虛空空虛空沽空，富足足富足買足
To further my writing last month on the Books of Wisdom, I would like to share my recent study on a book called “Qoheleth” (JSOT Press, 1987) by a translation scholar Graham Odgen. The Hebrew term Qoheleth can mean Ecclesiastes or preacher, which is the adopted name of the book in the Bible. However, the drive for my study on this topic is quite “unreligious” and rather pragmatic. As a Chinese, I have been pondering why our pride of our great Confucian teachings and the pioneering ancient inventions didn’t sustain the success of this Middle Kingdom. Yes, since Deng Xiaoping’s Open Door Policy we have been seeing tremendous economic growth. However, on a balanced analysis of such many scholars, including many renowned Chinese ones with close ties to Beijing, have been questioning if such can be coined as success given the massive economic and social costs resulted thereby.
Back to the book Ecclesiastes. One of the focal debates is the term Hebel, which is translated as “vanity” or “meaningless” in most English and Chinese (and other languages according to Odgen) versions. Hebel appears 38 times in the book, and more importantly, “it is employed as a key term in concluding statements which climax many smaller sections…(e.g. v2.11, 17, 23)” Therefore, “our understanding of the term will colour our reading of Qoheleth and our assessment of his message). Odgen argues that Hebel doesn’t carry a negative meaning as this does not have any support from both the contextual and cultural perspectives. An interesting finding of his is that Hebel is used in the section on the calls to enjoyment which punctuate the book at key points. Odgen believes the book’s author just admitted the mystery of many dilemmas observed in our earthly lives which contradict the belief about the good be rewarded and wicked be punished. But why then did the author still preach to the readers (possibly his young students then) about the importance of timely enjoyment of life if he couldn’t explain the paradoxes in life? And how does the wealth and material success connect to the divine reward by God throughout the Old and New Testaments if life is just “vapour”? To me, there must be some disconnect between the Jewish culture and language and the translation, which paints a negative view of the term Hebel, and this in turn blurs, if not misleads, non-Jewish readers in understanding the theme of the book. Before pausing our discussion here, my take of this is that one has to have an open mind (within the contextual and cultural framework) in searching for wisdom, while having an empty heart in admitting our secular wisdom is just of extremely short shelf life in the history of the universe.
Inspired by such, we have been dynamically rebalancing our portfolio. On one hand, the view here continues to be giving the benefit of doubt to the various bailout plans in Europe and the continuous strength of the US economy (given that the Presidential Election happens this year) from a tactical angle. The soft inflation and production data from most developing countries also bodes well for the continuation of the loosening monetary policy globally. Nevertheless, we are also seeing the dire situation in many western nations, especially the PIIGS, France and even the UK. Such would be multi-decade problem (Japan?) and no cure has ever been invented in the human history and the consequences are well documented since the ancient nations like the Roman Empire.
Back to the book Ecclesiastes. One of the focal debates is the term Hebel, which is translated as “vanity” or “meaningless” in most English and Chinese (and other languages according to Odgen) versions. Hebel appears 38 times in the book, and more importantly, “it is employed as a key term in concluding statements which climax many smaller sections…(e.g. v2.11, 17, 23)” Therefore, “our understanding of the term will colour our reading of Qoheleth and our assessment of his message). Odgen argues that Hebel doesn’t carry a negative meaning as this does not have any support from both the contextual and cultural perspectives. An interesting finding of his is that Hebel is used in the section on the calls to enjoyment which punctuate the book at key points. Odgen believes the book’s author just admitted the mystery of many dilemmas observed in our earthly lives which contradict the belief about the good be rewarded and wicked be punished. But why then did the author still preach to the readers (possibly his young students then) about the importance of timely enjoyment of life if he couldn’t explain the paradoxes in life? And how does the wealth and material success connect to the divine reward by God throughout the Old and New Testaments if life is just “vapour”? To me, there must be some disconnect between the Jewish culture and language and the translation, which paints a negative view of the term Hebel, and this in turn blurs, if not misleads, non-Jewish readers in understanding the theme of the book. Before pausing our discussion here, my take of this is that one has to have an open mind (within the contextual and cultural framework) in searching for wisdom, while having an empty heart in admitting our secular wisdom is just of extremely short shelf life in the history of the universe.
Inspired by such, we have been dynamically rebalancing our portfolio. On one hand, the view here continues to be giving the benefit of doubt to the various bailout plans in Europe and the continuous strength of the US economy (given that the Presidential Election happens this year) from a tactical angle. The soft inflation and production data from most developing countries also bodes well for the continuation of the loosening monetary policy globally. Nevertheless, we are also seeing the dire situation in many western nations, especially the PIIGS, France and even the UK. Such would be multi-decade problem (Japan?) and no cure has ever been invented in the human history and the consequences are well documented since the ancient nations like the Roman Empire.
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