“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.
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