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The strengths and weaknesses of King Solomon's reign
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The book Ecclesiastes searches for the answer to the question, “What is the meaning of life?” It is written from the perspective of King Solomon, who through his life looked for happiness from his many wives, materialism, alcohol, idolatry and his position of power, but in the end, he comes to the conclusions that everything was meaningless, a temporary distraction that, without God, has no purpose. He has seen many evils and realized that even the best of man’s achievements are worth nothing in the long run. So, he advises the reader to acknowledge God from youth (12:1) and to follow His will (12:13-14).
The book of Ecclesiastes can be broken down into three parts, the first is life seems meaningless and pointless. The word used over and over
... There is no joy, no choice, and no individuality. If those qualities are not present in life, then what is the purpose of living? In the council’s opinion the purpose of life and living is to provide for all of man (meaning to just work day in and day out) and not for oneself. If my life had no purpose, no individuality, and no happiness, I would not want to live.
Richard Taylor, an American philosopher and author of, “The Meaning of Life” believes you can live a meaningful life as long as you realize your will and are completely involved in it and enjoy it, then you are no longer needed and your life was a successful one. “This is surely the way to look at all of life- at one’s own life, and each day and moment it contains; of the life of a nation; of the species; of the life of the world; and of everything that breathes” (Taylor p 27). He proves this through the ancient myth of Sisyphus. Sisyphus was sentenced by the Gods to spend an eternity rolling a stone repeatedly to the top of a hill and once it reached the top, it would roll right back down once again. Taylor calls Sisyphus’ life as an “endless pointlessness.” Taylor relates human life to Sisyphus’ life. He believes that both of our lives can have meaning. Taylor asks us to look at Sisyphus’ story in a different way. For example, while the Gods sentenced him to rolling this stone up a hill for an eternity, what if they gave him a “strange and irrational impulse” to roll the stone repeatedly. Now, according to Richard Taylor, Sisyphus’ life would now have meaning and if we were to be as invested as Sisyphus in rolling the stone, then our lives have meaning as well.
"People say that what we're all seeking is a meaning for life. I don't think that's what we're really seeking. I think that what we're seeking is an experience of being alive...." Joseph Campbell made this comment on the search for meaning common to every man's life. His statement implies that what we seem bent on finding is that higher spark for which we would all be willing to live or die; we look for some key equation through which we might tie all of the experiences of our life and feel the satisfaction of action toward a goal, rather than the emptiness which sometimes consumes the activities of our existence. He states, however, that we will never find some great pure meaning behind everything, because there is none. What there is to be found, however, is the life itself. We seek to find meaning so that emptiness will not pervade our every thought, our every deed, with the coldness of reality as the unemotional eye chooses to see it. Without color, without joy, without future, reality untouched by hope is an icy thing to view; we have no desire to see it that way. We forget, however, that the higher meaning might be found in existence itself. The joy of life and the experience of living are what make up true meaning, as the swirl of atoms guided by chaotic chance in which we find our existence has no meaning outside itself.
...eality was about the horrors and trepidations that have consumed a once healthy society, but he never noticed that there is a different side to reality. It is about friendship, free will, and compassion. The true meaning of joyfulness is to experience new things like going into the wild, but to experience them with another human being. This is the most fulfilling aspect of life because a person is impacting not only his/her life, but also the life of another. When a person joins the amorous aspects of reality, and then mixes it into commencing and enveloping the freedom that nature has to offer, only then will he/she truly have a life of pleasure and contentment.
In this book we shall begin with the main points which the teacher of this book as addressed to its reader, these points are mysterious, injustice and the frustrations of life. And in all these circumstances of life we see that God is the ruler and the controller of our destine. The first thing which the book as addressed to its reader is how someone can enjoy life through the gift of working hard which God as given to the sons of men under the sun. in this book life is been understood as useless because of its complications were by, no matter how somebody may spend the all entire life working and laboring hard, the question is this what do they have to show for it? Life is like casing after the wind because generation comes and go, but life continues. Therefore, no satisfactions, not even the ears can hear enough. In addition to this under the sun there is nothing new and there is no difference between the wise and the foolish because both of them they have same destine (death). This book teaches that the wiser you are, the more worries; the more you gain understand the more it hu...
Ultimately, the god aids humans in our quest towards completion; Eros attempts to transform the despondency sewn into people by Zeus into happiness and contentment. Individuals have born into them, an affliction stemming from an overwhelming feeling of longing, and man must try to overcome this affliction by any means necessary. However, it is Eros that is able to truly bring two slices back to a unified whole. By following Eros, not only are we able to be healed from our yearning, but we are also capable of being pious beings while being truly
“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson-
It could even be said that those for whom life has never appeared problematic, have not really found - nor can they ever know - the meaning of life. For these people Life is just a matter of `living', and the question of its meaning simply does not arise.
What if you were called to a home in the middle of the night where a young girl had committed suicide? Would you be able to comfort her grieving parents? Walk into the girl’s room to see where she had committed the act? Could you tell them that God was there in their time of need? Could you then go home to your small child and still have strength left? In Mark Jarman’s poem “Questions for Ecclesiastes”, his father had to do just that. Jarman uses a narrative style of poetry to question God’s will and how words fall short in times of tradgy.
The book of Proverbs expresses the conclusion of the will of man. Together, the books of Psalms, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes give us the understanding of the soul of man. In Psalms you have the emotional nature, which is one part of the soul function. Ecclesiastes deals with the function of the mind, the search of man reason throughout the earth, analyzing, evaluating, weighing and concluding. But in the book of Proverbs we have the appeal to the will of man and the conclusion of the will. Therefore, this book is all about the things man should decide, the choices of life. This is beautifully set before us in the introduction to the book.
The ultimate meaning of life is what you portray of it. Something that 's near and dear to your heart, something you believe in and something that will give you a better understanding of yourself. In the reading Matthew 5-7 The Sermon on the Mount, we examine all of these thoughts and begin to get a better picture of what is being taught. Jesus begins by teaching his disciples what 's right from wrong and how one should live their life. But the ultimate meaning of life is what you yourself portrays of it and in this reading we get the chance to understand and make a decision for ourselves to agree or disagree with what Jesus is teaching. The responsibility and duty shown by Jesus is unmeasurable in the way he teaches his disciples the ultimate meaning of life.
The Bible is a holy book that outlines the best course for all of life’s endeavors. The Apostle Peter said, “As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,” 2 Peter 1:3 (NKJV). God’s word gives us ALL things that we need to be healthy and productive in this world. Furthermore, Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it more abundantly,” John 10:10 (NKJV). Jesus came not only to give spiritual life but to also provide through His word a better quality of life. In Galatians 6:2 the Bibl...
The meaning of life, defined by Victor E. Frankl, is the will to find your meaning in life. It is not the meaning of life in general, but rather the specific meaning of a person’s life at a given moment. He believes that if you are approached with the question of “what is the meaning of my life” or in this case, “life is meaningless,” then you should reverse the question to that person asking the question. For example: What are you bringing to me? What are you as an individual contributing to this life? This forces the person in question to take a look at themselves and to ultimately be responsible. Frankl says that if you are a responsible member of society than the meaning of life transcends from yourself rather from your own psyche. He also says that if we for some reason cannot find meaning within ourselves it has to be from some outside source. This is referred to as service. And an example of this is love. Victor Frankl describes three ways in which we can discover the meaning of life; Creating work-doing a deed, experiencing something-someone, and by the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering.
What is the meaning of life? What is the point of living if we all eventually die? Philosophers have come up with many different theories regarding this subject. However, there remains a lack of any agreed upon theory for the meaning of life. Thomas Nagel and Harry Frankfurt are two philosophers who have offered their opinions on this issue. In his book called What Does it All Mean?, Nagel distinguishes between meaning within a life and the meaning of life as a whole. The differences between the two create a discrepancy that does not provide a clear conclusion which attributes meaning to our lives. On the other hand, in his book called The Reasons of Love, Frankfurt argues that love is the key to a meaningful life. He describes the idea of self-love, the purest form of love that commits us to finding meaning in our lives. This paper discusses Nagel’s distinction between the two types of meaningfulness, Frankfurt’s analysis of the love-meaning connection, and my argument that Frankfurt’s point of view addresses Nagel’s meaning within a life but not meaning of life as a whole. Then, the paper concludes with my belief that the search for the meaning of life is the meaning of life itself.
When this proverb is analyzed with Ecclesiastes in mind, the theme would be a completely different method. For example, "Rejoice in your youth, you who are young; let your heart give you joy in your young days," means that the youth will desire opportunities to pursue every pleasure, which by the teaching of Ecclesiastes, would be wrong. It would be wrong for the reason that since the youth will be pursuing pleasures, they would be living a toil (toil #2 pleasures to fill the body). Ecclesiastes warns against man living toils. Since a toil is not a man's true center, the youth would be going against the greater good. "Follow the promptings of your heart and desires of your eyes. But this you must know: for all these things God will bring you judgment," also has significant meaning within the teaching of Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes tells the youth to follow their heart and eyes' desires, yet they will be watched by God. In writing this, Solomon almost condones the pleasures of sin and seems to temp the youth, but then tells them that if they take that course of sin, God will judge them.