- I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me. -
I know. Why in the world are we talking about this verse.
Have you ever watched a movie and been captivated by something within it? Maybe when you were a kid you experienced something similar when an uncle told you a story.
That’s a strange phenomenon. Why are stories interesting? What makes them immersive? Why do little kids beg and whine to hear a story or for batman pajamas?
Is the answer because they are interesting? Seems like a boring answer.
Let’s try answering the question by focusing on a different desire. When you are hungry? What do you want?
Right, you and everyone else wants and desires a long chain of amino acids, preferably held together by covalent peptide bonds.
What? That doesn’t sound satisfying? Well of course we are going to put them in butter and salt and cook them! We’re not barbarians!
Okay, enough with the joke. I’m describing protein. My point? Your hunger points to food. Obviously, it is the most interesting and compelling thing when you are hungry.
Why do you need the food? Because you need the energy and material to rebuild your own body and give it life.
I know this is a bit pedantic but stick with me. Can you control your interest in food? No, it is all compelling.
Can you eat tree bark? You can, but you will starve eventually. You must eat something that your body puts into the category of food.
Okay, how does this at all relate to stories? Perhaps they are compelling because there is something we need from them.
But Hunter, can’t our desires be for evil things?
Yes, we can desire evil, but typically this is born from a good desire being corrupted. Gluttony is an overindulgence of hunger, fornication of sexual desire, and murder of justice or pride.
If there is something we need from stories or movies, what might it be? Might it be safe to assume that we need different things?
Does not a baby need its mother’s milk? Do not adults need meat? Doesn’t a growing boy eat more than an adult at times?
Can that desire be perverted? May we want stories that tell us what we want to hear? May we not want our children to be indoctrinated with ideas and beliefs in a compelling format?
What then is present that we need? What are we after?
The answer I’ll provide is both more and less than what it needs to be. We are after wisdom, the way we are meant to live our lives, and we cannot simply know that by living.
We have to see it in others. We have to imitate it in ourselves. We must know what is wisdom by practice and understanding.
When Solomon says he has seen great wisdom, it is not an arbitrary decision. It is not merely his preference.
It is a compelled desire finding an inexplicable fulfillment in his own life. It is something missing that has been made whole - a pattern filled, the other half of the circle, or the pillar of fire in the night.
What we desire and interest us is not a decision we make. It exists before us and is compelling our being, humankind itself.
Your spirit is a gift to tune you into this world. If speak and search for the truth, then you will learn from truth itself what is right and holy.
Desire what truth compels.
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