PC Translations

When I started blogging, it was at the Drupal-based site, Writing Up. I loved the community that grew up there. Drupal sites are made for community, chatting, enjoying other like-minded people. I loved it.

Then it collapsed.

I tried making all of my other blogs into something like Writing Up. All of them combined didn't make it quite the same. I never imagined that Writing Up would be so hard to replace.

Thankfully, another fellow-blogger at WU felt the same. And she did something about it. She replaced it.

You'll find my main blog at communati, at least for now. If it turns out to be as good as it looks it is going to be, "for now" could turn out to be a very long time.




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While on my most recent trip to Shanghai, I read through Richard Wilhelm's translation of the Tao Te Ching. I really enjoyed reading it, and have taken some notes on some of the more memorable bits. Here's something I really liked:

"The Tao that can be expressed

is not the eternal Tao.

The name that can be named

is not the eternal name."

That is how the Tao Te Ching opens.

This is in line with what I was talking about before on this blog when I mentioned Chinese translations of the Bible, particularly contrasting the idea of the Tao and the logos.

This was originally posted at my old blog. I am transferring much of that content to my newer blogs now.

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In his book, Qoheleth has raised some of the “big questions” in life, particularly those about the future. No one controls, nor even knows, what lies ahead for him/her in this life, as Qoheleth reminds us (6:12, 7: 13-14). In fact, not only can we not control "the big picture", we often do not even exercise self-control over our own action, but are easily entangled in things we later regret (8:7-8). The only thing that is certain in our future is old age (if we make it that long) and death (12:1-8).

Death. It is certain to overtake us all, and it is this thing that is so bothersome to Qoheleth, even stealing his joy when he does run across the good things in life. Death is the same end which all are destined to face, whether wise or foolish (8:7-8, 2:14-16). Pleasure and long life are of no use because death still awaits (7:2, 6:3-6).

And after death? We are forgotten, we lose hope, and no longer participate in life "under the sun" -- we disappear, even the memories of us (9:3-6). And who knows if our fate is even any different from the animals (3:18-21)? We might like to think ourselves a higher life form, but at the end of it all, it’s pretty much the same for us and them.

And the most frustrating part....

You can't take it with you (5:15-17, 2:18-21). Qoheleth longs for eternity (3:11), if just so that he can enjoy without end the good things he’s tasted in life. For him, if anything is to last (and thus satisfy his desire), it must transcend life, death, and time.

Qoheleth, though, does come to some sort of conclusion which seems to satisfy him. In 12:13-14, he writes:

This is the end of the matter. All has been heard. Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every work into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether it is good, or whether it is evil.

Though this comes at the end of his book, it is not the first time that Qoheleth has hinted that his conclusion will finally get back at something “over the sun” (as opposed to the view of life “under the sun” which he has been pursuing). At least twice, Qoheleth says that life under the sun is beyond comprehension, even for the wise man (11:5, 8:16-17). He also alludes to his conclusion in 3:9-21, when he reminds us quite clearly that the summum bonum cannot be found under the sun. If there is nothing that transcends this life, death, and time, then truly all is meaningless, for Qoheleth.

For many readers, this conclusion is not quite satisfying. It seems to be a sort of cop out, something like wishful thinking. It almost looks like Qoheleth is saying, “Well, this life is pretty meaningless without something that transcends the physical world. So, let’s believe in this Great Transcender, bow down to him, and count on him to give us meaning.” I think many people have read Qoheleth this way, even those who have found his conclusion appealing. I have even heard the book called Qoheleth’s apologetic for his faith, saying that he seeks to offer this defense of his faith by taking a look at the grimness of the alternative. To me, that sounds like wishful thinking indeed. If one doesn’t like the alternative, that is no reason to choose to believe in fictions.

However, I think that is not a fair view of Qoheleth’s work. I don’t think he is attempting to defend the reasons why he believes in God. If you look at it, the question of God’s existence is not raised at all in Qoheleth’s writing (nor in much of the Bible at all). Evidence for and/or against God’s existence won’t be found in this book. It assumes all along that there is a God, but Qoheleth is willfully living apart from him. From the first chapter of the book, Qoheleth already takes for granted that God is there, and blames him for laying a heavy burden on mankind (1:13). Perhaps it is this burden he blames on God that makes Qoheleth want to live under the sun. He doesn’t really say what prompted this decision. One way or another, he decides to go it on his own, without consideration of what he believes to be the realities other than (or beyond) the physical ones. At the end of all that, his conclusion was that life without those realities was not really worth it all, and was empty and meaningless.

I don’t know on what grounds Qoheleth believed in the existence of God. He doesn’t share that in his writings here, nor is it a central theme to any of the books in the Bible or extra-biblical Hebrew Wisdom Literature to my knowledge. The only real focus on apologetic issues in the Bible is in the New Testament and is focused on whether Jesus was in fact God in the flesh -- the existence of God is pretty much taken for granted. It seems that the common thinking in Hebrew Wisdom Literature, like the Bible, is that evidence for God’s existence is elsewhere, and not in these writings. I think stepping back away from treating Qoheleth’s book as trying to “prove” something helps make it more meaningful. It isn’t an attempt to prove anything. It is almost a resignation to what Qoheleth sees as inescapable -- that real meaning won’t be found apart from realities that lie somewhere other than under the sun.

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This was originally posted at my old blog. I am transferring much of that comment to my newer blogs now.

 

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As the wise old Grandfather Elliot likes to remind, there’s always the other side of the coin. (What’s that you asked? Who’s Grandfather Elliot? You don’t know Thomas Elliot? Hm. I guess you need to read this, then.) We've looked at the pessimistic side of Qoheleth's message, but that only gives one side of Qoheleth’s message, I think. He also offers a few other insights on "the good life" that can be found under the sun. And that “good life” is just as real to Qoheleth as the other, it seems to me.

There is no doubt that life under the sun is no bed of roses, and Qoheleth has in no way overlooked the hard realities of life. But even so, he points out that we can enjoy life on this earth if we seek pleasure in the right things. Enjoy life’s simple gifts, he says -- food, drink, work, wisdom, and love. (Did I just call those simple? They’d be weighty enough if I tried to do without.) Don't be afraid to enjoy what you have and the work that you do. Don’t downplay the importance of healthy relationships, because those are the things that will sustain us when life is at its worst.

Qoheleth -- the man who says “that the dead, who had already died, are happier than the living, who are still alive. But better than both is he who has not yet been, who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun” (4:2-3) -- is convinced that there is still good to be experienced by those of us who have the misfortune of living. He also writes these words:

“Wisdom, like an inheritance, is a good thing and benefits those who see the sun. Wisdom is a shelter as money is a shelter, but the advantage of knowledge is this: that wisdom preserves the life of its possessor” (7:11-12). (Eh? Is that an admission that life is worth preserving?)

“So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany him in his work all the days of the life God has given him under the sun” (8:15). (Huh? All our days can be filled with joy? Doesn’t sound too bad to me.)

“Light is sweet, and it pleases the eyes to see the sun. However many years a man may live, let him enjoy them all” (11:7-8).

I could go on listing the various places where Qoheleth mentions the good things in life that can and should be enjoyed. Indeed, it seems, on closer inspection, that this good life is a part of what gives rise to the pessimism I wrote about in my previous blog. Many of the passages where Qoheleth speaks about the good life are followed by mournful, gloomy comments which can be summed up by saying, “Well, yeah, that’s great. Too bad it doesn’t last.”

That, ultimately, is Qoheleth’s big gripe. If life were all bad, all injustice and tiresome toiling under the sun, then suicide is the obvious solution. But it’s not. There is a good life. There are even hints, every now and then, that there might be some meaning to it all. But those moments are destined to pass, and the good things sit side by side with bad. And worst of all, even the best of things aren’t going to last forever.

Everyone ultimately heads for the same destiny, and that destiny is the grave. Death is coming to everyone, no matter what s/he does on this earth. That’s a point Qoheleth seems to mourn throughout his little book (just about all of chapter 9 is spent complaining about it). It’s transitory, and no matter how much we might like certain aspects of this life, we won’t be able to hold onto it all at the end of the day. That’s a limit Qoheleth finds hard to swallow because, as he puts it, eternity is in his heart (3:11). He longs for the beauty he sees and experiences to last, and in the very core of who he is, he mourns that it just won’t.

It’s not all gloom and doom. But ultimately, the two views of life -- the view that it is empty and the view that there is a good life that is hard to let go of -- are just two sides of the same coin. You can’t really have one without the other.

This was originally posted at my old blog. I am transferring much of that comment to my newer blogs now.

 

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In Qoheleth’s search for the summum bonum in a life under the sun, he reports that he finds only vanity. The Hebrew word used, habel, is much richer than our English “vanity,” and carries the notion of emptiness, meaninglessness, or vanity -- each of these words being employed as translations in various English editions of Qoheleth’s work. [An aside here -- I was pleased when I moved to Singapore to find a word used here often (that in itself is pretty telling about life in this city!) which has an equivalent meaning, the Hokkein word sien.]

"Under the sun" is mentioned 29 times in Qoheleth’s book. That is why I see it as a major thread or theme in the book, along with the fact that it represents a departure from Hebrew thought that we find in most literature within the genre. In 2:17, Qoheleth says that he hated life, which is perhaps not uncommonfor those of us living "under the sun." It is pretty much the same sentiments expressed so eloquently when we say things like “life sucks then you die.”

So where does this bitterness come from? Qoheleth claims in his book to have pretty much tried it all. Some of the things Qoheleth tried and found wanting include pleasure, wealth, achievement through work, and wisdom. In chapter 3, he tells us further that part of his pessimism is due to the fact that things are the same day after day, nothing ever changes. He is left with nothing but a weariness of life's routine. But he further comments in his writing about the pursuits of knowledge (1:12-18) and pleasure (2:1-11), the toil of labour and the vanity of other human endeavours (2:17-26), social injustice (5:8-17), oppression (4:1-3), selfishness (4:7-12), empty religious practices and rituals (5:1-7), wealth (5:8-6:12) the uncertainty of life (2:17-19; 3:18-21), and the common fate that overtakes both the righteous and the wicked (9:1-6). All of it, he says, is empty and meaningless. The bottom line: life is hard, and it’s not fair.

Qoheleth's thinking (especially his continued utterance of the "habel" theme) has been called the zeitgeist for the modern world. I think that assessment isn’t far offbase. Pessimism is the doctrine that says that the present state of things tends only toward evil. It is a tendency to always see the dark side of things, and describes a generally negative outlook on life. A cynic is a person who thinks that all men act selfishly, who sees little or no good in anything, and who shows this by making remarks about people and things which often seem unfair and unkind. That sounds pretty typical of the view of much of the world today, and of Qoheleth so many thousand years ago.

Why this attitude? I think it is born out of unmet expectations. Cynicism cannot be entertained, I think, in a heart that has never known hope. It is born of disillusionment. It says, “Yeah, that is how things are. But it isn’t how they should be.” And, worst of all, as Qoheleth has pointed out, nothing ever changes. “Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before,” he tells us (3:15). Or, even more poetically in his opening words he writes,

"Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher; "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." What does man gain from all his labor in which he labors under the sun? One generation goes, and another generation comes; but the earth remains forever. The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, and hurries to its place where it rises. The wind goes toward the south, and turns around to the north. It turns around continually as it goes, and the wind returns again to its courses. All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full. To the place where the rivers flow, there they flow again. All things are full of weariness beyond uttering. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. That which has been is that which shall be; and that which has been done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. Is there a thing of which it may be said, "Behold, this is new?" It has been long ago, in the ages which were before us. There is no memory of the former; neither shall there be any memory of the latter that are to come, among those that shall come after.

So, there it is. Reality ain’t so hot, but it ain’t gonna change either. Thanks, Qoheleth. That’s helpful.

This was originally posted at my old blog. I am transferring much of that comment to my newer blogs now.

 

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Qoheleth might seem a strange pseudonym for the writer of this book, which bears his name as its title. Qoheleth is a Hebrew word, the Greek translation being “Ecclesiastes,” which is often translated into English as “The Preacher.” It literally means “one who calls or convenes together the congregation,” which might be why we so often choose this English term. However, the words “teacher,” “scholar,” or “philosopher” would work equally well in English.

Qoheleth is certainly not typical of our idea of a preacher, especially since his "text" is taken from his experiences and observations in life, not from Scripture. He isn’t interested in exposition on some bit of the Word of God. In fact, his subject matter is, simply put, life without God. He refers to this many times in his text as life “under the sun.”

In his book, Qoheleth is not called by a proper name, but he identifies himself as "Son of David, king in Jerusalem" (1:1), which points to Solomon or one of his descendants. He claims to be a wise man who "set in order many proverbs" (12:9-10), which seems to indicate Solomon a little more clearly.

Dual authorship or editorship has been argued. It is certainly possible, but I don’t see a real reason to take this view, and it seems to me one that mostly is just there to be cute. (No disrespect meant to the scholars who hold that view -- I am admitting that I am taking a shortcut here rather than discussing this point indepth, fascinating though it may be.) My conclusion is that there is one author, probably Solomon himself, but possibly one of Solomon's students recording his teachings in a Plato-Socrates sort of relationship. Whatever. I’ll just stick to calling him by the name he’s chosen for himself, Qoheleth.

Qoheleth’s writing style is fairly unique amongst the Bible books. He gives us a record of his own experiences in seeking answers to life's “ultimate questions.” He writes in the genre of “wisdom literature.” Wisdom literature was common in Solomon's day, and other Old Testament books of this style include Proverbs, Job, and also Song of Solomon and Lamentations to a degree. There are also other scattered examples in the Old Testament.

In wisdom literature, it is important to see the book as a whole, not simply piece by piece, and it is important to follow the whole argument. Often, this is not done, and people end up thinking the main point is what was actually intended to be a negative example. "Wisdom," within this genre, doesn't mean a course in theory, and it is not abstract. Neither is it focused on doctrinal issues. It is the discipline of applying truth to one's life in light of experience, and its goal is to encourage responsible, successful living. The focus of wisdom literature is generally on the behaviour of people, whether they apply truth to their lives, and whether they learn from experience. Hebrew wisdom literature differs from that of other nations in its emphasis on the Lord as the source of wisdom, and the goal of wisdom is to please him.

Qoheleth departs, to a large degree, from this national/cultural convention. Qoheleth's message seems to be pretty straightforward -- it offers us a record of his life search, and he is seeking the summum bonum. He doesn’t approach this from the typical Jewish paradigm, instead he forsakes Yahweh and seeks satisfaction in this life. His theme is best stated as a question: "Is life worth living?" What he finds is what many have since found; all is vanity in this life under the sun. Nothing here really lasts, and therefore, it disappoints.

Another point about Qoheleth’s writing that makes it unique within Hebrew wisdom literature is the universality of his message. He has forsaken the God of Israel and is determined to go about this on his own. So, appropriately, he appeals not to Israel's covenant relationship with Jehovah, but to universally observable facts about life in this world, life under the sun. He does not start with the usual premise of Hebrew wisdom literature, which is obedience, but with a basic question: "Have you learned to cope with this life as it really is?”

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If you’d like to try your hand at writing some wisdom literature for the modern world, Live Oak has posted a fun new challenge here.

This was originally posted at my old blog. I am transferring much of that comment to my newer blogs now.

 

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Before there was Gonzo blogging...
Before there was HST...
Before there was Nietzsche...
In fact, thousands of years before...

...there was Qoheleth. He was brilliant. He was cynical. He was funny. And the man could write.

And write he did. He left us his legacy, an embittered look at a long life lived on this earth, nothing left untasted or untried. He did it all. And when he wrote about life, he knew what he was talking about.

Qoheleth tells us some things about himself. Here’s what we learn about him from his text:

1. He was rich.
2. He was successful.
3. He was powerful.
5. He was sick of it all.

Qoheleth wrote it all down for us. Thousands of years before we were born, Qoheleth took up the challen

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