I would like to continue to expand upon my observations on ideas which I began in the first piece of this series of writing. You can find the first piece here. But to recap briefly, Part I was primarily about observing that there are two realms of idea (of course there are many categories within each realm), the first being old ideas, or ideas already in existence from our ancestral past. The second realm being new ideas. The main point I wanted to make was that old ideas are everywhere, entirely common (although often disguised as new), while new ideas are incredibly rare (especially now). The reasoning for this I went into some detail (so do read the first part if you have not). but I will continue to develop the understanding throughout these essays.
What I would like to begin this piece with is a deeper look into the realm of old ideas, which is what I primarily covered in the first essay, yet still believe needs further elucidation.
I would like to state my appreciation to the comments of a reader (yes there are a few of you:)) on Part I of this series; for the words of an ancient occultist which he brought to my attention. They are words attributed to Solomon, King of Israel, and are contained in the book of Ecclesiastes. They were words well suited to further my pondering. So I will begin by sharing those words here and then continuing to think, not just upon them, but within them. They state:
“What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.”
I would be surprised if any reader here found these words for the first time just now. Actually, they are quite common today. That is to say, over time they have become expressions of very ordinary language and ordinary understanding. I say ordinary understanding because this is something very important to identify. It is often popular understanding of common phrases or colloquialisms, that entirely hides the deeper, truer meaning from view. And quite often the common phrases and colloquialisms are filled with deep truth entirely needed by the time they appear. (Funny to think how much wisdom is being thrown around by heavy tongues… if only any of those minds were sincere in their search for It they would realize it is beating them on the head)
But, anyways, like I said, despite seeming like an entirely obvious three line expression, there is indeed occult (hidden) significance within. But first, where do these words come from? Because as I stated in Part 1, to understand an idea, it is necessary to have at least some (preferably much) awareness of the idea’s life course in the human realm, all the way back to the idea’s birth into human consciousness. So again I ask, where do these words come from?
The words we are examining here are generally attributed to Solomon, who is believed to have lived from 990 BCE to 931 BCE, and reign as king of Israel from 970 BCE — 931 BCE. Yet the book of Ecclesiastes is believed to have been documented sometime between 450 BCE — 140 BCE. Still, it is obvious that we are reading a text that came from a vastly different time than the one we currently inhabit. And this is very important, In order to understand these words of Solomon’s (or any historical text), one must first understand that the time which the words come from, is a time entirely different than our own.
That is to say, that the reader must be able to read the words from the same awareness and perception of life (or as close as possible) as the author had at the time of writing.
These days we tend to do the opposite; meaning, we take the words from another time period, process them through our current perceptions of understanding, and then believe that we are informed about the time the words are from. This could not be further from the truth. The reason — human consciousness changes incredibly quickly, and the way the human being has experiences life since our earthly incarnations began has been constantly changing.
Therefore, one can only learn from the writings of another time, by processing the information through a perceptive awareness that resembles that of the time the words were written.
If the reader is capable of loosening one’s attachment to the perception which controls his/her current time, it becomes easy to read the words of another time, and be informed about that time. Unfortunately, current human consciousness has become too heavy and dense to loosen itself from its own privileged standpoint. And so reading ancient texts has become mostly futile.
To sum up this long precautionary ramble; essentially, the words must guide you to understanding, yet the words must be given freedom to belong to a different time, and therefore contain altogether different meaning than they would in the context of own time, and present understanding.
So what does that mean practically speaking? It means we must understand the time of Solomon, before we can understand the importance of the words he wrote. Or, more likely, you must read the biblical text of Ecclesiastes from a perception that is honestly free from your current modern mode of thinking. An impossibility? I don’t think so, I guess that is why I dare to write this.
I don’t know if I have the ability, or if you have the patience, for me to fully elucidate the human consciousness at the time of Solomon, but I will say this; Solomon lived at a time when the human being was approaching its deepest point of descent into the human physical body, material existence, and sense life. That is to say, Solomon writes at a time when all the spiritual clairvoyance of earlier times was departing, in favor of a human experience set towards material existence.
There was a time, when spiritual law was handed down by revelations from God (and not in an abstract sense as we currently know all too well). Despite this, God as perceived externally as the ruling power over human beings was beginning to distance itself from being so. This was underway by the time of Solomon, and especially at the approaching time of Christ Jesus’ earth life. The time of Solomon, and the time before Christ more broadly, was the time when the rule of external God’s over human beings was coming to a close.
And so, some of you will say, “God, Deities, or Divinity, still rules over the human being”. And what I would say in response is that the claim of this today is completely abstract, and arbitrary. While, an ancient Indian, Persian, or even Greek making this claim new it as an infallible truth, because they experienced direct relationship with their Gods’. We do not however. Our direct, perceptible relationship with God is gone, because our clairvoyance is gone… and indeed, it needed to be (I say that a lot!).
But take the greek myths for example, which we now so foolishly regard as “myth”. These myths are not fantasy, or superb imagination, they actually spoke to the true nature of relationship between Gods and men at that time. Still, even those myths demonstrate that the line between God and Man was quite blurred by then. Many of the myths from that time demonstrate the intermixing of Gods and Goddesses and humans, and the breaking of law, or the claiming of capabilities for humans that were once off limits (Prometheus). (I acknowledge that there were groups of people living after Christ Jesus’ earth life that still held onto the ancient clairvoyant state, just as there are people now already developing the conscious awarenesses that all human beings will gain in the future. Time isn’t so cut and dry, even though it does contain definite thresholds and boundaries)
So, back to Solomon, and the point I am attempting to make, it is that the words Solomon is accredited with, found in Ecclesiastes, are words from a time when the human being was falling further into the human body, and therefore out of relationship with the Gods’ in the manner which was prior known.
That means, that the words must be understood to have arrived at a time when human consciousness was guiding us towards flesh, form, and material existence as predominant experience of our awareness. Then it is that, Solomon was responsible with an impossible task; that of upholding the traditions of the old (God rules over man), while all of human evolution was pulling him away from those wishes and into the new (Freedom resides within man). No wonder Solomon despised the futility of human physical life. (there is an interesting parallel between Solomon’s teachings and that of Gautama Buddha that I would like to go into sometime, but not here).
So finally, here are the words again, which I chose to include in the context of the surrounding verses. So, I suppose you expect me to tell you what they mean…. ? Nope. Not now, I am spent. Think for yourself. Think long and hard. And share a note or two in the comments if you would!
1 The words of the Teacher,[a] son of David, king in Jerusalem:
2 “Meaningless! Meaningless!”
says the Teacher.
“Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless.”
3 What do people gain from all their labors
at which they toil under the sun?
4 Generations come and generations go,
but the earth remains forever.
5 The sun rises and the sun sets,
and hurries back to where it rises.
6 The wind blows to the south
and turns to the north;
round and round it goes,
ever returning on its course.
7 All streams flow into the sea,
yet the sea is never full.
To the place the streams come from,
there they return again.
8 All things are wearisome,
more than one can say.
The eye never has enough of seeing,
nor the ear its fill of hearing.
9 What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there anything of which one can say,
“Look! This is something new”?
It was here already, long ago;
it was here before our time.
11 No one remembers the former generations,
and even those yet to come
will not be remembered
by those who follow them.
