Fragment -- #215

[June 2006 journal entry]

I feel more keenly/painfully than ever an identification with Koheleth as he wrestled with being aware of the human misery just beyond the edges of his affluence. Where -- across a spectrum with one end being ‘utter misery’ and the other end being ‘utter affluence’ -- is the lifestyle that does not necessitate colonizing, exploiting, oppressing, impoverishing? where none would have reason to say, “I would not live my life over”? The standard of living experienced or sought by so many in the United States is far toward the ‘utter affluence’ end of the spectrum. A serious move toward the point of a just lifestyle on the spectrum is hard and complicated. Is it possible? . . . I must resist the enticements/sanctions – social, professional, religious – to turn away from seeing, to be distracted, to try to forget. I still see Koheleth tormented, paralyzed, frustrated, disillusioned by his awareness of the human misery just beyond the edge of his affluence. I still wonder if the author found a way to stay focused on ‘life under the sun’ after he wrote Ecclesiastes. I still consider my 1992-present journal entries to be an interpretation of one attempt to remain ‘with the world face to face’. I still place ‘unparalleled value’ on seeing ‘from below’. I still hesitate to claim that I see clearly ‘from below’.