Greed or a Good Night's Sleep?

Kohelet 5:11-12

What are the ways to live a satisfying and helpful life? These questions, often the privilege of those of us with more time on our hands than others, have kept many of us up at night or followed us through long days of dread and brooding. Like other words printed for generations, the Scroll of Kohelet ponders these existential questions but it’s unclear if what we’re getting is clear guidelines or mere cynical observations and questions that leave us yearning for clarity and guidance.

In Dr. Erica Brown's excellent "Ecclesiastes And the Search for Meaning" she writes that

“The expectation that one day it will all make sense is put to rest by Kohelet, who ostensibly wrote a book to articulate dilemmas that only get more complex and opaque over time. Kohelet, ironically, offers readers a gift by not having all the answers.”

What keeps us up at night might be questions of meaning-making and what is the worth of life. It can also be more mundane matters like money. In chapter 5 greed is revisited as a grave societal ill and the author, perhaps from personal experience, revisits sleepless nights of the wealthy people, guilty of greed, who are too worried to rest:

מְתוּקָה שְׁנַת הָעֹבֵד אִם־מְעַט וְאִם־הַרְבֵּה יֹאכֵל וְהַשָּׂבָע לֶעָשִׁיר אֵינֶנּוּ מַנִּיחַ לוֹ לִישׁוֹן׃ יֵשׁ רָעָה חוֹלָה רָאִיתִי תַּחַת הַשָּׁמֶשׁ עֹשֶׁר שָׁמוּר לִבְעָלָיו לְרָעָתוֹ׃

Workers’ sleep is sweet, whether they have much or little to eat; but the abundance of the rich doesn’t let them sleep.

Here is a grave evil I have observed under the sun: riches hoarded to the detriment of the owners,

Kohelet 5:11-12

Erica Brown explains:

“It is unclear if Kohelet is speaking of his own insomnia generated by worry about his wealth or the imagined problems of others. He does not write here in the first person, but his description implies that these problems are familiar to him. Kohelet, as a self-confessed biblical rich man, warns his readers not to be fooled into thinking that his money provided satisfaction.”

As the chapter goes to articulate the anxieties associated with excess wealth it’s worthwhile to explore some of the reasons for mega-wealth and where human greed comes from.

Brown cites an article published in Psychology Today some years ago, in which Dr. Neel Burton wondered “Is Greed Good?” He goes on to suggest some reasons for its emergence and existence:

“Greed often arises from early negative experiences such as parental absence, inconsistency, or neglect. In later life, feelings of anxiety and vulnerability, often combined with low self-esteem, lead the person to fixate on a substitute for the love and security that he or she so sorely lacked. The pursuit of this substitute distracts from negative feelings, and its accumulation provides much needed comfort and reassurance.”

Regardless of why greed grows, who wrote Koehelt and what their life experience was about - this concern and caution resonates today, with alarming alacrity.

Throughout the book there is a repeated reminder that pleasure is not prohibited and that enjoyment of what life offers is a blessing, and worthwhile. It is the excess that’s the problem, especially when it comes at the expense of others. During these days, when the world’s richest man joins a power-greedy failed businessman in running an empire that has ‘In God we Trust” on its currency, the perils of decadent power-fueled-greed at the expense of decency, dignity and democracy are not overstated. What would Koehelt, a former king, say to today’s reality?

The author would no doubt resort to the cynical and tired refrain that there is nothing new under the sun, but may also remind us that all that there is more to life than stuff. Beyond belongings, beyond breath, there are the wise ways to make meaning in the world and to make it better for us and for others. Is this what would enable us, regardless of wealth, to sleep better at night? That’s what the rest of this book will attempt to explore.

#Ecclesiastes #Kohelet #fivescrolls #hebrewbible #כתובים #Ketuvim #Bible #Tanach #929 #קהלת# חמשמגילות #labshul #belowthebiblebelt929 #Kohelet5

#greed #superwealthy #sleepless #insomania #richestmanonearth #ericabrown #isgreedgood? #howtohandlemoneybetter #agoodnightssleep

#peace #prayforpeace #nomorewar