Qoheleth Haiku 5:8

http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/8947631/image/79079088-generational-wealth-generational-poverty

⁸ If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and right, do not be amazed at the matter; for the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them.

 

Go up the ladder

And you will find corruption

The higher the more

 

Absolute power

Will corrupt absolutely

What of God’s power

 

By human control

The oppressed face injustice

Who’s there to help them

 

How should I respond

Seeing the plight of the poor

More than emotion

 

We must find wisdom

No fail-safe for poverty

Set up by the rich

 

The powerful amass wealth leaving the weak poor.

 

©2014, Qoheleth

Qoheleth Haiku 5:8

http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/8947631/image/79079088-generational-wealth-generational-poverty

⁸ If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and right, do not be amazed at the matter; for the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them.

 

Go up the ladder

And you will find corruption

The higher the more

 

Absolute power

Will corrupt absolutely

What of God’s power

 

By human control

The oppressed face injustice

Who’s there to help them

 

How should I respond

Seeing the plight of the poor

More than emotion

 

We must find wisdom

No fail-safe for poverty

Set up by the rich

 

The powerful amass wealth leaving the weak poor.

 

©2014, Qoheleth

Qoheleth 5:7

 ^{http://www.vkmaheshwari.com/WP/?p=1232}

⁷ With many dreams come vanities

and a multitude of words; but fear God.

 

Too many visions

May lead you to confusion

No visionary

 

In a single dream

With passion for God’s design

Will bring fulfillment

 

In all directions

One attempts to go at once

From an explosion

 

Words cannot explain

The many dreams that enter

One’s head in the night

 

Without foundation

Dreams create the illusion

Of reality

 

While one must dream to form goals and determine direction, too many aspirations can produce a catatonic lifestyle.

©2014, Qoheleth

 



Qoheleth Haiku 5:6

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Globe_of_language.png

 

6 Do not let your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before

the messenger that it was a mistake; why should God be angry at your words, and destroy the work of your hands?

 Cautionary words

Calling one to speak clearly

Can be confusing

 

What powers have words

That when spoken anger God

Who’s controlling who

 

Sticks and stones break bones

But words will never hurt me

Wrong, they can kill you

 

Honesty in speech

Immeasurable value

Between life and death

 

Often the Bible

It seems to me presents God

As some big bully

 

Language, a gift from God—we abuse, misuse, and confuse it, reeking
evil; and, too often, we fail to use it, when it might effect good.

 

©2014, Qoheeth



Qoheleth Haiku 5:4-5

http://www.writteninstone.org/images/WISphoto.jpg 

 

⁴When you make a vow to God, do not delay fulfilling it;

for he has no pleasure in fools. Fulfill what you vow.

⁵ It is better that you should not vow

than that you should vow and not fulfill it.

 

Empty promises

Reactions to one’s feelings

Are hard to fulfill

 

Thoroughly think through

A vow you’d make to God

Can you fulfill it

 

They’ll always fall short

The pictures we have of God

But they’re all we have

 

God pictures reflect

Our view of reality

Sometimes so petty

 

Externals reflect

Something of the internals

With some distortions

 

©2013, Qoheleth

 

Often our views of God reflect our own pettiness.



Qoheleth Haiku 5:3

 http://renewaldynamics.com/2010/05/20/god-given-dreams-a-brief-reflection-on-the-narrative-of-joseph-in-genesis-37/

³For dreams come with many cares,

and a fool's voice with many words.

 

The dreamer will find

Dreaming cost very little

Living them not so

 

One dreams of great deeds

Creativity at work

Then comes hard labor

 

The time comes quickly

When one has to stop dreaming

And begin working

 

Does the wise one say

Only the foolish write books

The wise write haiku

 

Language is a gift

That borders on the sacred

Excess profanes it

 

©2013, Qoheleth



Qoheleth Haiku 5:2

Susan Warren, http://druidnetwork.org/what-is-druidry/deity-and-mythology/many-gods/

 

²Never be rash with your mouth,

nor let your heart be quick to utter a word before God,

for God is in heaven, and you upon earth;

therefore let your words be few.

 

Speech expresses thought

Line of communication

Godlike qualities

 

The heart is the self

The I when one says I am

Reflects God’s image

 

Clarify your thoughts

Align them with God’s design

Before you speak them

 

Is God localized

One transcending time and space

Within time and space

 

The reality

God-human relationship

Specifies locale

 

©2013, Qoheleth

 

Communing with God does not require that we convince God of anything.

Qoheleth Haiku 5:1

 

http://exper.3drecursions.com/2008/10/24/cracking-the-harmony-2/

¹Guard your steps when you go to the house of God;

to draw near to listen is better than the sacrifice offered by fools;

for they do not know how to keep from doing evil.

Where’s the house of God

How can it be a building

God’s universal

 

In guarding your steps

You watch to live God’s design

In God’s house the world

 

God creates us for

Personal relationships

To define ourselves

 

Relationships are

Unlike our acts of worship

Essential for life

 

Essence of evil

Live other than God’s design

Living life backward

 

©2013, Qoheleth

Religious piety is not synonymous with spirituality.

Qoheleth Haiku 4:13-16

http://www.danielbuckleyarts.com/home/bios/daniel-buckley-composer/the-jonestown-project/

 

¹³Better is a poor but wise youth

than an old but foolish king,

who will no longer take advice.

¹⁴One can indeed come out of prison to reign,

even though born poor in the kingdom.

¹⁵I saw all the living who, moving about under the sun,

follow that youth who replaced the king;

¹⁶there was no end to all those people whom he led.

Yet those who come later will not rejoice in him.

Surely, this also is vanity and a chasing after wind.

 

The heart of wisdom

Lies in learning from others

Resources of truth

 

From one perspective

One can’t see a thing clearly

It takes many eyes

 

Abraham Lincoln

Rail-splitter to president

Not ubiquitous

 

Adolf could move crowds

With personal charisma

But not with wisdom

 

Bright leader today

Convinces many people

To death to morrow

 

Leader qualities

Are always insufficient

If one lacks wisdom

 

©2013, Qoheleth

 

Leaders often lead the masses astray by appealing to their perceived needs. 

Qoheleth Haiku 4:9-12

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1366&bih=613&q=cooperation&oq=cooperation&gs_l=img.1.0.0l10.8877.11200.0.13127.11.11.0.0.0.0.139.840.9j2.11.0.crnk_timepromotiona..0.0...1.1.17.img.wHIss4gkRLA#facrc=_&imgrc=FMFzq9cqKQKYQM%3A%3BsbfMB2fCs4Ko8M%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Famix.dk%252Fuploads%252Fcooperation.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Famix.dk%252Fblog%252Fpost%252F19409%3B600%3B450

 

 

⁹Two are better than one,

because they have a good reward for their toil.

¹⁰For if they fall, one will lift up the other;

but woe to one who is alone and falls

and does not have another to help.

¹¹Again, if two lie together, they keep warm;

but how can one keep warm alone?

¹²And though one might prevail against another,

two will withstand one.

A threefold cord is not quickly broken.

 

Wisdom often lies

In stating the obvious

That we often miss

 

Sharing of labor

Offers opportunity

To meet one’s love need

 

No man an island

We are social animals

We need each other

 

Cooperation

Mutual value affirmation

Community life

 

Give to each other

Time energy protection

And bodily warmth

 

©2013, Qoheleth

 

By design or evolution, we must share our lives with each other.