E c c l e s i a s t e s

a paraphrase

Introduction

The book Preacher is a wisdom writing from the Bible. Long ago it was still called Qohelet, which probably means "collector", but it was Luther who changed the title to "Der Prediger". In English the name of "Ecclesiastes" is used. The book read in church. The book has been written approximately 2250 years ago, probably in Jerusalem. The writer however, has remained anonymous, as is the case with many controversial writings. To strengthen his ideas, he does pretend he was a king (as was the case with Buddha). Nonetheless, he belonged to the literate elite, the classes of which he reveals the emptiness and hypocrisy. Preacher is a story of all times since it describes the search of man who starts questioning self-evidence and fixed ideas and who tries to get answers to the question of being. The Gilgamesh-epos, approximately 4000 years old, describes the same search, which has a similar beautiful result as the one in the Gospel of Thomas (logos 2). Therefore, it starts with the strophe:
"He who has seen everything, I will make known to the lands. I will teach about him who experienced all things. Alike, Anu granted him the totality of knowledge of all. He saw the Secret, discovered the Hidden, he brought information of the time before the Flood. He went on a distant journey, pushing himself to exhaustion, but then was brought to peace. He carved on a stone stela all of his toils"
We do not know if and how the original text has been changed over the hundreds of years since its inception. It is however certain that all literate, translators, copiers, priests and scribes of all cultures always belonged to the higher privileged classes, as is still the case. The classes of the exempted, the rich and the ones in power, those who felt superior to the ordinary people. People who benefited from the enforcement of the status quo, of their privileged position and of their own interests. They especially feel threatened by writings that endanger their position. For they are like a dog sleeping in the manger of the cattle (Thomas Gospel, logos 102) and have stolen the key to wisdom (Lucas 11:52). From their privileged position and its related frame of reference they interpret the writings and can only conclude, seeing blind and hearing deaf, that the writer is mistaken and did not mean to write that and that is how they mess up the writings. But, also in these circles occasionally people start having their doubts.
The Preacher was one of them. He looks around, sees all controversy and starts questioning the so-called social virtues and achievements. More and more, he gets bewildered with the things he witnesses around him. The quest for property, status and wealth, the gap between poor and rich, the fakeness and dishonesty, the madness of war, the never-ending chatting about nothing, the power of one over the other, the impossibility of relationships and the injustice of jurisprudence. Being a spectator, he observes the occupations of the people of which he realises the cunning more and more, keeps asking himself questions and gets more and more radical. He feels less and less comfortable in society and determined starts looking for a way out of what he considers madness more and more. He is a wanderer between two worlds, between hell and heaven. Society to which he can no longer return without cheating on himself and the other world of which he has a rough idea that gets increasingly clear. A just world without misery and sorrow, without those in power and leaders, without know-alls, without richness and property, without classes and casts, without books and scholars, in short a world for people.
Did he find what he was looking for? We will never know. It would take another 250 years for a new revolutionary movement to rise and you all know how those in power and the scribes have killed this movement.

In fact, Preacher is a revolutionary writing, which is still highly threatening to those in power. It still is a clear description of the search for The Kingdom or the Nirvana, which we can all complete as long as we dare. The search has a result, as we can also read in the Preacher, after which we can really state: and they would live happy forever after.
Seek and thy will find.
The following is not the next translation or interpretation of the Preacher, but a reproduction of the intention adapted to today. As is the case with a manual for a household appliance from Taiwan, translated into English by a Taiwanese with the help of a dictionary, the individual words and sentences are incomprehensible and unimportant, but the meaning is clear nevertheless. Moreover, the manual is superfluous. One masters while practising. This also holds for life. Life itself teaches you what not to do to reach a state of life as it is meant to be. So, it is not about yet a more intelligent explanation of the individual words, but about the meaning of the writer.
There is no new thing under the sun.
 

This is the story of N.N., former director of a large company.

I would like to show you all that the life we live is nothing but vanity, utter unimportance and without meaning. What sense does it make to dedicate the larger part of the only life given to us to drudging and hard work? Generation after generation has left ever increasing signs of devastation. We have dirtied our own nests, emptied the seas, cut the forests, and polluted water and air. Nevertheless, the earth will remain.
Endlessly, the sun rises and sets, and rises and sets again and again. Endlessly, the winds blow, without end or beginning and without ever stopping. All rivers and streams flow to the seas and the seas create clouds and the clouds rain the water for the rivers and the streams in a never-ending cycle. Never do we get tired of the events, never tired of watching it and never have we heard enough. There are no words for it. Everything that is has always been and will always be and always men are being born, live their lives and then die as sparks in eternity. Indeed, there is nothing new to it. Is there ever anything of which you can say: "look, this is really new"? In the distant past and in all cultures, it has always been there, beit in a different shape but in fact the same. The only difference is that we do it faster, larger, more sophisticated and on a worldwide scale. Cultures have emerged and gone down and have left their ruins and scripts behind as droppings, as will our culture do.
I, N.N., used to be the director of a large company and I wanted to know why I was the one I was and why everything happened the way it happened. It turned out to be a painful and hard occupation and everybody tried to convince me there would be no answer to these questions anyway.
And I noticed that the main goal of all others and I did was to serve our own purposes and that the reason was nothing but fear. And I noticed that it was all vanity and it was all in vain and that you cannot turn something which is not right right by talking and that all was wrong. And I told myself that I now knew more about the world and myself than most others, but that I felt like one-eyed Jack in the land of the blind. And what had it brought me? Although I had made myself to get to know myself, to distinguish between wisdom and stupidity, but what did it bring me? I realised that it is of no use in this society. People avoid me. Friends tell me I have changed and will still not find what I am looking for. Because the search for oneself is very difficult and full of pain. But it had at least taught me that the more educated the more unhappy one gets. All theories only complicate his life.
Then I told myself just to try and get on with my previous ignorant life. To pursue the pleasures that used to please me, to enjoy what I used to enjoy. But, I couldn't. The things I used to laugh about before embarrassed me and I did no longer understand why I used to like them. How pathetic it had been to kill time and run away from myself. I tried to make the best of it. Tried to continue my old life with the help of a glass of wine, a line of coke and a good joint. Thought that I could keep my new insights and that I, by adapting myself again, could help others with the things I had learnt.
I did not save a penny. I had my villa refurbished and my large estate redesigned. I had new lawns and an orchard planted. I had ponds and a pool dug and a forest planted. My company grew and I contracted increasing numbers of staff. The business boomed and soon I became the largest employer in town. I turned into a Maecenas and art collector and had my house decorated expensively. I organised parties for my numerous friends and money wasn't an issue. That is how I became the most important and richest man in town. However, deep down I kept on realising how unfair it all was and my conscience hunted me. I was unstoppable, bought whatever I saw and was proud of my achievements in society and the richness I had accumulated. I told myself I had earned it honestly and was praised all over for what I had achieved.
Now and then, I asked myself what I was doing and if it was worth it. At these moments, the nasty feeling came over me of letting down my family and children with all my hard labour and that I hardly had time to live genuinely. However, I chased away these thoughts quickly.
And sometimes I wondered what would happen to my company if I would retire. What would my successor do to all I had built up so painstakingly? How would I have to go about and what would be wise? I thought of myself as a wise man and thought I had come thus far because of this because clarity is better than not being clear. I was convinced that I saw things clearly, but also that in the end everybody is dependent on factors they cannot influence. That unforeseen circumstances can break both the sensible and the fool in the same way and that fate can strike unexpectedly. And, I realised that it doesn't matter what decisions you take. Why then did I take all the effort, I asked myself.
Then again, the scary thought that it all might have been useless came to my mind. Because, everybody is forgotten no matter what he has achieved in society. And no matter if you are successful, we will all die and cannot take anything with us. I got depressed, no longer saw any meaning in life and did not want to continue, because, in the end everybody is striving for his own goals, all at the expense of others. And I realised that all is indeed useless and vain. Yes, I started to hate my job and my ambition that had made me forget about my real life. Because I had to hand over to a successor sooner or later, what would he do if he became the boss over everything I had built up painstakingly and with so much wisdom? Would it all have been in vain? And I wondered if working is for the fools yet. Thinking like that, I started wondering if it had all been worth it. Years of studying long work weeks, all those business travels, the meetings, all years I had spent for and with the company. Because, is it fair when one just gets successful while another has to work his ass of? That is not fair! What the hell are we all doing? What did we achieve with all our hard work? All our activities are only meant to preserve this horrible society, expand it and it only brings us further off course. Has it made us happier? Isn't it terrible never to be ready, always have to think about the future, always planning, always have to think, always have to worry about your job, even while you sleep? And what did I achieve personally? Status, richness, people that look up to me, a stomach ulcer, kids that I do not understand, a dissatisfied wife while I tried so hard. With all our hard work we do not even have time to enjoy life and even to enjoy we have to do something.
And then they even dare to say that it is all the will of "their God" and all prosperity and happiness comes through Him. That He gives you prosperity and happiness when He likes you, but that if He by his inscrutable decision does not like you, you have to work hard for the one He has chosen. Servants and masters, poverty and richness, hunger and excess, misery and happiness, sickness and health, losers and winners is all supposed to be His will. Isn't that insane? Isn't that unfair and not just?
I realised how contradictory everything is that happens in this society. How people are born and die again. How crops are planted and harvested. How people murder each other one moment and then assist each other again. How things are tore down and built again. How people laugh and cry, grieve and dance. How they spread and then assemble again. How they embrace one another and then fight again. How one moment they find and then loose it again. How they collect and dispose. How one moment they tear apart and the next try to fix again. How they keep silent when they should speak and speak when they should remain silent. How they love each other one moment and then hate each other again. How they fight war and then make peace. What a difficult way to treat yourself and others. All that I realised and at the same moment I heard the priests and referents say that "Their God" had wanted it that way and that life was difficult anyway. That "Their God" is love and that he has the best intentions with us, but that he is inscrutable and that we have to accept it. That we have to realise that all that happens should be accepted by us as such and that we have to make the most of it. Thus, that we, without complaining, have to continue struggling and be happy to eat and drink. They say it is a gift from "Their God". Don't complain but face it. He must have a reason for all of it, but we will never know it anyway.
So that's what I accepted again. That it will always be like that and that we humans cannot change it anyway. That God would do it to scare us. And that we have to be afraid because of all we did in our past. That, no matter how hard we try to forget it, to punish us He will always remember us of it.
Furthermore, I studied our jurisdiction and realised how unfair it is. The right of the strongest prevails. Our laws have been invented by the rich and the owners to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. People that breach those self-made laws are being punished and that hence these are laws of society and not of real life. Nevertheless, I can not imagine that honesty and justice will not be rewarded and that everybody will have to justify its deeds sooner or later. And I thought: "It appears that God has created the different species of animals to show the people how they act like animals. Like snakes, lions, bonobos, grey mice, all according to one's character. And, that people are able to explain and justify their behaviour from it, because this world of humans resembles the animal world. To eat or be eaten, the right of the strongest, winner or looser, everybody serves his own interest. And today, people even belief that they are mere failed and that there is nothing that distinguishes them from the animals. What a nonsense! And, they believe they have evolved from molecules by mere accident and that these molecules determine who they are, steer their actions and that all will be just over at a certain moment in time. And that there is nothing that distinguishes us from animals.
It almost made me think that I could only try to make the best out of it. That there would be no way for me to change this on my own since people are seeing blind and hearing deaf. However, it should be clear to everybody that we can not continue like this and that things are coming to a halt everywhere. But, how difficult it is to make people focus on other things than their selfish future. Isn't their motto: 'Après nous la déluge? After me the flood?' But, I looked around and could not close my eyes to all the misery in the world. The hungry, the suppressed, the child labour, the ill, the lonely, the desperate, the refugees and all those who had not managed to stay afloat in this society. And I could see their tears and see the rich and those in power only giving them the remainders of their copious dishes proud of their own generosity. But, I also noticed the unhappiness of the rich and powerful. However, they do not understand that you cannot derive your own happiness from the misery of others. That is why I praised the dead, who died long ago and are happy compared to those still alive. But, even more happy appeared the unborn, those who have not had to go through all the misery of this society at all.
I also noticed that all hard work as well as expertise, knowledge, craftsmanship and creativity are only learned tricks meant to excel over another, get praise, proof oneself and not in the least out of vanity. In this society it is stupid not to proof oneself because you will not be taken for full and will never make it. Would it not be preferable to rest instead of performing this hard labour?
Again I noticed something strange in this society: singles who show off and accumulate as much property and richness as they possibly can. What on earth do they do it for? Double income households are much better of because they can share the burden and generate more income with their hard labour. Furthermore, one can help the other recover from a breakdown. But, who will care for the single? In addition, a couple can find some warmth with each other, but where can the single get it? And, together you are stronger than on your own.
You'd better be an ordinary boy open to critics and who wants to get to know oneself than a leader without self-criticism who thinks he is who he is anyway. Because the first still has all options open while he is unimportant and meaningless to the leader with his self-conceit, who once was an ordinary boy himself. I saw how everybody admired him when he was elected leader. Everybody hoped he would solve his or her problems. But, he aIso gave in to power and vanity and in the end nothing changed. So, being a follower is also useless.
Be careful when trying to find wisdom because it will not be appreciated and psychiatrists are everywhere. Nevertheless, trying to understand yourself is a wiser thing to do than all looks, services and rituals performed by the fools that do not even realise it is useless. Think before you speak and realise that begging, thanking and asking "God", the Unspeakable, Alpresent and Almighty is completely superfluous. Watch and listen and weigh every word because as a day full of unrest gives you bad dreams so do foolish and restless thoughts result in silly conversations. Never make a promise and never have good intentions because you cannot predict the future. Promises have to be kept and therefore it is wise not to promise anything and hence not to raise any expectations. Be honest to yourself and never tell you made a mistake. You did what you mind told you to and if you had known how to behave better than you would have done it anyway. Why would you be angry at yourself then? Learn something of it and don't do it again next time. Because you can live a thousand dreams and try to justify everything, but it is fair enough to be honest to yourself and act accordingly. Don't be amazed of all the oppression and injustice in this society because everybody tries to please those in charge and kick at subordinates. And then they praise government for subsidising farmers, blind to all injustice.
Those who love money never have enough. And, those who love possessions never have enough money. Then, aren't you a slave of your money and your possessions?  The more wealthy you get the more so-called friends will benefit from you leaving you with nothing but to see how they use you. When you are satisfied you sleep comfortable and relaxed, but he who is rich and never has enough will not sleep. And, I noticed the vulnerability and sorrow of wealth. The owner always has to defend his possessions and is always in fear of loosing it. Because, those possessions can be lost just because of bad luck and then when he has children he cannot leave them anything. He was born without possession and will die without being able to take anything. In the meantime he has struggled and made numerous sacrifices to become rich, but when he has finally discovered the uselessness of it all he cannot explain it to his children. What a dreadful end to a busy life. The way you were born you will die. You have been accumulating possessions and knowledge your whole life, but you have to give up all of it to get ultimate rest. Never had time to life truly relaxed and easily. Then, how useless and tough is such a life. His whole life man eats his meals depressed and without perspective and this life turns him ill, restless and depressed.
Then I told myself that if life is a struggle and if this is the life given to me then I'd better enjoy culinary pleasures and alcoholic beverages and do nice things in this short life. And then they dare to claim that wealth and excess is a gift of "Their God" also and hence that you should enjoy it and be happy that you have to struggle for it. However, my conscious speaks up when I see the poor. But, maybe I'd better close my eyes to the misery of others, because this must be God's will also. Better, I tell myself that life is fun anyway.
But, upon looking closer and listening better I understood again that it is only artificial and not fair. Even though people posses all they want they still aren't happy. How tragic! I am sure you would be worse off than the dead-born even if you had a hundred children, were a respected member of society and lived long but were not happy. Because although the dead-born is raised and dies in darkness, never seeing the sun, it will be saved from a lot of misery. Such child doesn't know restlessness, but the living has never known real life. Even if he would live for two thousand years but never be happy wouldn't it all be in vain?  Men work hard because they are never satisfied and want something new all the time. That is why they are never ready. However, sooner or later it will kill them all, the professor and the illiterate, the rich and the poor, all of them ill and worn out.
I therefore wondered if it wouldn't be better to enjoy everything around you then being a slave of your desires and wishes, which will only result in misery anyway. Because, no matter what people think they are and what they can achieve they will never become other than human. It is an illusion and haughtiness to think they can change or improve either nature or themselves. And, even though numerous books have been written and endless discussions are held in the end it is all about nothing. Did anyone ever get happier or wiser from those? Because who would know how to change things if this is supposed to be it and the best attainable. Who is able to predict the future? As things are now, it is preferable to be regarded honest instead of being it and is the day you die better than your day of birth. Better you visit a home where someone passed away instead of one with a party, since death will free one from his misery and give one peace at last. It is wise to acknowledge that. You'd better show your sorrow than to laugh it away because it is difficult to act tough and pretend. And in fact, it is honest to mourn in this desperate world instead of the empty headed that party as if nothing is wrong. It is wiser to listen to your conscience than to the optimistic noise of the superficial, because the laughter of the empty headed is empty and without meaning. It is a fact that he who is corrupt corrupts himself and that taking bribes makes your conscience suffer.
Therefore, think before you act, because when you think about it you will not act and you'd better be inferior but wise than posh and conceited. Also, it doesn't make sense to get annoyed because it will get you nowhere and only bother yourself. Hence, annoyance is useless and stupid. Don't complain that things used to be better in the old days for you are idealising the old days and fooling yourself. In this society you're better off with an inheritance than wisdom since you need money to survive but wisdom to truly live.
Look at the utter beauty of creation. Who can be so stupid and arrogant to claim he can do better? It is so easy to be happy in times of prosperity, but do not blame your God when things turn for the worse. Try to find out why you deserved it and take responsibility for your own deeds. You will not be able to look into the future anyway. Before I started to see clearly, how often did I not see people I considered just and honest get ruined and others that did not obey any of "Their God's" rules turn old.
And then I asked myself: 'why should one be just and wise?’ Why would someone make life difficult for himself? Then, isn't it better to go with the flow, being a bit unfair and unjust, because everybody dies sooner or later anyway? In this society it is better to enjoy and not take any real decisions because they say that when you trust in "Your God" no misery will be your part. However, I never see it happen like that. And still there are people who claim that wisdom will make a wise man more powerful than 10 men in power in a city. Unfortunately, no man on earth is utterly just and wise. So, don't mind how others consider you and forget about criticism for you have noticed yourself that criticising others hasn't made any difference. Of all these things, I tried to determine what would be really wise. But, I realised that for others I didn't try to be wise but smart. However, for one reason or the other I didn't succeed. The meaning of life and my true self remained mysteries and incomprehensible to me. Who could say something reasonable about it?
Nevertheless, I wanted to know why things are the way they are and happen the way they happen. I wanted to know the truth and comprehend the incomprehensible of which people say it isn't understandable anyway. And I witnessed and understood the hardship of relationships in this society; a prison, a killing dependency, a continuous striking of compromises, a something in return, a keeping the peace, expectations and disappointment. He, who wants to be free and independent, wants to be fair to himself, doesn't fall for it. This is what I understood, but how all things interconnect wasn't completely clear to me. Of a thousand people I only found one that didn’t want or expect anything from me but accepted me the way I am. But, I also discovered that people aren't the way they behave and that it is only caused by the sheer thoughts in their heads.
Who then is really wise and understands all? They say that from the bright temper you can recognise the wise and that people get milder with wisdom. Don't oppose your boss because you'll loose anyway, but remain honest to yourself. Do not choose the easy way and do not walk away. You have to get dirty hands anyway because he'll sure do as he pleases. Realise that it is part of the crazy game that you didn't invent and that you cannot escape it because it is the same throughout society. For, the boss is always right and who would dare to criticise him? As long as you remain honest to yourself nothing can happen. And if you really understand you know that he will have to face himself sooner or later. Because, everything will happen sooner or later and that's the way it goes. For everybody is haunted by his conscience, the things he knows deep down. Still, nobody can predict the future and plans; expectations and predictions hardly ever come true. Therefore, it doesn't make sense to worry about tomorrow. In their arrogance, people believe they can control nature and rule over life and death. But, it is an endless battle and never will they be able to silence their conscience.
This is what I witnessed and I looked around and realised what everybody was actually doing. Everywhere, it was a fight for power and one's own right. However, exercising power and undergoing power is useless, sick-making and eventually killing. I also saw the main characters, the rich, those in power and everyone who has 'succeeded' in society being buried in splendour and the simple and just being disregarded and repudiated. That also didn't appear fair and just. Since it seems that unscrupulousness is being rewarded and does not get penalised in this society and because people feel they can do as they please as long as they stick to the human laws, people do the most terrible things to one another and themselves. It may seem that we can live in luxury at the expense of our fellow humans without getting punished, but we hide our misery behind our appearance and everything has a flipside. Yet, I know that sooner or later all self-deceit will show up and honesty will prevail. And, eventually man will pay for his self-deceit no matter how hard he tries to neglect his conscience. It will never give him peace. It seemed so unfair to me that it doesn't matter whether you are honest or not and that even serving your own interests at the expense of others is being rewarded in this society.
And once again, I asked myself if it just wouldn't be better to play my part, pretend I didn't see and try to make the best of it for as long as I still had to live. Because no matter how hard I tried I still didn't quite understand the use of everybody working hard and worrying in this society. And, once again I came to the conclusion that I might not be able to understand myself and the others anyway and that it is a quest without finish and that all those gurus, mystics and the ones who claim to have found it and seen the light and pretend to be able to say something intelligent about it might be mistaken and only fool themselves. At least, I took notice of it and it appeared to me that honesty and justice would prevail anyway, but that you can never know what will happen to you anyway.
Indeed, it doesn't seem to matter whether you are honest or dishonest, just or unjust, self-centred or idealist, use your talents or not, are an optimist or a pessimist eventually you will get your part. But, the sheer fact that all doesn't seem to matter I consider worst of this society.  That's also why so many people are evil and psychic because they do not understand and eventually will die without ever having understood.  However, there might be hope that you will manage while still alive. Maybe, live before death does exist and maybe an answer to all questions does. Sofar, the dead only found the answer in their deathbed, but then it's tragic that they have passed away without ever experiencing real life. They have had to abandon all in their deathbed, but have left scars on others and cannot make up for it any longer.
But, try to imagine that you cannot get an answer to all your questions. That you will not be able to escape this misery. Then, wouldn't it be better to pretend to be living in the best possible world and to be pretty happy since if that's the case it must be God's will after all. In that case, wear nice clothes and worry about your looks since you cannot get to grips with your inner self anyway. If life is useless after all, be happy with the best achievable in your relationship as it will give you something from your hard labour in society at least. And, use your talents to make a career in this society and succeed before it is too late.
And once again I couldn't help but think that it doesn't matter in this society whether you are fast or slow, educated or stupid, smart or foolish but that it's rather being lucky or unlucky and that you will not be able to understand why anyway. It seems that destiny strikes at will and things can go wrong without warning.
I'll tell you what happened recently and made a huge impact on me. A small country with few inhabitants was under threat of being attacked by a superpower that amassed its troops. Simple and wise people in that country felt violence would lead to nothing, but they were ignored and laughed at and we all know how it ended.
Then, I said to myself: power and violence will lead you nowhere and it's always more sensible to be least since the least is always the wisest, but everybody thinks that's stupid because they say you let others take advantage of you. Nevertheless, as such you do not get dirty hands and do not revenge evil with evil. That's why you'd better listen to quiet and wise men than to the shouting of one-eyed Jack in the land of the blind. Being the least is wiser than entering the fight, but only a small mistake can kill you. Since, almost wise is stupid, almost honest is dishonest, almost white is grey and almost happy is unhappy. So, if you are a little foolish your not wise. It's really all or nothing. That's why it is wise to look at yourself first in all you do, since it will make you wise ultimately. The fool only looks at others and forgets to look at himself. And no matter what happens, the fool will always point at others or the circumstances. If your boss is mad at you just let him be. Don't argue for it will only make things worse and you'll always loose.
I understood this world to truly be a world upside down and its leaders being an excellent example of it. The mouth-fulls occupy the best positions and nobody listens to the wise. The slaves of their ambition, the posh drive fancy cars, whereas the modest walk. Realise that no matter what you do it might always turn against you. Whoever sets a trap might step into it himself. This society is based on doing, creating and achieving with all its consequences. If you do not want those consequences then it's wise not to do, create or achieve anything but to live and enjoy. Unfortunately, you will then no longer fit into this society of achievement. Think before you act and realise the consequences of your intended acts, for even when you have given in it is not too late since you can always change course and admit you were mistaken. Nice words aren't true and true words aren't nice. The empty-headed utters small talk all day and the more he talks the more meaningless his words get. The fool discusses his plans, his holidays, his future and his expectations, while he is even unable to know what will happen tomorrow for no one can predict the future. That's why the shortsighted just gets tired from everything he does for he cannot look any further.
Don’t let leaders without true experience of life but with apparently interesting and nice theories lead you. In case you do not dare to lead your own life it is wiser to let those lead you that have been there and learned from their bad experiences. Everything man has created has to be maintained painstakingly and continuously, but look at the whole creation and how it maintains itself effortlessly and without human intervention. The funseekers party and drink and brag everything is for sale. But, remain careful at all times, smart as a snake and innocent as a dove, because they will nail you on your words. Just do what you consider right; for the consequences are unpredictable and unclear anyway and no matter what you do you’ll never know what you’re up to in this society anyway. Human laws are random and changeable, but the laws of nature are eternal and unchangeable. Eternally, day follows night, rivers flow to the sea and rain falls from the clouds. And if you would be afraid of everything that could happen you’ll get nowhere. You do have your explanations for how and why the wind blows and the child matures in the mothers womb, but you do not understand it, just as you do not understand how and why things are the way they are.
Anyway, if you believe there is no way out it is better to take the golden mean. If you do not succeed on the one hand, you might be lucky on the other. Because isn’t it wonderful to see the light and enjoy walking in the sun? Then, do what you can while still on this earth and try to enjoy it because you will have to endure much more useless misery.
Children, enjoy your childhood for as long as you can and close your eyes for the acts of the adults. Know their game and never become like them because you’ll face the same faith. But do not burden yourself with all the things you cannot change anyway because your youth is over before you realise. You are not responsible for the acts of the adults. During your youth, try to be happy to be around in spite of everything because if things do not change for the better there will be enough difficult days and years ahead on which you will say: “I do not like it anymore and I’d rather not be around any longer”.
Because, the time is coming when the light of the sun and moon will no longer be visible and dark clouds will hang over the earth. Days in which the leaders of state will panic and those in power will tremble with fear and the workers will stop working for there are so many who have given up already. And they will hang from the window unemployed and wait for things to happen. They will barricade their houses, factories and offices will stop operating and fearfully people will lower their voices. People will no longer dare to look up, afraid of what will happen and only nature, growing and blossoming will not pay any attention. For then, this society will fall apart and people will return to nature while others will complain and lament about their losses. No stone will remain in place and man will destroy all of his acts that have fouled nature. And all he has created painstakingly over thousands of years will turn to dust, earth will return to its original state and man will free himself of all that has kept him imprisoned and return to what he actually is, a perfect creature, human. Then, they will realise how all labour, all hardship, all wars and all knowledge have been in vain.
This is what I, N.N., who used to be the director of a large company at the time I did not yet understand all and who has turned wise over time, want to show you. That’s why I wrote this all down. I tried to write it as clear and understandable as possible, honest and straight from my heart. The truth is horrible and shocking and will destroy all vested interests, but it will liberate you all. Realise that no matter how many books you read it will never get you to know yourself. It’s a waste of time.
In fact there is only one rule to a blissful life: “Do not to others what you do not want them to do to you". This goes for all people and since children are also people it includes them as well. Because every time you do not stick to the rule it will haunt your conscience and you will go astray again.

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