Second Thoughts
Also what was interesting to me coming from a Buddhism background is that this is very similar what the Buddhist teaching is based upon. But instead of saying that all things are "meaningless", the word "emptiness" is used (i.e., because all things are inherently "empty", striving or desires for earthly things ultimately leads to suffering).
I was even more surprised to find that Solomon in fact wrote Ecclesiastes approx. 500 years before Buddha was alive. Considering that some people worshiped Buddha for how profound his findings and realization were, it's curious to me that here is a man who understood the very same core principal of life 500 years prior to when Buddha was alive.
The difference between Solomon and Buddha I think is this. While Solomon says that things of this world are "meaningless" and to look to God the creator of all Universe, the Buddha on the other hand believes in reincarnation and past-lives, and this is the basis for how we should live this life (i.e., do not commit murder as it will have an impact on your next life).
To me this is one of the most obvious bridge there is between the Christian faith and Buddhism.
Thoughts??
I haven't made a systematic study of Buddhism except some casual reading. I found some things worth considering, though. From my "Mormon" framework I would initially consider all human religions to be some kind of degenerate remnant from an original religion taught by Noah. . . something that people have carried from that, revisiting and revising continually across time. But I've found that model unsatisfactory in a number of respects, and have tried to view religion as a human effort building up from. . .. well, say. . . . nothing. . . . a vanity of sorts we have fashioned to suit ourselves. I'm not entirely satisfied with that, either.
I imagine that the folks who lived on the shores of the ancient Lake Bonneville in what is called Utah or the Great Basin today actually had a good life. We know there were camels here, saber-toothed tigers, and woolley mamoths. . . . as well as buffalo, deer, antelope, elk, wolves, several kinds of bears. . . . and fish in the lake. They were boat-building people with trade connections from the Sierra Nevada mountains to the Wasatch. The Bonneville Cutthroat trout has survived in almost every little stream that still runs down from the mountains into the dry valley floors. Not far from where I am, an archaeologist spent a few years screening the sand along an ancient shoreline of the lake, where a nice stream fed into it, and found plenty of cultural remains. Some other crews have studied a number of nearby caves. . . . one very large cave. . .. the size of a church . . . caved in around that time, trapping some horses inside. Yep, horses. Big horses. The scientists didn't want to go out on a limb to explain that, because it is a popular myth that horses were not here until Europeans brought them here.
well, anyway. . . . today I can sit on the same rocks people sat on ten thousand years ago,and I can think the same things. . . . crazy things no horse would think, say. Stuff like "what is the meaning of life?", "what about after death, what will I be?", "what is good?". . . . .
I consider it likely that others have imagined, across human existence. . . .. various answers to those questions. Probably there were people sitting in boats, spearing fish ten thousand years ago, looking at their reflections in the water. . . . . and after roasting some fish on a camp fire at night, some might have tried to explain to their kids what it means to be "good", and why. Some might have asserted that there is a Great Father of mankind who knows what we do, who can't be fooled or lied to, who knows our hearts. . . . and that to be "good" we must hold ourselves accountable to our fathers, all the way back to our Great Father. . . . Or, that there are consequences that are self-consistent with our actions. . . . what we do to others, even to beasts. . . . may be something that could happen to us. . . . and that if we do good to others, it will be better. . . .
There is a limited horizon in our view. We do not have the writings of Moses today, no original. . . in his own handwriting for sure, and what we have may not be absolutely what it started out as being. We have some very old writing from India. . . .We have some carvings on some cave walls. . . . I suspect that when to comes to our beliefs it is likely that humans have had these beliefs as long as we have been here, at least in the beginning forms. It takes having writings from the past, and further thinking. . . .. to build a "tradition" like the Buddhist or Judeo-Christian systems. And sharing across some boundaries. . . . trade routes trod by human feet carrying human hearts and brains. . . .
I'm sure there could have been some sharing, say, from the Book of Ecclesiates, all the way to India. Probably the Queen of Sheba carried some quaint prose from Israel back to Yemen. Probably there were some traders going from there to India, and vice versa. . . . as well as other routes. Anything anybody could be fascinated by as a cosmology of sorts. . . . is something that somebody could carry to another place, and share.
One of my hobbies is trying to date the oldest reference to a particular idea. . . .
well, with Quantum Mechanics it might be a short track. . . .
But with something that is as universal to humanity as floundering in despair. . . .. wondering what our life even means. . . . .well, that's probably something that every human butt sitting on rock. . . . whether on the shores of lake better than fantasy or on a desert strand of sand. .. .. has transmitted to the attached brain when the sun dropped low in the sky, and the man decided to wend his way home to his wife and kids. . . .
A string of fish, or a deer to drag back to camp...... ah, with a prospect that some folks will be glad when he comes back to camp with a nice day's work to show. . . now that is what makes a man think all is right with the world. A little success can stave off bouts of philosophy, but an empty stomach brings back the search for meaning when we know our manhood is open for question back home.
