incumbent ruler may have at
one time heeded his advisors' input and lead his country wisely.
But when he got old, he stopped listening to them. As a result,
a younger generation despised him for being egotistic, out of
touch, and insensitive to his countrymen's feelings. His
arrogance and egotism made him a prisoner of his own foolish
mind and eventually, he was either deposed, or voted out of
office.
A younger man, unknown till now, an underdog, whose platform
preached political reforms, a hope you can believe in,
environmental improvement, and economic recovery; made
impressive speeches and won the people's hearts. He took over,
led his country out of economic depression and to great
victories over their enemies. His country enjoyed worldwide
prestige and great prosperity.
But the younger leader's popularity didn't endure. He himself
aged and stopped listening to the voice of the people and his
advisors' input, and he too then became unpopular with a younger
generation; who then began clamoring for his overthrow just like
his own generation had done to his predecessor. It's an endless
cycle. Politicians are loved when they are voted in, and hated
when they are voted out.
Oliver Cromwell, who took the British throne away from Charles
l, and established the commonwealth, said to a friend: "Do not
trust to the cheering, for those same persons would cheer just
as much if you and I were going to be hanged."
_
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