I can't get no (lasting) satisfaction

Does it seem to any of you that what enjoyments we find on this earth are either fully satisfying but only fleeting, or... lasting, but fall short of fully satisying us? We want the truly satisfying moments to last, but they don't. And what we *are* able to keep for a long time doesn't really ... do it for us.

Are we destined in this life to have only pleasure that is either transitory, or... incomplete?

And if that's so, do we shrug our shoulders and settle for that as simply being the best that we can get?

Do we keep our expectations of this life low, and not think about something better?

If we must look forward to something, do we look toward the next life for completeness?

Solomon seems to see it that way, and maybe he's right.



This too is a grievous evil: as a man comes, so he departs, and what does he gain, since he toils for the wind? All his days he eats in darkness, with great frustration, affliction and anger. There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: righteous men who get what the wicked deserve, and wicked men who get what the righteous deserve. This too, I say, is meaningless.

For who knows what is good for a man in life, during the few and meaningless days he passes through like a shadow? Who can tell him what will happen under the sun after he is gone?

So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then he must leave all he owns to someone who has not worked for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is meaningless. A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?

So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany him in his work all the days of the life God has given him under the sun. When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe man's labor on earth - his eyes not seeing sleep day or night - then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all his efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its meaning. Even if a wise man claims he knows, he cannot really comprehend it.

Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil. Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun— all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.

Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him—for this is his lot. Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work—this is a gift of God. He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart.

----- Excerpts from Ecclesiastes, chapters 2, 5, 6, 8, 9


All this I know. I get it. But that one little phrase seems to be the one that wants to pull down the whole house of cards: "to accept his lot and be happy in his work." How nice it would be to seldom reflect on the days of my life because I'm occupied and my heart is glad...

I think too much about, desire too much from, and am content with too little of - this life. But, I argue with myself, could a thinking man do any less? And yet, wasn't Solomon a thinking man, and - at the end of his analysis, this is where he wound up... hm.

Lay it down, boy... lay it down... accept your lot... you'll be happier. :)