Читать книгу The Great Reduction - Jay Trott - Страница 20

Why has wisdom become a burden? Partly because it reveals things like this to him.

All of our great works are vanity because we do them for identity. When we are building our addition with our own hands we are also building ourselves. The addition is an outward thing of finite value, but the labor and devotion are inward and full of dreaming.

It is the disparity between the dream and reality that becomes exposed over time. We begin to realize we did not build the addition just to expand our living space but also to expand ourselves. And when happiness does not materialize we begin to wonder if it was an exercise in vanity.

Our spirit is vexed because we did not obtain what we were looking for. We wanted happiness but what we found was sore travail and a certain emptiness. All works done under the sun are scorched by the sun. They cannot give us the refreshment we desire.

Other than his writings, the “work” for which Solomon was most famous was the temple he built. No, he did not build it with his own hands, but it was his firm hand that carried it through to completion. Surely such a magnificent accomplishment can make a man happy!

But this was not the case. No edifice, no matter how splendid, can fill up the infinite space of our longing. As soon as it is built we begin to have doubts about it. We see things that could have been done better. We wonder how we could have been so stupid as to miss them.

Worse, nothing in this world is permanent. The temple cannot give Solomon the identity he desires because it will not last forever. He was explicitly warned that it would not last if Israel did not remain faithful. And in a time of great unfaithfulness it was utterly destroyed.

Solomon had an example of the futility of great works right next door in the pyramids. The Egyptians, thinking their kings were divine and lived on after death, filled the pyramids with things the kings would need in the afterlife. Those things remained untouched until the tomb raiders came along.

Our works, no matter how great they may be, become vexing when we see that they cannot fill the sea of our desire. They cannot make us happy. We must look somewhere else.