Vanity of vanities, all is vanity
Ecclesiastes
It is a despairing, cynical almost pagan take on theodicy, and yet it made the cut and today is part of the most widely read book in the world. Makes me proud to be a member of a religion that has such a big tent, that can so tolerate the cynic.
It is traditional to read the scroll in its entirety on Sukkot, the harvest festival, when we reap what we have sewn. Seems fitting.
Rabbi Rachlis in tonight's discussion got it right. The author asks the right questions and throws out the knotty challenges. What he doesn't do is come up the right answer. His answer of despair is not the only response to an unjust, cold and cruel world. Victor Frankl reminds me that we always have the freedom to choose how we respond. In that last freedom there is a joy and a subtle but certain victory over the angst.
Read a bit from Chapter One below or better, read the whole book yourself (it isn't very long) and please share with me your reaction. I would really like that. Honestly. It would be a great comfort. Add a comment here or email me at BkoffmanMD@gmail.com or do both.
I picked this particular section as it hones in on the impotence of my weapon of choice, the intellect in our earthly struggles.
Labels: Ecclesiastes
posted by Brian Koffman at
10:46 PM
4 Comments:
For me the most meaningful and "true to life" portion of this chapter has always been the reference to the vexation caused by wisdom and that "increasing knowledge leads to increasing pain".
Only those with blind faith can ever hope to overcome this conundrum. When we developed the capacity to reason, learn and understand things we also created the capacity for frustration, self doubt and despair.
I doubt that I (a true cynic) will ever be capable of getting past this. Recently I visited a Catholic shrine and saw a saying that may help people like me...Pray, Hope, and Don't worry.
Perhaps it will serve to give me some comfort...I pray that it does!
11qRick
Those verses you typed, I think they mean it is trust that matters.
Probably, not very helpful. I think there is merit in what Victor Frankl says - gosh, I read his book so long ago. He is right about the freedom to choose, I think in the end I had to do that. Took me a very long while.
In a way, perhaps just relax now for a while. You don't have to do or realize everything all at once.
Hi Bryan...guess one of the questions is can one be too smart for their own good...I struggle with that as I am doing campath consolidation after 3 chemo regimes per the wisdom of dr Kipps and against the wisdom of my present university of calif. dr who figures I will relapse and then transplant...do not like that road but recognize the road may lead that way...I often wonder whether my ego and pseduo intelligence interfer with my ability to understand the ways of G-d...and then I read about martin luther and his flawed view of the jew...guess the key is who but oneself can make the decision??...Kipps...Rai??...Furman??...or Koffman??...bet the farm on the later for you...as I have done for myself and me...with the recognition that what will be...will be...romanbob
Is despair the author's conclusion? Or are his observations just a stop along the way?
I think he's making an observation. Knowing stuff increases vexation. In other words, ignorance is bliss.
It's true. Before I heard of CLL or 11q or FISH, I was blissfully ignorant. But is it better, wiser, more desirable to remain ignorant? No.
In the end, he isn't eschewing the intellect or pursuit of answers or the application of one's noggin. He's just not trusting in it for his salvation.
But make the most of the gifts you've been given because doing so serves purposes beyond what you can imagine.
Just my 2 cents.
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