Ecclesiastes: The illusion of vanity and the reality of love (IX)

“I knew that everything that God made, that will be forever; we cannot add to it, nor can we diminish from it; and God made it so that they revere Him. That which was is already [done], and that which is [destined] to be already was, and God seeks the pursued.” (Ecclesiastes 3:14-15)

We are endlessly reminded that God’s creation is complete, total and wholesome, which makes it perfect and eternal as the goodness from which He made it. There is nothing to add or to diminish in goodness. Hence we realize that there is no lack or deficiency in the sufficiency of goodness as a sample of God’s magnificent awesomeness, for which we revere Him.

“Do not add to the word which I command you, nor diminish from it, [in order] to observe the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.” (Deuteronomy 4:2, 12:32)

This perfection also belongs to the Torah as God’s will for His material creation, for goodness is the reason and purpose of His commandments as the plenitude and length of our days.

The second verse invites us to reflect on what we believe, imagine, invent or create, for these too come from our Creator. Thus we become aware that everything we are and do reflects what God has done for us to measure either the goodness He wants us to enjoy as our essence and true identity, or the vanity and futility of ego’s fantasies and illusions.

In the latter God seeks those who are pursued by their obsessions, attachments and addictions, to bring them back to the truth of what is really meaningful and transcendental in life.

“And moreover, I saw under the sun, [in] the place of justice there is wickedness and [in] the place of righteousness, there is wickedness. I said to myself, ‘God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every deed there’.” (Ecclesiastes 3:16-17)

In the material world “under the sun” the egocentric approach to life turns the truth in justice into the lie of wickedness, for evil corrupts righteousness by diverting its purpose. We have said that “cause and effect” is one of God’s rules in His creation as an ethical principle from which nothing escapes.

“Oh, You let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but establish the just; for the righteous God tries the hearts and reins.” (Psalms 7:9)

Thus we understand His judgment of the righteous and the wicked. Goodness is the reward for those who do goodness, and the psalmist reminds us the predicament of the wicked that die by their evil.

“I said to myself [that this is] because of the children of men, so that God should clarify for them, so that they may see that they are [like] beasts to themselves. For there is a happening for the children of men and there is a happening for the beasts. And they have one happening, like the death of this one is the death of that one. And all have one spirit, and the superiority of man over beast is nothing, for all is vanity.” (Ecclesiastes 3:18-19)

King Solomon compares human negative emotions, destructive feelings and instincts to those of wild animals, for both share the same predicament and fate. In this sense man is not better than the beasts because their purpose in life is futile, meaningless and useless, making their survival vanity.

“All go to one place; all came from the dust, and all return to the dust. Who knows that the spirit of the children of men is that which ascends on high and the spirit of the beast is that which descends below to the earth?” (3:20-21)

Our sages relate dust to nothingness, non existence and death, and also as a place from where we are born and where we die. In regards to consciousness it represents stagnation and powerlessness to transcend the material world, which makes us equal to animal or vegetable life.

The verses invite us to ponder about the traits and qualities that help us transcend the limitations of matter represented by ego’s fantasies and illusions and their negative expressions. Also to reflect on the driving forces and trends that constrain animal life to a limited existence.

The message for us is to find the ways and means to elevate every aspect and level of consciousness up to the total freedom encompassed by the goodness emanated from love’s ways and attributes.

Ecclesiastes: The illusion of vanity and the reality of love (VIII)

“What profit does man have from all his labor? I have seen the burden (lit. interest) that the Lord has given to people (lit. sons of man) to be afflicted by it.” (Ecclesiastes 3:9-10)

King Solomon again reiterates the foolishness of toiling for ego’s fantasies and illusions as the burden that divert the true purpose of life. This recurrent warning calls our attention to focus on where we must invest vitality during our brief passage in the material world.

It also invites us to evaluate the source and causes of our afflictions by being mindful enough to differentiate between the transcendence of goodness and the futility of a useless and unproductive approach to life. Thus we recognize that goodness is God’s purpose in His creation, and that evil is the fate of the wicked.

“The Lord has made everything for His own purpose, also the wicked for the day of evil.” (Proverbs 16:4)

“Evil puts to death the wicked, and those hating the righteous are condemned.”

(Psalms 34:21)

In this context we assimilate that knowledge enables our free will to make the right choices, for without wisdom we are condemned to suffer by our ignorance. Thus we equate ignorance to affliction, and by knowing the ways of goodness within their ethical frame we live in the freedom inherent in it. We also realize that our addictions are our prisons, and their evil our suffering, for evil is their reason and also their end.

“The world He has made beautiful in its season. Also that knowledge He has put in their heart so man doesn’t fathom (lit. find out) the work that the Lord has done from the beginning to the end. Also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy good in all his labor, [for] is the gift of the Lord.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11-12)

Once more we are warned that God’s creation is beyond our grasp in order for us to fulfill His will, which is to live by, in and for goodness, because it is God’s gift for us. Theses verses certainly tell us that goodness is good enough, and there is no need to transgress against this divine gift by following anything opposite to its ways and attributes.

“And there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice in all that you put your hand to, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.” (Deuteronomy 12:7)

We must understand that goodness encompasses the purpose of God’s commandments, and our enjoyment is the purpose of goodness. Thus we constantly realize that God’s blessings are the ways, attributes, means and end of goodness.

“I know that whatever God does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it or anything taken from it; and God has done it, that they revere Him.” (Ecclesiastes 3:13)

The transcendence of goodness makes it eternal and thus we understand its perfection, for there is no lack or deficiency in goodness. In this awareness we also realize the magnificence of God’s creation, for which we always revere Him.

Ecclesiastes: The illusion of vanity and the reality of love (VII)

“A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance. A time to cast away stones and a time to heap up stones. A time to embrace and a time to be far from embracing. A time to seek and a time to destroy. A time to keep and a time to cast away.” (Ecclesiastes 3:4-6)

Weeping and mourning can be preconditions to laughing and dancing as the culmination of the lessons learned with our suffering. This does not mean that we have to cry and lament in order to find joy and delight, but to understand negative situations and experiences as processes that direct us to appreciate their opposite qualities.

“To appoint to mourners in Zion, to give to them beauty instead of ashes; the oil of joy instead of mourning, a mantle of praise for a spirit of weakness; and He is calling to them, ‘Trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord to be beautified’.” (Isaiah 61:3)

We repeat often that life in the material world is a learning process designed to assimilate the transcendence of goodness as the reason and purpose our existence. Thus we understand that there are stones that obstruct our progression, and also there are stones on which we build the leading traits and qualities of our essence and true identity.

As we see obstacles before us we also strive for gathering the lessons we learn as the building stones that help us pursue what truly matters in life.

In this journey of progression we embrace what nurtures us and encourages us to live in goodness for the sake of goodness, and we reject the negative traits and trends that obstruct our purpose in this world.

In this journey of our soul we all are compelled to seek as part of the empirical process of learning from positive and negative experiences. As we seek and experience, we also compel consciousness to discard or destroy what we recognize as the opposites of the goodness we enjoy in love’s ways and attributes.

This is the culmination of keeping what nurtures, dignifies, honors and elevates life while casting away the destructive, despising, dishonoring and degrading traits and trends in human consciousness.

“A time to rend and a time to sew. A time to be silent and a time to speak.”

(Ecclesiastes 3:7)

We can understand the first phase of this verse as necessary actions we must take before situations that we can’t afford to allow in our midst.

We must urge ourselves to respond in outrage against negative ideologies and beliefs that seek to destroy the dignity of life, and pursue their destruction by all means necessary. We memorialize the genocides and atrocities perpetrated throughout history not just to remember the horrors committed against humanity but to bring awareness in regards to the ideologies and beliefs that led to such depravity.

As our sages remind us, we must fight to eliminate sin and not the transgressors. Thus we sew the garments we rend once we end the time to be silent in order to speak out and act accordingly. As we strive to live in goodness’ loving kindness, it will always show us God’s ways and paths.

“Cause me to hear Your loving kindness in the morning for I trust in You. Cause me to know the way in which I should walk for I lift up my soul to You.”, “All the paths of the Lord are loving kindness and truth for those who keep His covenant and His testimonies.”

(Psalms 143:8, 25:10)

Silence is the space we need to meditate and reflect on the things that matter, and make the right decisions when we choose between the vanity, futility and vexation of ego’s fantasies and illusions and the honor, truth and transcendence of love’s ways and attributes.

“A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace.” (Ecclesiastes 3:8)

This verse seals the messages king Solomon gives us in the previous ones, for indeed there is a time that comes either sooner or later to appreciate, respect, honor and love what celebrates our essence and true identity; and an time to hate, reject, repudiate and condemn all that threatens and harms who we really are.

In this awareness we wage war against that by all means, for this war is the necessary means to pursue and achieve peace as the wholeness, completion and totality of the full knowledge that God dwells in our midst.

Ecclesiastes: The illusion of vanity and the reality of love (VI)

“There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and make his soul enjoy goodness in his labor. This also I saw, that it [goodness as our labor] is from the hand of God. For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, more than I?” (2:24-25)

We have said often that the man who understood the Torah the best is King David, and the proof of that is his book of Psalms from which his heir also learned part of his great wisdom. The psalmist recalls frequently that God’s creation came from His eternal loving kindness, and from this we realize that the latter is the cause and purpose of all that exists. Hence goodness is for which we labor in this world to also be our food and drink that make us enjoy life, for goodness comes from the Creator.

The last part of the second verse should not be understood as an arrogant statement by King Solomon. We must understand every statement in the Hebrew Bible in the context where is mentioned. He is telling us that because of his full awareness of the goodness coming out of God, he is the one who enjoys it the most as his food and drink. The more we are aware of God’s love in all His creations, the more we delight in His love.

“For to a man who is good before Him, He has given wisdom, and knowledge, and joy; and to a sinner He has given travail, to gather and to heap up, to give to the one who is good before God. Even this is vanity and vexation of spirit.” (2:26)

Again we are reminded that wisdom, knowledge and joy are inherent in goodness, and also are its rewards. From this we learn that goodness doesn’t exist without wisdom and knowledge as its ethical frames in which we find joy.

“For the Lord gives wisdom, from His mouth knowledge and understanding.”

(Proverbs (2:6)

The “sinner” is one who pursues ego’s fantasies and illusions for which he toils and wastes his life gathering and piling up material possessions that eventually will end up in the hands of those who God sees proper give. Solomon repeatedly insists that the travails of fantasies and illusions are vanity and a vexation to the spirit that sustains life. We can also understand the “sinners” as the negative traits and trends that will end up serving the purpose of goodness as God promised for the Messianic age.    

“To everything [there is] a season, and a time to every purpose under the heavens. A time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

We know that life is a learning process since we are born, and we are destined to go through stages that enable us to ascend in understanding, awareness, knowledge and wisdom which lead us by and for goodness in life as our “every purpose under the heavens” in the material world.

In regards to the last part of this verse, it refers to planting goodness in order to harvest goodness, for we already know that whatever we reap what we sow.

“A time to slay and a time to heal, a time to break down and a time to build up.” (3:2-3)

We must not take “to slay” literally, for the context of the phrase is to counter balance or correct a negative action. Hence “slaying” refers to the damage we may cause physically, mentally or emotionally on us or onto others, and the next phrase has the same meaning and message.

As we mentioned before, life is a learning process that God wants us to experience as much as we can in order to assimilate goodness in contrast to wickedness. This may be a painful process because the endure suffering as a result of living with a negative and destructive approach to life out of ego’s materialistic fantasies and illusions.

The Creator also wants us learn not only from goodness but also from the negative choices He presents before us in order to choose always goodness in all its forms, ways and expressions.

“Come, let us return to the Lord, for He has torn us but He has healed us. He has wounded us but He has bandaged us.” (Hosea 6:1)

“Return, O faithless sons, I will heal your faithlessness. Behold, we come to You, for You are the Lord our God.” (Jeremiah 3:22)

We can understand this also as a refining and strengthening journey toward appreciating the expanding qualities of goodness in human consciousness that God will reveal for us in the Messianic times.

“He will revive us after two days, [and] He will raise us up on the third day, that we may live before Him.” (Hosea 6:2)

The prophet Hosea reminds us that after the destruction of the second Temple of Jerusalem (“one day” for each Temple), God will appear to us in the Third and eternal Temple for us to live (dwell) before Him forever. In those Messianic times we will live only to know abundantly our Creator “as the waters cover the bed of the oceans”.

Ecclesiastes: The illusion of vanity and the reality of love (V)

“That there is no remembrance to the wise -- with the fool -- through the ages, for that which is already in the days that are coming is all forgotten. And how the wise dies? With the fool! And I have hated life, for sad to me is the work that has been done under the sun, for the whole is vanity and vexation of spirit.”
(Ecclesiastes 2:16-17)

Our wisdom doesn’t help us as long as we make foolish choices that will never make us remembered by the next generations. Again king Solomon reproaches himself for engaging in materialistic fantasies and desires as vanities that undermine the true purpose of life and the spirit that keeps it alive.

“I hated all my labor in which I labored under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who comes after me. And who knows whether he is wise or foolish? Yet he rules over all my work that I have labored at, and that I have done wisely under the sun! Also this is vanity. And I turned round to cause my heart to despair concerning all the work that I labored at under the sun.” (2:18-20)

The wise Jewish king calls our awareness in regards to the attention we give to riches and possessions, for which we labor in the material world. We are not able to take them with us after we die, and unequivocally will end up in the hands of others that may or may not be as wise as we thought that we were. Hence we have to focus in what really matters in life for its immediate fulfillment, and not to future circumstances in which we are not sure that we will be.

This does not mean that we should not prepare for the next days, weeks and years in terms of our needs and endeavors. The idea here is to avoid ego’s fantasies and illusions that lead us to situations that we will regret later because of our vanity. King David also reminds us this.

“Surely every man walks wandering as a ghost, surely they make an uproar for nothing. He amasses riches and does not know who will gather them. (…) For he sees that even wise men die. The stupid and the senseless alike perish and leave their wealth to others.”
(Psalms 39:6, 49:10)

We must be aware that we are the measure of our portion and circumstances. Our portion is who we are, what we have, and our relationship with God, and the latter determine the former. Our individual and collective duty is to know that goodness is our essence and true identity, and also our bond with God. When goodness is the cause, the reference and the purpose of human life, goodness also will be who we are and what we have, for it is God’s will for us.

“For there is a man whose labor is in wisdom and in knowledge and in equity, and to a man who has not labored therein he gives it -- his portion! Even this is vanity and a great evil. For what has been to a man by all his labor, and by the thought of his heart that he labored at under the sun? For all his days are sorrows, and his travail sadness; even at night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.” (Ecclesiastes 2:21-23)

We are reminded constantly that goodness doesn’t dwell with anything different from its ways and attributes. The first of these two verses remark that giving the works of wisdom and knowledge to the undeserving is like feeding wickedness with goodness. This is not only vain and futile but also a great evil. Hence we have to seriously consider for what and for whom we labor every day, so later we won’t regret with sorrows and sadness all that we wasted on our temporary fantasies and illusions.

“Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to retire late, to eat the bread of painful labors; for He gives to His beloved even in his sleep.” (Psalms 127:1-2)

We have to build our consciousness (“the house”) with the goodness God wants us to be, to have and manifest in life. If we build it on materialistic desires, we will labor in vain and all we do to fulfill ego’s fantasies and illusions will be the bread of all our efforts. Once we enthrone goodness in all levels and dimensions of consciousness, goodness will be with us even in our sleep.