Main news for 25 November 2024

Once Ecclesiastes noticed the eternal cycle of creation, which seemed to him a sacred dance of creation before the face of its Creator. And it was precisely this dance that helped Ecclesiastes find himself at that boundary of silence where God's eternity meets the world of spaces and times. And now it turns out that a person too can become part of the cosmic dance. And not in mystical ecstasy, but in everyday life. Outwardly it may seem that the issue is merely everyday routine, in which some tasks replace others just as steadily and monotonously as day replaces night. But everyday routine never brings joy to anyone.

Ecclesiastes connects that joy which can fill a person's life precisely with everyday life, if of course that person is not too concerned about tomorrow and does not begin to oppose the natural course of things. The natural course of things in general becomes for Ecclesiastes something sacred, something like the dao of the Chinese philosophers or the logos of the Greek philosophers. This is not surprising: behind movement, both they and Ecclesiastes himself sensed the rest behind which is God's presence. Only neither the Chinese nor the Greeks extended this movement to ordinary life.

The Chinese sought this moving rest in nature, the Greeks in nature and in the human soul, but Ecclesiastes was able to find it in everyday life too. Earthly wisdom turned out not to be so earthly after all; God's eternity suddenly began to show through it clearly. Yet the main, final, ultimate question still remained unanswered: what will happen when the dance stops? When it ceases?

If not completely, not finally, not forever, then at least for the specific person taking part in it? For sooner or later the day comes for everyone when his dance ends and he leaves the great cosmic round dance. And what then? There is no answer. And Ecclesiastes is cautious: this is the very main question that must be answered absolutely, simply because otherwise all the other answers are worthless. But where is it, the main answer?