One generation departs and another generation comes but the earth forever stays

avatar

Lincoln quoted it. Tolstoy’s life was changed by it. Hemingway was inspired by it. Seeger wrote a catchy tune about it. The Book of Ecclesiastes has inspired and confounded readers for millennia. For me, it was the door to a new life of peace, health, and right attachments. I haven’t thought about it for years until I stumbled on the challenge of @naturalmedicine and decided to make this my first entry in the contest.

My experience

I can vividly recall the night I read Ecclesiastes. I had just decided to drop out of graduate school after extreme unhappiness. I was looking for work in a recession. While unsuccessful getting a job, I took an overnight train to my parents’ house to help them paint their house and declutter the attic before listing the house for sale. I don’t know what inspired me to get the Bible down from the shelf but I stayed up past midnight savoring Ecclesiastes.

A shattering of beliefs

Before I read it, I was desperately attached to worldly things. You know those stories that you whisper in your brain. Be rich. Be seen as successful. Be popular. And as a result you will be safe.

For years, I was anxious that “if I do something wrong, something bad is going to happen.” If I don’t work harder than anyone else, I am not going to make it. If I don’t get as much value out of these professional relationships, I am not going to successful. If I don’t lock the doors, turn off the coffee pot, make sure the dryer is off, something bad is going to happen. So you can imagine how unhappy I found myself that August night. Unemployed, unknown, feeling like I had made all the wrong choices.

Ecclesiastes shattered through this narcissistic mirror with the truth.

the race is not won by the swift, nor the battle by the valiant, nor a livelihood by the wise, nor riches by the shrewd, nor favor by the experts; for a time of misfortune comes to all

Facts:

  • You are going to die
  • Nothing you will do can change this outcome
  • Very little that you are going to do actually matters
  • It is very unlikely that anything you will do will be remembered
  • Many worldly attachments (greedily acquiring wisdom, money, or pleasure) are not genuine sources of happiness and will leave you off worse than ever

A path to joy

It may sound paradoxical but I can’t tell you how much my mental health improved with this lighting strike of insight. All these things I was trying to control with white knuckles were just illusions of control, “vanities.”

But I also learned there were great opportunities for joy if I had the courage to let go of my attachments and false stories in my head and accept life at is really was.

  • Accept joy
    Work, eat, drink, and be joyful “for there is nothing better under the sun”
  • Accept uncertainty
    Though our monkey brains whisper the opposite, the truth is humans are not very good at predicting the outcomes of our actions or future events. “So you do not know the work of God, who is working in everything”
  • Accept non-attachment
    Like mindfulness-based meditation, the writer of Ecclesiastes urges readers not to have their happiness attached to the goals or problems of a changing temporal world.

Since I first read Ecclesiastes, my life is nearly unrecognizable. I have had many joys and sorrows. I have fought battles and won. I have taken risks and lost. I have seen children born, and I have seen friends die. And throughout, I am happier and more confident living in this world, not a world of pride and anxiety, and more joyful than ever before. For truly,

There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens. A time to given brith, and a time to die, a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant. A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to tear down, and a time to build.

oldfarmhouse2096649_1280.jpg
image credit

TIBLogo



0
0
0.000
4 comments
avatar

You’ve been visited by @riverflows on behalf of Natural Medicine!

Isn't it amazing how a simple reading can transform our thinking? This sounds like a particularly good one! In fact, I was just putting together the #mindfullife curation and editorial that we put out each Monday, and the very theme you were talking about in this line:

But I also learned there were great opportunities for joy if I had the courage to let go of my attachments and false stories in my head and accept life at is really was.

has been a bit of a theme for some of us!! Sometimes it's hard to let go our illusions, attachments and stories - but you are right, there is SUCH joy in being with WHAT IS.

This fortnight, we're having a food as medicine challenge, sponsored by Curie! You can win over 40 Steem in prizes. Check out the details by clicking here!


NM GIF JUNE 2019.gif
Consider supporting Natural Medicine through continued use of the #naturalmedicine tag, or delegating any amount through clicking below. We're all for empowerment through natural wisdoms, and love to support those on their healing journey. Come join us on Discord if you're not already there! We'd love to have you!

50SPII50SPII100SPII200II500SP

0
0
0.000
avatar
(Edited)

I really enjoyed your posts and YOU in the words. I don't believe the point of life is to get rich, to be remembered, or be famous. People complicate happiness and that is what gets us in trouble. We are taught from we were kids that without having things we are not successful, that without them we can't be happy. Happiness is something you search deep inside you, and not around you.

The point of life is to live it. And, we all had ups and downs. Good or bad things happened in our life. And it is all LIFE.

Without the good we would not know what is bad, and without the bad we would not know what is good. One those not go without the other. There has to be balance.

Thank you for expressing your thoughts with us. Have a blessed day. 😀

0
0
0.000
avatar

This touched my heart and resonated deeply with me. Ecclesiastes is one book of the bible full of deep deep wisdom...Your conclusions are spot on!

0
0
0.000
avatar

Thanks for sharing your experience with us!

You have been curated by @mosunomotunde on behalf of Inner Blocks: a community encouraging first hand content, with each individual living their best life, and being responsible for their own well being. Check it out at @innerblocks for the latest information and community updates, or to show your support via delegation.
0
0
0.000