Keep Calm and Carry On and On

Life is ultimately tragic.

The book of Ecclesiastes is a book I have always liked reading. Quite brazenly, it seems to promote pessimism as a view to life. This is quite the contrast of the Bible's stature as a book of hope, a book of life. The unshakable fact is, that flowing through its proverbial observations and trite statements, reading Ecclesiastes leaves one with quite a load of questions with very few answers. But the few that it does give is sufficient to satisfy, if allowed to drip into the deepest recesses of the human experience.
The author, who calls himself Qoheleth / The Preacher, wrote as a wise old man who has seen it all. Qoheleth has traversed his life to the full: using his wealth and wisdom to discover what life is for. With much at his disposal, he has painted quite a variegated life experience. Much like the literature that preceded it, the book of Proverbs, it presents summary statements which require a closer read.

In the end of his life he is led to conclude, as he had stated in the beginning: vanity of vanities, all is vanity.

A cursory reading of the book will undoubtably leave one depressed. Wisdom and folly, righteousness and wickedness, all men will come to die. What is the use of all this? For those in search for a reading challenge, one cannot find a more profound yet equally confusing work in Ecclesiastes. I am happy to report that I understand the book better now compared to when I first read it around seven years ago. I now understand some of what he is saying, but only a handful of things. A still-fervent optimism is still within me, yet the Preacher seems to douse all that to flailing embers with every line. The Preacher applauds wisdom and righteousness, but at different locations in his writing he concludes they, too, are vanity. Useless.

And what of pleasure? What of joy? The happiness questing of the world still seems to be the rave. Yeah, yeah, you only live once. So what's holding us back? The Preacher finds pleasure fleeting, unable to cope what this life ultimately brings. He commends joy, but concludes that it is better to stay in the house of mourning. "Vanity, vanity..." playing like a broken refrain, echoing even after the music has stopped.

What to make of Ecclesiastes? Is this a welcome reason for a life of pessimism? It does seem that way. Pleasure is vanity. Joy is vanity. Wisdom is vanity. But what did Qoheleth make of all this? A greater question is: what to make of it, in the light of Christ?

Quite far from concluding that those who believe in God should abandon their posts, flee to the mountains, Qoheleth vexes his readers as his account is ending: "the Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs with great care. The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth." (Ecc. 12:9-10) Despite all reason to live in depression, in solitude, he provided the people of the truth and of righteous living: the fear of God. He was not completely without hope as to be useless. True living is displayed in this: fear God and keep his commandments. Despite the tragedy of life in a fallen world, the end is not an unhinged existence, but a confident fear in God. Life is tragic? Yes. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. Keep calm, carry on. The King will return. Soon.