{"id":2392,"date":"2012-03-10T07:49:44","date_gmt":"2012-03-10T15:49:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/?p=2392"},"modified":"2012-03-10T07:49:44","modified_gmt":"2012-03-10T15:49:44","slug":"lifes-little-unlikely-instruction-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/2012\/03\/10\/lifes-little-unlikely-instruction-book\/","title":{"rendered":"Life’s Little (Unlikely) Instruction Book"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
\nJoe Btfsplk<\/em> of cartoonist Al Cap fame is not Qoheleth<\/em> of Ecclesiastes, but I couldn’t resist the connection, and both their names are beyond pronouncing.<\/h6>\n

Maybe you’ve figured out by now, if you’ve been reading these, that Ecclesiastes is my favorite book. At least it’s up there with my top 66. The fact that it starts out with everything being meaningless doesn’t bother me much, particularly when in the end it says the opposite.<\/p>\n

The word “meaningless” is really better translated “vapor.” And vapor turns back into rain, which waters the earth. I know I’m wonderfully watered by the words in this book.<\/p>\n

The book of Ecclesiastes seems esoteric at times, even inscrutable, and positively negative<\/span>! But it faces life as it is, not how it should be<\/em>. I can trust a God that includes in His book the admission that things don’t always go as we think they should, that a lot of life is hard to fathom.<\/p>\n

I see in Ecclesiastes a thought process many of us have traveled, questioning the ultimate meaning of everything and ending up, shudder, empty.<\/p>\n

There was a time when I concluded that a\u00a0pessimist\u00a0is just a\u00a0realist\u00a0who is honest<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Ecclesiastes was written from the perspective of a person who has tried everything, attained everything, and then reflected on it. By the way, he never claims to be King Solomon, and the writing style is that of a later usage than Solomon’s era. The writer, Qoheleth,*\u00a0<\/em>has taken on a Solomonic perspective and writing as if . . .<\/p>\n

Since none of us will experience as much as Solomon did, the writer gives us the benefit of the conclusion he would have reached.<\/p>\n

And that is:<\/p>\n

When all is said and done, all is meaningless–unless and until greater light is found. Of course, that is God Himself. After that one may still see the anomalies, but there’s plenty of reason to be happy . . . in the simple things.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I find a highly positive thread weaving through it all<\/span> . . . something I’ve already alluded to in a handful of these blog posts. (See below.)<\/p>\n

Another Book?<\/h3>\n

I’ve actually thought of putting together a little book using Ecclesiastes as the point of departure. Not that it hasn’t been done before, but then everything’s been done before–that’s one of Ecclesiastes’ truths.** It’s just never been done by me. And my perspective will be different.<\/p>\n

Just like yours.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf the making of books there is no end.”<\/strong>*** There’s another from Ecclesiastes. It just gives me all the more permission.<\/p>\n

So, with your permission, I’ll embark. And I’ll invite you along. You’ll be valuable help just by reading, possibly commenting, looking for its completion and sharing it with any others.<\/p>\n

I do not intend to go chronologically. I’ll jump around, and not cover everything. Nor will every post be on the theme. It’s a Blank Slate<\/em>. I will want to retain my moments of spontaneity and humor, and so will you, I think. It’ll be up to you to know when it’s which.<\/p>\n

So here we go. Come along, and grab a paddle; we’ll be pulling up stream. And, like I said, invite others. There’s plenty of room in the boat.<\/p>\n

And if it tips over, so be it. It’s just water (vapor).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Past Posts on the Theme<\/h3>\n

Posts already based on Ecclesiastes segments include:<\/strong>
\nSo, Go, Says God<\/em><\/span>, Ecc. 9:7-10
\nTry Things, You Never Know<\/em><\/span>, Ecc. 11:6
\nOn Seeing the Future, Not<\/em><\/span>, Ecc. 10:14
\nDon’t Leave Your Post<\/em><\/span>, Ecc. 10:4
\nLight is Sweet<\/em><\/span>, Ecc. 11:7
\nSlow, Beauty Ahead<\/em><\/span>, and Strong in its Kind<\/em><\/span>, both taken from Ecc. 3:11
\nA Time for Everything<\/em><\/span>, Ecc. 3:1-8<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

____________________________<\/p>\n

*The original Hebrew name of the book is\u00a0Qoheleth, <\/em>coming closest to “preacher,” the self-description of the author. Translated to Greek it became Ecclesiastes<\/em>.
\n**Ecclesiastes 1:9
\n***Ecclesiastes\u00a012:12
\nNext:\u00a0All is Meaningless–What a Way to Start a Book!\u00a0<\/em>Coming Tuesday.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Under a cloud? That’s how life seems sometimes. But the sun is shining somewhere . . . best if it’s from the inside. Here’s an intro to a book about a book that faces it.<\/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\/2392"}],"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=2392"}],"version-history":[{"count":52,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2565,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2392\/revisions\/2565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}