{"id":2372,"date":"2012-03-13T08:58:06","date_gmt":"2012-03-13T15:58:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/?p=2372"},"modified":"2012-03-13T08:58:06","modified_gmt":"2012-03-13T15:58:06","slug":"all-is-meaningless-what-a-way-to-start-a-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/2012\/03\/13\/all-is-meaningless-what-a-way-to-start-a-book\/","title":{"rendered":"All is Meaningless–What a Way to Start a Book!"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/h6>\n
Love Flags, bright spots in an otherwise incomprehensible space. Click and click again for larger view.<\/a><\/h6>\n

“All is meaningless?” Somebody should have told this guy this is no way to start a book, particularly not one that’s supposed to be helpful.<\/p>\n

But he couldn’t be stopped; he was writing from experience.<\/p>\n

He was looking at life from the other side of hope. NOT HOPES DASHED, BUT HOPES FULFILLED!<\/p>\n

He was one of those rare among us who was able to achieve everything he could imagine. Most who do that end up disappointed. And he did too, until he saw greater light.<\/p>\n

Here’s the account in his words:<\/strong><\/p>\n

All<\/h3>\n

I had everything
\nso I could do anything
\nso here’s what I did:<\/p>\n

Kicks<\/h3>\n

First, I went after pleasure
\nand found it . . .
\npleasureless.<\/p>\n

Laughs<\/h3>\n

Not enough laughter, I thought,
\nknowing it’s good for the bones,
\nbut found it pretty shallow as a reason to live.<\/p>\n

Wine<\/h3>\n

I became a wine connoisseur,
\nloving its pleasure, its nuance, complexity (and conversation);
\nbut in the end every bottle is only empty.<\/p>\n

Giving<\/h3>\n

I became an\u00a0altruist,
\nused my resources for the public good,
\nproviding beautiful spaces,
\nlandscapes of lakes, whole\u00a0arboretums,
\nbearing fruit for the mouth and for the eyes.<\/p>\n

Staff<\/h3>\n

To do it I amassed a great workforce,
\nhad my own mega-farm to feed them all.
\nNo spread had more acres, more livestock.<\/p>\n

Money<\/h3>\n

My investments kept producing.
\nI didn’t have Swiss bank accounts, I had Switzerland.
\nNothing I could do could prevent the money pouring in.<\/p>\n

Women<\/h3>\n

And women, I won’t even mention,
\nExcept there were plenty,
\nalways.<\/p>\n

King<\/h3>\n

Suffice to say, I had more of everything than anybody;
\nthere was nothing I needed to refuse myself . . .
\nso I didn’t.<\/p>\n

But<\/h3>\n

I enjoyed it all . . .
\nfor the most part.
\nUntil I finished.
\nThen I didn’t.<\/p>\n

Zero<\/h3>\n

Because there was nothing else to do,
\nexcept write up my will.
\nAnd who knows what whoever would get all this would do with it?
\nHe could be a fool and lose it all . . .
\nand likely so, as he wouldn’t have worked for it.<\/p>\n

Joy<\/h3>\n

Then I realized it was the work itself that brought the pleasure,
\nthat with a little food and drink,
\nand a certain sense of God.<\/p>\n

?<\/h3>\n

Other than that, death wins,
\nand what was it all for?*<\/p>\n

There it is. An opening overview.<\/strong> Whatever we\u00a0pursue, whether or not we attain, in the end, death wins.<\/p>\n

Some have suggested that the oft-repeated phrase “under the sun” explains the whole thing, that Ecclesiastes is how life looks without the light of God shining through.\u00a0Simplistic? Maybe.<\/p>\n

Here’s a take from 20th-century novelist, Thomas Wolfe:<\/p>\n

“Of all I have ever seen or learned, that book seems to me the noblest, the wisest, and the most powerful expression of man\u2019s life upon this earth \u2014 and also the highest flower of poetry, eloquence, and truth. I am not given to dogmatic judgments in the matter of literary creation, but if I had to make one I could say that Ecclesiastes is the greatest single piece of writing I have ever known, and the wisdom expressed in it the most lasting and profound.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

It’s a book worth pondering, and applying its wisdom.<\/p>\n

Next time, however, we’ll take a break for some humor. We don’t want to get too heavy. Hold your paddle light.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

____________________________<\/p>\n

*Ecclesiastes 2
\nNext:\u00a0More Title Options<\/em>.\u00a0Coming Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Meaningless. All is meaningless. Somebody should have told this guy this is no way to start a book, particularly not one that’s supposed to be helpful. But in the end, of course it is, eminently. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2372"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2372"}],"version-history":[{"count":62,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2639,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2372\/revisions\/2639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}