Now the great leader of the Church [Christ] indoctrinates us into loftier teachings. The preceding words have purified the soul and have banished the vanity of cupidity from mens' desire. Ecclesiastes leads our minds to the truth by pointing out the grief resulting from vanity and by lifting its burden from our shoulders. May the Church be learned in this teaching and realize that [J.354] the beginning of a virtuous life consists in alienation from evil! The great David introduced a pure manner of living by means of the psalms; he did not begin [the psalter] with the perfection of blessedness. David did not first say that blessedness consists in doing all things well; rather, he compared a [blessed] person to a tree rooted by flowing waters, always green in good works and one who gathers at appropriate times the fruit of his own life [Ps 1.3]. However, the beginning of blessedness consists in the rejection of evil since we must first be cleansed from evil's filth. Almost immediately Ecclesiastes excludes vanity in the same way that once we have cleansed our bodies of illness by diligent care, the boon of health spontaneously appears. He then digresses on vanity saying that sensation is a poor criterion for the good because it subjects our vision to insubstantial pursuits and obtains concupiscence from bodily pleasure. Ecclesiastes thus shows that our choice and desire must be effective and real, ever constant and alien to all vain thoughts.
[J.355] "I looked that I might see wisdom" [2.12]. In order to accurately see what I desired, I first considered madness and foolishness. By making comparisons we obtain better insight into mens' pursuits. Ecclesiastes calls wisdom "counsel:" "Who is the man who will follow after [M.681] counsel in all things that he may employ it?" He teaches human wisdom, namely, the following of true wisdom and presents those things which have substance and are not subject to vanity. Indeed, this is the summit of human wisdom. In my opinion true wisdom and counsel are simply another kind of wisdom which provides for creation by which God makes all things. As the prophet says, "You have made all things in wisdom" [Ps 103.24]. However, Christ is the power wisdom of God in whom all things are made and ordained [1Cor 1.24]. If human wisdom consists in the comprehension of true works of wisdom and counsel, for me the work of that counsel or wisdom is incorruptibility, the soul's happiness, fortitude, righteousness, prudence and any name understood with regard to virtue which we might add to the knowledge of good things. [J.356] "After I have seen these things," Ecclesiastes says, "and judged in a scale being with non-being, I discovered the difference between wisdom and foolishness as when I had compared light with darkness. It seems to me that this example is a favorable judgment for that which is beautiful." Because darkness has no substance while light does (if nothing obstructs the sun's rays, we have no darkness), this example shows that evil does not exist by itself but is a deprivation of the good, while the good always remains fully itself and is not preceded by deprivation. However, anything contrary to the good lacks substance; it cannot exist by itself nor be complete because evil is a deprivation, not a substance. Therefore the difference between light and darkness, wisdom and foolishness, is similar. The good as a whole takes the name of wisdom from a part, and the word "foolishness" explains the nature of evil.
But what profit is the good acquired by gain unless our teacher [Christ] shows us how to acquire it in the right way? In order to partake of the good, let us pay attention to our teacher. "The wise man's [J.357] eyes are in his head" [2.14]. What does this mean? Does an animal exist without eyes in its head, whether it lives in the sea, earth or the sky? Eyes for such animals are important and are located in the head. Why, then, does the head of a wise person have eyes? Does this mean that an analogy exists between members of the soul and the body? Just as the head presides over [M.684] the entire body, so does the soul hold pre-eminence as the governing principle. Similarly, just as the base of the foot is the heel, so the base of the soul is united to the body, the source of our senses and operative facilities. Whenever the senses dominate our soul's capacity for vision and contemplation, the eyes assume their opposite condition, the heel, and force the senses to look downwards instead of on high. If vanity consists in those characteristics of what has been subjected, then the person who raises his eyes to his own head which, according to Paul is Christ [1Cor 11.3], his clarity of vision would be most blessed [J.358] and not obscured by evil. The great Paul and others like him have eyes in their heads, and they all live, move and exist in Christ [Acts 17.28]. Just as a person cannot see darkness in the light, so a person whose eye is in Christ cannot fix his gaze on vanity. Therefore the person with eyes in his head (for we understand the head to be the principle of all things) has them fixed on every virtue (for Christ is the perfection of virtue), truth, incorruptibility and good.
"The eyes of a wise person are in his head, but the fool walks in darkness" [2.14]. He who does not set his lamp on a lampstand but places it under his bed [Mk 4.21] makes the light dark and creates an insubstantial reality. Vanity consists in insubstantiality; darkness is also called vanity. The foolish, corporeal, fleshly soul sees nothing while gazing upon these things because keen vision is truly darkness with regard to such preoccupations. Do you see those attentive, subtle persons whom in this life we call learned in the law? They bring to light their own injustice by witnesses, advocates, assistants and judges while they perform evil deeds and escape punishment. Who cannot but admire [J.359] their subtlety and experience? Yet they are blind if they gaze with that eye which looks heavenward and is present in the head of persons who truly exist. They are truly blind because they adorn themselves with that heel bitten by the serpent; regarding those things which are below, they imprint on themselves the lessons of sin. "For he who loves iniquity hates his own soul" [Ps 10.5], and everything considered blessed by men is more pitiable than any misfortune. On the other hand, how many are those who are concerned with heavenly blessings and the contemplation of true reality! They seem blind and unintelligent with respect to material concerns as was Paul who boasted about himself and considered himself as foolish for the sake of Christ. "We are fools for Christ's [M.685] sake" [1Cor 4.10], that is, we are blind to this life here below while our eyes are fixed on heaven and on our head [Christ]. Because of this Paul lacked shelter, food, was poor, a wanderer, naked and was overcome by hunger and thirst [2Cor 12.27]. But these things pertain to life here below while Paul kept his eyes fixed on heaven. However, he was raised [J.360] to the third heaven where Christ the head is. Paul had his eyes set there, rejoiced at the unutterable mysteries of paradise and gazed upon unseen, hidden realities which transcend both the senses and mind. Who would not pity Paul upon seeing his chains, his calamities and tossing about by the sea's waves while in irons [2Cor 2.23-26]? Despite his affliction, he had his eyes always fixed on the head saying "Who will separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril or the sword" [Rom 8.35]? What, then, would he say? "Who will gouge out my eyes from the head and bring them down to be trampled underfoot?" Paul also bids us to imitate him by looking above [Col 3.1] to that place where we must have our eyes in the head [Christ].
If we learn how eyes are situated in the head of a wise person, we would shun foolishness which is darkness to those who walk in this life. Ecclesiastes says "The foolish man walks about in darkness" [2.14]. As the prophet claims [Ps 13.1], the man who says in his heart that there is no God is stupid; he is corrupt and abominable in all his activities. The text [J.361] proceeds to speak about faint-hearted, cowardly persons who regard death as something grievous while those who pursue the loftier goals of a virtuous life gain nothing because both lives share a common end and do not avoid death by following a more edifying kind of life. Therefore Ecclesiastes makes objections as though they came from himself; once again he pursues the absurdity of those who object that they are inattentive to the nature of things and teaches us virtue's surpassing nature with respect to evil so that no equality is present in death. Indeed, good and evil deeds make a difference at the end [of life]. Ecclesiastes' objection runs as follows: "I know that one end shall befall them all. And I said in my heart, 'As is the end of the fool, so shall it be to me, even to me; and to what purpose have I gained wisdom?' I said in my heart 'This is also vanity because the fool speaks of his abundance; both the wise man and the fool are not remembered forever, and both now in the coming [M.688] of days all things are forgotten. How shall the wise man die with the fool'" [2.14-16]? With these words Ecclesiastes considers any worthwhile pursuit as despicable when [J.362] he had first fervently welcomed vanity as beneficial. He claims to hate what he labored for in this life because such things have no value. He also considers events after his death because he cannot foresee the uncertainty of the future saying "So I hated life because the work that was wrought under the sun was evil before me, for all is vanity and waywardness of spirit. And I hated the whole of my labor which I took under the sun because I must leave it to the man who will come after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool, and whether he will have power over all my labor in which I labored and wherein I grew wise under the sun? This also is vanity" [2.17-19].
Ecclesiastes utters these words in an unfavorable manner because for he thinks that one portion is in store for the person who lives virtuously and the one who contributes nothing towards this end. He says that one person has labor in wisdom, knowledge and fortitude whereas another has labor in anger and pain, that is, conditions proper to this present life. Therefore both have an equal share not only in vanity but in evil. [J.363] "So I went about to dismiss from my heart all my labor which I expended under the sun. There is such a man that his labor is in wisdom, knowledge, and fortitude yet this man shall give his portion to one who has not labored therein. This also is vanity and great wickedness. For it happens to a man in all his labor and in the purpose of his heart wherein he labors under the sun. For all his days are days of sorrow and distraction of spirit; in the night his heart also does not rest. This too is vanity" [2.20-23]. Again Ecclesiastes offers an objection to persons who esteem this life's pleasures more than a nobler form of life. He refutes this objection in his own words with a conclusion and counter proposition. The objection consists in thinking that the good lies in oneself, that is, consisting of food and drink, and Ecclesiastes responds by saying that a person is nourished not by these but by wisdom and knowledge. The benefit of [changeable] elements consists in the empty pursuit of distractions caused by the flesh. His sublime doctrine is formulated as follows: "There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also [J.364], I saw, is from the hand of God; for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? For to the man who pleases him God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy; but to the sinner he gives the work of gathering and heaping, [M.689] only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind" [2.24-26].
We will now briefly set forth the meaning of these words and the result of what we had considered earlier, so let us again state them and bring them into harmony with an accurate meaning. "I have said that we all share one condition and that I myself partake of foolishness. Why, then, have I devoted myself to wisdom?" Now follows Ecclesiastes' objection which he proposes to himself: "If everyone is subject to death and if virtue performed in wisdom cannot remove the taste of death, in vain have I striven after wisdom." What is Ecclesiastes' response? "I have spoken much in my heart that this is vanity, that the fool speaks from an abundance which is vanity. The memory of the wise man does not abide with that of the fool forever." Ecclesiastes condemns this objection as superficial and inconsequential. He considers it foolish because [J.365] it comes neither from secret places nor from wisdom's treasuries; rather, it is a excretion of the mind which to be rejected like foam, for the fool speaks from abundance. Thus it is vain to use this argument and to seek another one except to persuade a person not to value appearances. For the person who utters contradictions contends from appearances, and death consists of appearances. What does Ecclesiastes say? Is there no judgment with regard to a virtuous and wicked life? Only wickedness must be slain while the good is free from bodily death. You are unaware of virtue's immortality and the death of those living in evil, for Ecclesiastes says that the memory of the wise man lives forever while that of the fool perishes. The prophet says that the famous, well-known memory of these persons will perish when, for example, he speaks of the sun [Ps 9.7]. He does not say that the memory of the wise man and the fool lasts forever, but that the wise man's life is remembered forever while the fool [J.366] suffers extinction. In the days to come all fools will be forgotten: "In the days to come all things are forgotten" [2.16].
If the wise man lives by wisdom and the fool is destroyed by death's oblivion, how can you say, claims Ecclesiastes, that the wise man perishes with the fool? Because of this he is grieved, ashamed and hates everything which man pursues in this life; he grieves over a shameless person who guzzles down honey as a remedy. However, the remedy turns into gluttony, and this person swallows the cure along with his own vomit which he spits out along with the honey. Thus [M.692] memory of a disagreeable taste makes this person dislike honey because the cure causes an upset stomach by satiety. He stuffs himself with delectable food and blurts out his dislike for this life as if it were something destructive, loathsome and worthy of hate: "So I hated life because the work which was done under the sun [J.367] was evil to me" [2.17]. Ecclesiastes does not claim that the evil done under the sun was evil to another person except to himself alone. "Anything I have accomplished does not endure except my opinion and free choice [ proairesis ] with regard to my pursuits." He says that all things are vain and waywardness [ proairesis ] of spirit [2.26]. Ecclesiastes remarks that none of his accomplishments is an object of his own hatred but only those which will be done after him such as the construction of ships, harbors, magnificent battlements and buildings, gateways, towers and massive statues. As for those who zealously cultivate earth, there is every kind of lovely tree, shrub and vineyard which are as vast as the sea; Ecclesiastes' successor will also enjoy his other labors.
It is uncertain that Ecclesiastes will have abundant occasions to commit evil deeds, for he does not wish for the sake of his comprehensive knowledge to imperil the perception of such things. "What I have made," he says, "I have done on account of wisdom." "When I let bound like a foal even a small impulse of unseemly passions, I restrained it by the rein of thoughts and my mind's [J.368] authority." "Who knows if the person after us will rule by pleasure and not let it serve him as a slave submitting to the domination of pleasure? Thus I have hated all my own labor which I have exerted under the sun because I will it leave to someone after me. Who knows whether or not he will be wise or foolish or will exercise power and be skilled in all the labor which I have done under the sun?" I believe that Ecclesiastes does not wish our minds to succumb to a life of debauchery; instead, we must submit them to reason and not let such disgrace dominate them. "Who knows," says Ecclesiastes, "whether or not the person after me will rule through passion or wisdom?" Clearly he calls labor "pleasure" because he admits that partaking of it resembles a constant struggle. "And this," he says, "should be counted as among vain pursuits."
There is something further which Ecclesiastes claims we must renounce and wishes to state it clearly. He speaks of an error in right judgment when confronted with two opposite manners of living. One person exercises himself in virtue [M.693] and does not submit [J.369] to lust, whereas another person does not undertake any virtuous endeavor because he is concerned with physical labors. However, when judging between good and evil, Ecclesiastes disregards the person applying himself to wisdom and pronounces it not only vain but an unjust sentence. "And so," Ecclesiastes says, "I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun" [2.20]. What have I renounced? One man labors in wisdom, knowledge and fortitude while another has nothing to do with them. How does Ecclesiastes attribute the honorable part to someone else? He says that to a person who has not exerted himself in labor (that is, not in the good), he will give his own part (instead, he will cast his lot according to the destiny of the good). However, Ecclesiastes claims, "This is vanity and a great wickedness." Why is this not a great wickedness when he knows man's wayward effort in his labor? Here is Ecclesiastes response: "A man knows in all his labor and in the waywardness of his heart for what he toils under the sun" [2.22]. What is it that he knows? "That all his days consist of grief, vexation of spirit and a restless heart at night" [2.23]. Indeed, life is wearisome for the soul under trial as though it were greatly afflicted by goads [J.370] which scourge the heart with onslaughts of lust. But an avaricious greed weights heavily and yields pain, not pleasure, for those who do not have it. For such persons labor is divided into night and day so that when day is consumed by labors, night gives no rest to the eyes. They drive out sleep thinking how to acquire possessions. Who would not condemn their efforts upon close consideration? And so Ecclesiastes calls this "vanity" as mentioned earlier [2.23].
Once again Ecclesiastes raises an objection. If you call anything external to us vain, oh teacher, perhaps you should not condemn it as vanity. Yet we need food and drink, things not to be rejected but are God's gifts. Here is Ecclesiastes' objection: "There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also I saw is from the hand of God; for apart from him, who can eat and drink" [2.24-25]? [J.371] But the advise of a gluttonous person responds to the teacher, and what does the teacher of wisdom say to the good man? The addition of wisdom here makes a distinction [M.696] to clearly point out goodness. It refers to man and not to cattle, that is, a person addicted to his stomach and who prefers the throat over reason, whereas the good man lives according to the image of the good alone. God does not prescribe food for which our animal nature yearns; rather, he has given wisdom and knowledge in its place [2.26]. How can anyone augment the good through corporeal food? "Man does not live by bread alone" [Mt 4.4] says the Word [ Logos ] with regard to a true word [ logos ]; bread does not nourish virtue nor does eating meat strengthen and fortify the soul. The heavenly life is nourished and fortified by other means: temperance is nourishment of the good where wisdom is bread, righteousness is meat, freedom from passion is drink, not the pleasure of the body which creates desire but whose name and fruit is gladness [ euphrosune ]. Therefore, Ecclesiastes bestows this lovely name upon the soul since it is derived from eu and phronein . We must learn what [J.372] the Apostle [Paul] says, namely, that the kingdom of God does not consist is food and drink but in righteousness, freedom from passion, and blessedness [Rom 14.17].
Because people earnestly strive after corporeal pleasure which is a pursuit and distraction of the soul from things above to what is below, they squander their alloted time in this life by gathering material possessions. Thus whoever judges this good to be from God knows how to define it as vanity. "These things I have said in my own words," says Ecclesiastes. Here is the meaning which the divine words attribute to his understanding: "To the sinner he has given the work of gathering and heaping, only to give to him who is good before God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind" [2.26]. This comparison between good and evil enables us to flee despicable things and direct our lives to what is better in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.