Truth and Fiction
The words of Koheleth son of David, king in Jerusalem Ecclesiastes 1:1 JPS
Words – I love the line from the movie The International where the old Communist officer, now a sage, says, “There is a difference between truth and fiction. Fiction has to make sense.” I don’t know who wrote that line for the actor, but it strikes a chord deep within my conscience. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if life really did make sense? Unfortunately, quite often it doesn’t. The public teacher of ancient Israel knew this. As Michael Fox observes:
Ecclesiastes is a strange and disquieting book. It gives voice to an experience not usually thought of as religious: the pain and frustration engendered by an unblinking gaze at life’s absurdities and injustices. The man speaking in Ecclesiastes, “Koheleth,” sees things that are distressing to observe: the distortions and inequities that pervade the world; the ineffectuality of human deeds; the frailty and limitations of human wisdom and righteousness. This awareness coexists with a firm belief in God—whose power, justice, and unpredictability are sovereign.[1]
Ecclesiastes just might be the most important book in the Bible for the modern world. The truth is that life isn’t fiction. It doesn’t make sense. Koheleth cuts right across our Western ideal of a coherent, systematic, comprehensive worldview, especially the religious addiction of making sense of the Bible.
Koheleth faces life’s inequities and absurdities—and refuses to impose pat and reassuring “meanings” on them. Yet he maintains a faith in God’s rule and fundamental justness, and he looks for ways to create a meaningful life in a world where so much is senseless.
. . . Koheleth has some unusual things to say, and his views should not be forced to fit presuppositions of what a biblical book must say.[2]
That’s our problem, isn’t it? We have grown up in a world of fiction where religious answers are available for every human question. We have been taught to quash those disturbing and distressing circumstances of life with fictional divine repose. “God’s ways are not our ways” becomes an excuse for turning off the emotional roller-coaster of existence. “God has a wonderful plan for your life” is the mythical affirmation that straight-line faith will produce “straight-line” perfection. It might sound good to college kids on Spring break at the beach, but everyone grows up sometime.
“According to Stephen Brookfield, ‘Someone who thinks critically can identify assumptions for accuracy and validity, view ideas and actions from multiple perspectives, and take informed action.’ This is hard work and requires that we engage the process at both the personal and group level.”[3] Yes, it is very hard work—and it does not guarantee a positive spiritual outcome. Informed action might just be “ Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might; for there is no activity or planning or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol where you are going” (Ecclesiastes 9:10). Make meaning while it is still day; night is inevitable. As Zornberg notes: “A person’s life consists of a collection of events, the last of which could also change the meaning of the whole, not because it counts more than the previous ones but because once they are included in a life, events are arranged in an order that is not chronological but, rather, corresponds to an inner architecture.”[4]
Perhaps the lesson from Koheleth’s bleak assessment of life’s unpredictable detours is simply this: Live well while you can. God knows.
Topical Index: Koheleth, meaning, life, Ecclesiastes 1:1
[1] Michael V. Fox, The JPS Bible Commentary: Ecclesiastes (JPS, 2004), p. ix.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Mark Lau Branson, “Disruptions Meet Practical Theology,” Fuller Magazine Issue 12 (2018), p. 45.
[4] Italo Calvino, Mr. Palomar (Picador, 1986), pp. 110-111.
NOTE FOR YOU: What’s Cooking: Rosanne has posted a new recipe. GO TO ROSANNE’S KITCHEN TO MAKE BANANA BREAD
