SHEsaysWITHaSMILE.blogspot.com

Ecclesiastes 2015 a.d. by (me!) sandra, tvgp

i am inspired by solomon to share what i have experienced under my geographically/chronologically oriented sun..

it is true, isn't it..  that within 5 or so generations.. give or take a couple generations in either direction..   you will be dead and only maybe mentioned in passing, when something or someone directly triggers the memory.. Or, if during your mere mist of a life, you happen to be famous..  perhaps you'll enjoy..  Oh, wait a minute.  -once you're dead..  you cannot enjoy hearing your name dropped? or your art admired?   -the chance that your life is positively influencing someone else's life several generations later...?

please pause here to take a personal inventory of people from history who have a direct influence on your life today.

-was that the point of their life?

anyway..  it doesn't look so hot for the average Joe.  -work, work, work... toil, toil, toil... 

and then several generations later take a look at the digital family scrapbook..    /perhaps hologram if we fast forward..

are there still any pictures of you?

when I look at our own family scrapbooks...  great, great grandparents.. ? great great aunts? uncles? cousins?

when I look at trends in social media archives; sad news..  there is no relational colloquial equivalent for "selfie"

-you got it Solomon.. generations come and generations go..but the earth remains.. 

wait. at least, we hope, in 2015 that the earth will remain.. it probably seemed like a foregone conclusion in 950 b.c.

but I've got some sad news from 2015 a.d....

we have nuclear weapons and climate change issues.. so.. the whole sun rising/sun setting.. and wind blowing..   -none of this can be taken for granted anymore..

but! we do have people locally at the Lawrence Livermore labs NIF project toiling on creating a new sun before this one..say,   permanently sets..

oh! what do people gain from all their labors toiling to make a new sun...    and i just have to laugh here because.. because I can almost hear future generations, " there is nothing new under this new sun"

and.. those rivers and streams -always returning to where they came..  -we can't necessarily take that for granted anymore either..

-very inconvenient.

Yes.. add it up, it doesn't multiply, it subtracts:  perhaps you were write back then solomon,

no one even remembers former generations, or will remember those yet to come.   what does anyone gain from their labor?

***
please! honey..  i applied my mind to study..  and to explore wisdom too!  amen!  -that is for sure a bunch of chasing after the wind..   and it just fascinates me to no end that the Kings and the Presidents and the CEO's and the like, seem to arrive at the same conclusion as their hired hands..

-heavy burden.  one set of stress for the boss; a different set of stresses for the employees.  everyone's got their very own brand of stress.. and it turns out..  that's true for people of almost any income level..  stress of growing it/investing it/maintaining it/not losing it vs. stress of just trying to get it:   the ole mighty dollar...

clearly being King did not immune you...  and what was the minimum wage in israel in 950 b.c.? vs. cost of living?

-because, if you could see California in 2015...   yes, yes .. what is crooked cannot be straightened. what is lacking cannot be counted.  it is a mess. 

and like you.. I said to myself, I said "enough with all my wisdom and knowledge.. sorrow and grief...

let me check out some madness and folly.  -or that is more of a direct result of.. 

this is really where we part spiritual ways..  -because.. laughter! well, who was the robin williams of 950 a.d.?    -and then, well..

he's gone now..   but if you want to know what is good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their mist of an earthly life:

-making people laugh; or being the responsive audience by laughing..

this is time very well invested.  money very well spent.  can fancy clothes or fancy cars or material things make you laugh? 

the return on investment for laughter is greater than any money market fund.  humor about the madness and folly..  it breaks through the sorrow and grief

and is the highest demonstration of wisdom there is.

-you were considered one of the wisest men of your generation..  but if we had a solomon today...

we would be watching her for one hour, commercial free on HBO and spitting out our wine from uncontrollable laughter..

i can picture you, King Solomon, as a King.. studying, exploring, amassing wealth and wives, slaves and properties, silver and gold,

I can picture you building houses, planting vineyards, developing gardens and parks.. making reservoirs...

but I cannot picture you in doubled-over, snort-laughing, shoulders shaking, jaws aching laughter..

-you write that you denied yourself nothing.. refused your heart no pleasure..  but, what I think, when I read how you wrote, 'laughter is madness. and what does pleasure accomplish.. and this also turned out to be meaningless..

well, what I think is that..  you just didn't have exposure to a great comedian...  they are all not good.. there are  a few duds.. but! if you could have found a talented one.. 

Ecclesiastes might have an entirely different ring to it; if it was written at all..

-can't take it all too serious my biblical king friend..  laugh and pray and cast your cares...

and i can almost hear you.. you in your severely depressed, severely wealthy, permanently severe state of mind..

"the comedian.. he toiled for years and years.. traveled the world, overcoming rejection, telling jokes to drunk people ordering more drinks during the punchlines.. the comedian he struggled for decades.. for what?

to make who laugh? the drunk ordering another drink during the punchline..

and they both share the same fate..  the comedian who toils and toils and toils to master his craft..  and the audience member who just sits on his ass and orders a drink...  they will both die and will not be long remembered.."

and when I picture you saying that it just cracks me up. 

-there is always that one person in the room on any good and special and wonderful occasion who raises his glass to say

"We're all gonna die.  -cheers."

and you know, you're write Solomon.. the bar owner.. he worked his whole life.. built the place, sacrificed time, energy, money.. finally grew from a small pub to a restaurant with a stage for great comedians and wonderful musicians... he's put in countless hours, sweat, weekends, skipped vacations.. 

and will pass it on to a son who hadn't invested a thing.. and not knowing whether his son will be as dedicated.. Or,

"Oh.. you dont want the family business.. just the inheritance money?.."

-it happens.  I see your point.. 

***
TBC.

***

i woke this morning to thoughts of your multiple wives.  it is a very, highly common mistake even all these thousands of years later:

quantity vs. quality.  its 57-ish a.d. when Paul writes and describes about the crucial necessity of love, and he did not cover every single applicable experience under the current sun, but if he did, in his letter to the Corinthians it would have said,

"..and if you have a thousand wives but love not one who loves you in return..  you have a thousand wives and who cares

these disposable easy come, easy go, wives may sound very impressive to the guys at work and look novel-length when names are logged on papyrus, but honestly..  void of true love..   "meaningless!  meaningless!" you have merely mislabeled a thousand people...

without a mutual, exclusive, surrender/sacrifice known and understood by the heart.. "meaningless!".  " empty, empty, empty!" and it is a rare gift from God..  but mathematically speaking,  one true love is greater than 10,000 culturally, egotistically, acquired wives. 

ANYONE can acquire spouses, make living arrangements and adhere to obligations..   -what is impressive about that?  -when it is born from the mind and not the heart.. you can achieve this  any day; any where; any time..   it is about as rare as a grain of sand.

but mutually exclusive LOYALTY!  true love known and experienced and communicated through the heart.. -what is more astounding?

-talk about an epic treasure hunt! 

-not an obligatory relationship based on fear, ignorance, cultural or religious dictates, intimidation, financial dependence..  etc., etc.

-but love; known to the heart.    -what an invention!

it is worth more than all the gold and silver in existence on this parched earth under our current sun.

yes.. Paul was pressed for time or he would have expanded on this.. I'm sure of it..   

***

you know, as i re-read you Solomon..  I see that you came to some of these same conclusions..   -the hard way.  

and in the absence of love you are exactly write: everything IS meaningless..

and i can tell you were very bothered by the fact, that despite your wisdom, wealth, status as King..   despite your power and position..

you shared the same fate as any peasant on the unpaved streets.

ultimately speaking,  -there may be some giant discrepancies in this world when it comes to power and position and assets and liabilities..    but none of it buys immunity to your physical death. 

all the empty relationships, the money, the knowledge... 

there is no investment of time, energy or money or education that yields immortality.

it belongs...  /and this just kills elitists... 

but it belongs.. not to the exclusive card carrying billionaires club members..

but to those who believe.  

***

posted by SHE @ 10:34 PM