Time and Season

1979 (month and day not given)
Lakeland
Port Charlotte

Time and Season

Omar:

What eye can pierce the veil of God’s decrees,
or read the riddle of earth’s destinies?
Pondered have I for years threescore and ten
But still am baffled by these mysteries

Ecclesiastes 1:13/16

And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith.
I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.
That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.
I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.

The first lines were from Omar Khayyam. The second reading from the Jewish scripture named Ecclesiastes. Each of these writers have contributed enduring lines to our literature. Although Omar nominally was a Moslem and Ecclesiastes a Jew, they were agnostic. They use the word “God” but Ecclesiastes’ God was not the Yahveh of Israel and Omar’s was not the Allah of Islam. Ecclesiastes and Omar thought, studies, observed, wrote, because they searched for the meaning of life, but could not find it in the religion of their heritages. Both were learned philosophers who had the rare gift of expressing their wisdom in poetic images.

There are many in our age, too, who see no supernatural divine plan for human beings, no plan of God for human life. There is little comfort in their writings for those who hope for happiness in a future heaven; there is nothing in their writing to cause fear of punishment in a future hell. They look at this life realistically and candidly, sometimes with a strain of despair, sometimes with a melody of pleasure. Many of us resonate to such alternatives.

Ecclesiastes is the Greek for the Hebrew word, Koheleth, the preacher, more accurately, one who speaks to the assembly or congregation. Although some think this was King Solomon, this is not true. Ecclesiastes was an unknown writer who lived hundreds of years after King Solomon in a period when some Hellenistic influence had been absorbed in the land of Israel, possibly around 200 B.C.E.

Many scholars believed there have been ... later editorial changes. The probability is that later editors felt the need to add certain pious phrases to make Ecclesiastes more acceptable in the prevailing religion.

Omar, a Persian, lived more than 1200 years after the time of Ecclesiastes, probably in the latter part of the 11th century and the early part of the 12th. He was a remarkable scholar learned in philosophy, Islamic law, and Arabic history, famous for his knowledge of the Koran. Like Ecclesiastes he wrestled with the questions of existence and sometimes his conclusions tortured him.

As with Ecclesiastes there are no authoritative manuscripts; existing copies differ and translators do not always agree. Omar may have cast off his scholarly pursuits and become a poet and tentmaker, for “Khayyam” means tentmaker.

Both Omar and Ecclesiastes were skeptical of any future world. Omar wrote:

“I sent my soul through the invisible,
Some letter of that after-life to spell
And by and by my soul returned to me,
and answered, ‘I myself am heaven and hell.’”

“I know not whether he who fashioned me
appointed me to dwell in heaven or dreadful hell,
(But) some food and an adored one,
and wine upon the green bank of a field -
All these are present cash to me:
Thine be the promised heaven.”

“Oh, threats of Hell and Hopes of
Paradise
One thing at least is certain and
the rest is lies;
The flower that once has blown
forever dies.”

Ecclesiastes wrote: 2:18/23

Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me.
And who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my labour wherein I have laboured, and wherein I have shewed myself wise under the sun. This is also vanity.
Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labour which I took under the sun.
For there is a man whose labour is in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in equity; yet to a man that hath not laboured therein shall he leave it for his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil.
For what hath man of all his labour, and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath laboured under the sun?
For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity.

Omar wrote:

“Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend,
Before we too into the Dust descend;
Dust unto dust, and under dust to lie,
Sans wine, sans song, sans singer, and sans end.”

Today has outlasted many tomorrows. Both Omar and Ecclesiastes put their hope and gratification in this life. Omar, more than Ecclesiastes, savors wine and pleasure. In a great many of the Rubaiyat (or quatrains) Omar emphasizes the pleasure of wine:

“So many cups of wine will I consume
Its bouquet shall exhale from out of my tomb
And every one that passes by shall halt
And reel and stagger with that mighty fume.”

“How long this talk about eternity to come, and the eternity past?
Now is the time of joy, there is no substitute for wine!
Both theory and practice have passed beyond my ken
But (wine) unties the knot of every difficulty.”

and a famous one, and more romantic:

“A book of verses underneath the bough
A jug of wine, a loaf of bread, and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness –
Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!”

“Ah, my beloved, fill the cup that clears
Today of past regrets and future fears –

“Some for the glories of this world; and some
Sign for the Prophet’s Paradise to come;
Ah, take the cash and let the credit go
Nor heed the rumble of a distant drum.”

Ecclesiastes is more austere, but sounds the same note. 2/24:

“There is nothing for a man than that he should eat and drink and make his soul enjoy his labor.”

And again 9:1/6

For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them.
All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.
This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.
For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.
Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.

But Ecclesiastes may be at his least hopeful 3:19/end of chapter:

For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.
All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.
Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?
Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?

Omar and Ecclesiastes in famous passages tell us of the uselessness of vain and foolish regrets. Omar writes,

“The moving finger writes; and having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy pity nor wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a line,
Nor all thy tears wash out a
word of it.”

Ecclesiastes more famous passages in religious literature 3:1/ff 9 Times and Seasons:

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

Ecclesiastes has many maxims that have insight into the human condition

4/13 Better is a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king.

... there is no discharge in war....

7/1 A good name is better than precious ointment.

7/5 It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than hear the praises of fools.

11/1 Cast thy bread upon the waters
For thou shalt find it after many days.

7/11 Wisdom is as good as an inheritance.

The reflections of these humanistic seers have become part of our language. The emphasis on the now – not the past – not the future – is no comfort to those who consider life justified by individual immortality (supernatural salvation). Neither Omar nor Ecclesiastes look to Allah or Yahveh to save the human family from follies and error. We humans have today. Not yesterday except in memory; not tomorrow except in hope. Ecclesiastes is more stoic; Omar more epicurean.

(Stoics – ethics were chief concern, practical guide to life)

Both teach us how to seek wisdom but not to deny pleasure.

One thing more, we are aware of the superior value and joy of fellowship, of community, of material support.

(10/3)
Yea also, when he that is a fool walketh by the way, his wisdom faileth him, and he saith to every one that he is a fool.

4-9ff:
“Two are better than one: because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow – but woe to him that is alone when he falleth and hath not another to lift him up. Again, if two be together, then they have warmth: but how can one be warm alone? And if a man prevail against him that is alone, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”