To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:
2 A time to be born,
And a time to die;
A time to plant,
And a time to pluck what is planted;
3 A time to kill,
And a time to heal;
A time to break down,
And a time to build up;
4 A time to weep,
And a time to laugh;
A time to mourn,
And a time to dance;
5 A time to cast away stones,
And a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace,
And a time to refrain from embracing;
6 A time to gain,
And a time to lose;
A time to keep,
And a time to throw away;
7 A time to tear,
And a time to sew;
A time to keep silence,
And a time to speak;
8 A time to love,
And a time to hate;
A time of war,
And a time of peace.
9 What profit has the worker from that in which he labors?
Time is passing: nothing clearer, nothing more obvious in the 21st century. Between two breaths, another week has passed. How often have you wondered “I have no idea when this week went by; I had so much to do, so much homework, so many meetings, conversations that I can’t recall when another Friday has come?” I believe that in the century of speed there is no better choice than to stop and wonder whether it isn’t “Better a handful with quietness/ Than both hands full, together with toil and grasping for the wind.”
Today, we are facing an ending and a new beginning, we are stepping into a new part of life and it is the decisions we make today that will influence our becoming. It is now that we shape our worldview. And lately I have heard quite frequently that it is all “dust in the wind, all we are is dust in the wind” (as many of you know the song). King Solomon, the wisest leader the world has ever known, begins his book with the following quote “Vanity of vanities. All is vanity”. In our everyday English usage, the word vanity conveys an image of excessive pride in oneself or in one's appearance, a picture of conceit and perhaps even arrogance. But what did the author of the book of Ecclesiastes actually have in mind?
When Jerome translated the Hebrew word hebel, he chose the Latin word vanitas. And consequently, many bible translators have used the closest English word, which is vanity. The roots of the word hebel indicate vapor, fog, steam, breeze or breath. Note that there is a common thread running through all of these roots of the word hebel, they all describe something that is transitory, ephemeral, impermanent, and something which may at first appear to be quite substantial, but which (upon further examination) is really without enduring substance.
In describing this “emptiness” Solomon takes a look at the things under the sun. Regardless of how strong we are, it isn’t us who stand in time, but the sun, the water, the earth. If we look at the sun, it rises, it shines and then it goes down and so on; the same with the wind. Doesn’t it feel that we are closed in a circle? This circle of the universe is a mirror of our soul, of our expectations, of our searches…. Don’t you feel that wherever you start in your expectations, you will always get back in the same place!? Just as the sun follows the same road, and the wind too …. Like someone made a bad joke with our life and closed us in a wheel; and we run and we run and sometimes we’re just like a hamster running on the same wheel. In other words, as much as you tried, there’s nothing new under the sun. “That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done”
And you might say that today we have so many new things than 1000 or even 100 years ago with all the technologic discoveries. But I’m not talking about the scenery, I’m talking about the essence of the human existence, about the things that count. I am not talking about the details, but regardless of the century he lives in, every man has the same existence. He is born, eats, loves, hates, falls in love, gets married, has children, becomes a grandfather and dies. And every man, regardless of when he is born will have the same experiences. Nothing new under the sun: everyone will love and will hate, everyone will be disappointed and excited. Every person will have the same experiences, but at different dimensions. And if someone says that he has discovered something new… hundreds of generations have already lived all your frustrations, the same love, hate, and again the same search, same pursuit.
Even evil will always be a part of our existence, as much as we would fight it. Evil cannot be tamed. People will invent new guns, new weaponry, as much wealth there will be in the world, there will be children who starve, women will still be abused, and children will have no education. Man will find new ways to betray one another, to mock one another. As much as we tried, evil cannot be tamed. History will only prove your good intentions, but that’s all.
There is so much thirst of happiness, of sense that we cannot live happily accepting the circle of our existence, you will pursuit to hear to see … to discover: thirst that won’t end.
Life is like drinking sand from a golden cup.
...to be continued
