The Great Reduction. Jay Trott

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СКАЧАТЬ But who remembers her now?

      More, outside of her little circle of family and friends, who even knew that she existed in her own time? Did they know about Sally in the lively town of Danbury, just twenty miles south, or in the blooming metropolis of New York, a little further down the road?

      Here’s an interesting exercise: How many of us know the names of our own great-grandparents? If we do not know them, then how can we expect anyone else to know them? And if no one knows them, then isn’t Solomon simply speaking the truth when he says there is no remembrance of former things?

      I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem.

      Here he identifies himself as Solomon. Some wags would say “with” Solomon. Either way, the meaning is the same. The unhappiness this man is experiencing is all the more remarkable because he is the king, and everyone expects kings to be happy.

      Or at the very least, they expect them to hide any unhappiness they might have. Ecclesiastes is like David going up into his chambers to weep after Absalom was slain. Sorrow and unhappiness are signs of weakness in a king. The nation and its captains would prefer they not be seen.

      Solomon’s name is ironic. It means peace, which in one sense is appropriate since he reigned over Israel in a time of peace; but he himself is not at peace. Far from it. He who brought peace to Israel is troubled in his soul, almost beyond his ability to express it.

      So then there are two kinds of peace. There is exterior peace where all is outwardly placid, calm; and then there is inner peace, shalom, the “peace that passes all understanding.” Solomon had the first but not the second. But of what value is the first without the second?

      Solomon is the king, and his name means peace, but he is not the king of peace. The purpose of Ecclesiastes is to make this abundantly clear.

      And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom

      concerning all things that are done under heaven.

      Now of course we all know that when God offered to give Solomon his heart’s desire, the one thing he asked for was wisdom, specifically to rule and judge the nation of Israel at a tender age. This indicated that he loved wisdom; he desired it more than any other thing.

      Here he says he “gave his heart” to it. He had an inquisitive mind, like Marcus Aurelius or Thomas Jefferson. He had a passion to know about “all things that are done under heaven.” He was curious about nature and how it works, and also about human nature, and the nature of being.

      This makes Solomon a very unique king. Plato talks about the philosopher-king, but it does not seem to have been a common type throughout history. Solomon was also a philosopher of the best kind. He understood the true point of philosophy, which is to find the supreme good of happiness.

      He wrote a book about it. The purpose of Proverbs was to show us how to make life happy by following the light of Wisdom. It is a completely practical book. There is no hint of academicism or of trying to impress others with one’s capacity for abstract reasoning.

      And every word in it is true. All the advice Solomon gives is very good advice. He depicts Wisdom as a woman standing on the street corner and calling out to humanity to come and eat that which is wholesome and sweet, that which can satisfy. Wisdom, in this view, is the key to contentment.

      Proverbs is also a deep book. Solomon informs us that “a soft answer turns away wrath” and a “gentle tongue can break a bone.” These observations are true, but they are by no means self-evident. They go against all instinctive wisdom and human nature itself.

      Through his proverbs and judgments, Solomon earned a reputation as the wisest man in the world. The Queen of Sheba, laden with riches, came to riddle him because of this shimmering reputation. But this raises a very interesting question.

      How is it possible that the wisest man in the world could wind up being so very unhappy?

      A sore travail to fatigue themselves with.

      At one time there was nothing he wanted more than to pursue wisdom, but in his old age he has come to regard it as a sore travail that eventually brings great weariness.

      Don’t worry; he is going to tell us why later on. But for the moment let’s think about the change itself. It is a simple fact that we all grow weary as we grow old. Projects we would not have hesitated to undertake begin to seem daunting if not impossible.

      Part of this is the loss of energy and strength. But partly it is something else, too. Our perspective on the ambitious projects of youth changes. We no longer see them in a glowing light. Knowing they cannot make us happy, we begin to have doubts about their value.

      The project Solomon has in mind is his avid pursuit of wisdom. Just as it is possible to become skeptical about the excellent addition which we have built with our own hands, so it is possible to become skeptical about the pursuit of wisdom if it does not lead to happiness.

      There is no identity more desirable than that of a wise man or woman. You can be a successful politician or a great athlete or musician, but if you do not have wisdom you are a very inferior star. Everyone admires wisdom. Everyone loves wisdom because to have it is to know how to be happy.

      But in Solomon’s case—not so much. Wisdom, the thing he used to love with all his heart, now seems like a great travail to him, hard to obtain, and, as we will see, sometimes even harder to bear.

      I have seen all the works that are done under the sun;

      and behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.

      Why has wisdom become a burden? Partly because it reveals things like this to him.

      All of our great works are vanity because we do them for identity. When we are building our addition with our own hands we are also building ourselves. The addition is an outward thing of finite value, but the labor and devotion are inward and full of dreaming.

      It is the disparity between the dream and reality that becomes exposed over time. We begin to realize we did not build the addition just to expand our living space but also to expand ourselves. And when happiness does not materialize we begin to wonder if it was an exercise in vanity.

      Our spirit is vexed because we did not obtain what we were looking for. We wanted happiness but what we found was sore travail and a certain emptiness. All works done under the sun are scorched by the sun. They cannot give us the refreshment we desire.

      Other than his writings, the “work” for which Solomon was most famous was the temple he built. No, he did not build it with his own hands, but it was his firm hand that carried it through to completion. Surely such a magnificent accomplishment can make a man happy!

      But this was not the case. No edifice, no matter how splendid, can fill up the infinite space of our longing. As soon as it is built we begin to have doubts about it. We see things that could have been done better. We wonder how we could have been so stupid as to miss them.

      Worse, nothing in this world is permanent. The temple cannot give Solomon the identity he desires because it will not last forever. He was explicitly warned that it would not last if Israel did not remain faithful. And in a time of great unfaithfulness it was utterly destroyed.

      Solomon had an example of the futility of СКАЧАТЬ