Oldnewlands #11

On Ecclesiastes, Rain in Israel, and the Future

Something Old

Ecclesiastes is, to me, the most interesting book of the Hebrew Bible. While it is attributed to King Solomon, research indicates it was written early in the Second Temple period - after 516 BCE and before 180 BCE. The fact that it features so many Greek ideas from the time corroborates this. If you thought The Byrds wrote their famous song, well, no:

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

King James Version 3:1–8

This verse has the unmistakable scent of classical Greek philosophy, hinting at a concept that features in Plato’s dialogues, Aristotle’s writings, and Stoic thinking: Fittingness (in the soul, in society, in nature). Cultural evolution is the process by which cultures are shaped to fill a niche (one of sporadic abundance, in the case of the Israelites). I am hereby coining the phrase Evolition: Proactively adapting to live in a changing world through reasoning, creativity, and ingenuity.

The Hebrew Bible is a library spanning nearly a millennium of writing. It starts with stories about the ancient past, and ends with philosophical musings and poems. It incorporates knowledge by and about different cultures (Babylon, Persia, Greece, etc.) and extracts the best parts from each. If you ever wondered why innovation and adaptability are ingrained in Jewish life, it’s because they are what it takes to live in Israel.

Something New

A sage once said: “Excitement and anxiety are two interpretations of one feeling”. As winter approaches, we anxiously anticipate, or excitedly expect, the Yoreh (יוֹרֶה). The Yoreh is commonly referred to as the first rain of winter, but judging by its etymological origin, it is more like the rain that indicates it is time to sow grain seeds that will eventually ripen (some early rains are false starts).

Strong and powerful as we humans may seem, we still depend on the weather for sustenance, as is evident in the situation in Iran. Winter in Israel is, to me, by far, the best season: It features sane temperatures, natural revival, less sweat, and more flowers. Our verdant wintery landscapes bring joy and optimism, allowing us to live in true abundance for a few months. That is, if winter really comes… Last year it pretty much didn’t.

So, what’s it going to be? I’m trying to accept feeling that uncomfortable buzz without interpreting it, knowing that “prophecy was given to fools”. In any case, if you ever wonder how I am doing, just look at the forecast. There is a near 100% correlation between rainfall and happiness in my psyche.

Something Else

AI-generated imagery poses a challenge that humans have never faced before. If up until now the phrase “I’ll believe it when I see it” reflected a practice that generally worked, seeing something hyperrealistic in the media today should never lead to unquestioning credence.

People tend to focus on how everything is taking a turn for the worse despite heaps of evidence to the contrary. What people actually are saying is “this is not the world we grew up in”, which is understandably exciting/anxiety-inducing.

I believe that having your mental faculties challenged is ultimately good for you, and I think that growing up with the notion that not everything that looks realistic is real will make today’s children rationally superior. I guess we will have to wait and see.