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.

Qoheleth Haiku 4:7-8

 

http://www.yowzeryowzer.com/2011/12/journey-to-color-anna-guillotte.html

 

⁷ Again, I saw vanity under the sun:

⁸ the case of solitary individuals, without sons or brothers;

yet there is no end to all their toil,

and their eyes are never satisfied with riches.

"For whom am I toiling," they ask,

"and depriving myself of pleasure?"

This also is vanity and an unhappy business.

 

Why are we working

To meet our physical needs

Or satisfy wants

 

Emptiness of wealth

Only known by the wealthy

Others are jealous

 

People need people

People need close connections

Or else life is void

 

Genuine pleasure

In the things that money can buy

Or relationships

 

How we fool ourselves

In material pursuits

Our insanity

 

©2013, Qoheleth

 

Material things serve us best

when we use them primarily to meet physical needs.

Salvation

 http://www.micahray.com/mainblog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/single_star.jpg

 

The scene fades to black.

There is nothing left to see.

Those days aren’t coming back;

At least, they’re not for me.

 

Innocence has gone—

With it, the joy and sun.

Every right is wrong,

And life its course has run.

 

Darkness closes in;

And I with laboring breath’

Must answer for my sin:

The consequence is death.

 

In this cul-de-sac,

With no hope of retreat,

Nothing’s left intact,

Suffering defeat.

 

As life ebbs away,

A turning of the tide

Sweeps the beaches clean—

I can no longer hide

 

Suddenly a light,

Finds me cowering there,

Takes me without a fight

Into its healing lair.

 

©2013 Qoheleth

 

When there is no way out, we need deliverance.

 



Qoheleth Haiku 4:5-6

 

 

 https://blogs.emory.edu/parthenonproject/2012/10/21/hello-world/

⁵Fools fold their hands

and consume their own flesh.

⁶Better is a handful with quiet

than two handfuls with toil,

and a chasing after wind.

 

Life best in balance

The golden mean lies between

Too much and too little

 

One who will not work

Cannot meet physical need

Therefore meets no needs

 

Equilibrium

Living life in the middle

Meeting all one’s needs

 

Theory of enough

Avoid greed and hopelessness

Is adequacy

 

Inadequacies

Those who will not work at all

Those who work to much

 

The human psyche

Shaped by cultural context

Chooses the extremes

 
Equilibrium
Exists only a moment
If it is at all

 

 

©2013 Qoheleth



Qoheleth Haiku 4:4

http://marketingforhippies.com/niche-case-study-career-vs-calling/rat-race/

 

⁴ Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work

come from one person's envy of another.

This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.

 

Competition spurs

Technology’s attainments

But what does it gain

 

Envy motivates

Increased skill and achievements

Misplaces value

 

Envy indicates

A misunderstanding of

How to meet love need

 

The drive to achieve

Must meet an essential need

Otherwise, it’s vain

 

The race to the top

Attains very little but

A long way to fall

 

©2013 Qoheleth

To get ahead just to get ahead is worse than a hole in the head.