Unchanging

The theme of that book is that nothing really changes, that randomness and chance are dominant in the world of real things. The book says that the only place in which this is different is the place of the mind, where one can think about why this is so, and why the world is nothing but the vanity of illusion.

That book is the book of Qoheleth, which a younger civilisation now calls Ecclesiastes. As we look towards a change in paradigm come November 4 this year, a change which seems profound in the world of men, it is instructive to read this old book.

Here is Ecclesiastes 8:8-9:

There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it. All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: there is a time wherein one man ruleth over another to his own hurt.

Perhaps this is one of those times, in which those who have power over others, or who gain that power, will find that it is bitter indeed in the end. But as the Preacher said, there is nothing new under the sun. The change that we can believe in is fleeting unless it is a change in the hearts and minds of men; our historical awareness tells us that overall there will never be such a thing.

In the end, it boils down to the audacity of hope; a generation must desire to believe that things can be made better even though the institutions of the world have failed, are failing, will fail or are themselves 'epic fail'. Yet even this belief may not save us from the near-certainty that somehow, some people will screw things up, and that will balance the books of life.