What Is Life, When It Is Something To Be Despised?
What is life, when it is something to be despised? We act as though it is a gathering of passing moments that are seemingly impossible to withstand. Attempting to escape, we redefine existence to cater to our desires, never stopping to acknowledge those desires in themselves. Desire takes on many shapes and forms, but the greatest desire is the desire to know... The desire to know is what drives us to pursue further desires. Yet what can be said of desire? What is this force that drives our entire being? How is it that each desire has a road that leads us down an absolute path? Is it impossible to have a life while never knowing what life is? What is misery? What is joy? What is right and what is wrong? What can the laws of nature provide us for answers besides that which is unexplainable. Can we attempt to attain life by gaining it, or must we surrender life to find it? What is submission? How is it that one's definition of life never meets the standard of interpretation of individuality? Could there be such thing as an absolute? Is there a standard by which all consciousness is upheld? Does all creation, all existence, all things visible and invisible, abide in harmony? What is harmony? Can it be defined? Why is nature?
As soon as a child can coherently put words together, they ask "Why?" How is it that we have grown to ask so many questions and have refused to see what is obvious? Or have we? What is belief? What is thought? What is reason? What is logic? What is knowledge? Who is God? How can we know? What is delusion? Am I truly existing? Why am I numb? Where has life taken me? How can I be restored? What is innocence? What is purity? What happened to my childhood? What is pain? What is suffering? What is good? What is love? Why am I doing this? Why does it matter...?
Amidst the questions of life, finding any answer is comparable to finding the proverbial needle in a haystack... One must choose which pathway of desire he will follow. The desire for money will lead him to emptiness. The desire of wisdom will lead him to foolishness. And the desire of pleasure will leave him in pain, seeking then to be numb...
What is life, when it is something to be despised?
Ecclesiastes 2:
1 I thought in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.” But that also proved to be meaningless. 2 “Laughter,” I said, “is foolish. And what does pleasure accomplish?” 3 I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was worthwhile for men to do under heaven during the few days of their lives.
4 I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. 5 I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. 6 I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. 7 I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. 8 I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired men and women singers, and a harema as well—the delights of the heart of man. 9 I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.
10 I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;
I refused my heart no pleasure.
My heart took delight in all my work,
and this was the reward for all my labor.
11 Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done
and what I had toiled to achieve,
everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;
nothing was gained under the sun.
We may be able to explain away the "desire of", but what is to be said of "desire itself"? Unless of course, desire in itself denotes an outward expression of one's very existence. Thus making desire, never actually intended for our very purpose, but to pay a sort of reverence to whom it is deserved... When desire is reversed from selfishness to selflessness, many of the aforementioned questions answer themselves...
As soon as a child can coherently put words together, they ask "Why?" How is it that we have grown to ask so many questions and have refused to see what is obvious? Or have we? What is belief? What is thought? What is reason? What is logic? What is knowledge? Who is God? How can we know? What is delusion? Am I truly existing? Why am I numb? Where has life taken me? How can I be restored? What is innocence? What is purity? What happened to my childhood? What is pain? What is suffering? What is good? What is love? Why am I doing this? Why does it matter...?
Amidst the questions of life, finding any answer is comparable to finding the proverbial needle in a haystack... One must choose which pathway of desire he will follow. The desire for money will lead him to emptiness. The desire of wisdom will lead him to foolishness. And the desire of pleasure will leave him in pain, seeking then to be numb...
What is life, when it is something to be despised?
Ecclesiastes 2:
1 I thought in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.” But that also proved to be meaningless. 2 “Laughter,” I said, “is foolish. And what does pleasure accomplish?” 3 I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was worthwhile for men to do under heaven during the few days of their lives.
4 I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. 5 I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. 6 I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. 7 I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. 8 I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired men and women singers, and a harema as well—the delights of the heart of man. 9 I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.
10 I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;
I refused my heart no pleasure.
My heart took delight in all my work,
and this was the reward for all my labor.
11 Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done
and what I had toiled to achieve,
everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;
nothing was gained under the sun.
We may be able to explain away the "desire of", but what is to be said of "desire itself"? Unless of course, desire in itself denotes an outward expression of one's very existence. Thus making desire, never actually intended for our very purpose, but to pay a sort of reverence to whom it is deserved... When desire is reversed from selfishness to selflessness, many of the aforementioned questions answer themselves...
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