Ecclesiastes
I spent the small hours of last night reading most of Ecclesiastes through sleep-encrusted eyes. If you are the kind of person who never reads the Bible as a matter of principle, you might think about making an exception for Ecclesiastes. It's a very philosophical chapter, and much less moralistic than most other parts of the Bible. The main message seems to be our helplessness to change things in the face of the vast forces that control the universe. It is strange that this message of despair, improbably cast across the void of time, gives me great comfort in my own despair. The clarity and coherence of early Ecclesiastes seems to break down into a static of jumbled ideas and messages towards the end (... or was this me going back to sleep?) In particular, Ecclesiastes seems unclear on whether wisdom is an essential virtue, or just another flavor of human folly. The following are some of my favorite passages: Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. What do people gain from all the ...