pynchon agnostic? II

[Cyrus]

Abdiel OAbdiel wrote:

>And the crown of righteousness? Victory? Nothing? The
>Wind? Seperate and alone. This is the Gnostic mind
>that drives Blicero to vanity. 
>
>"There's nothing inside. Only the scungille shell."
>370; 384; [Education of Henry Adams]
>
>Graves tells us that scungille,  periwinkle, scallop,
>were aphrodisiacs, sacred to Aphrodite, identified by
>the shell, the mirror ("know thyself") and vanity, the
>comb (originally a plectrum for plucking lyre strings)
>and heartlessness, associated with the Moon Goddess
>Eurynome, Botticelli's Birth Of Venus is an exact icon
>of her cult...
>  
>

Yes, Eurynome, the Creatrix... Maybe feminists were right all along....

>GR.267  ...it was vanity, vanity as his Puritan
>forerunners had known it, bone and heart alert to
>Nothing..." 
>
>In common parlance "vanity" and "vain" apply to
>conceited persons with exaggerated self-opinions.
>While the biblical usage includes this nuance, it
>describes the world as having as no ultimate meaning,
>a concept shared with some philosophies. The meanings
>of emptiness and lacking in reality are already
>present
>in the Latin vanitas, from which the English word
>"vanity" is derived. This approaches the chief Old
>Testament understanding that human life apart from
>God,
>even at its best, has no ultimate significance and
>consequently is valueless. This theme characterizes
>the Book of Ecclesiastes, which begins with "Vanity of
>vanities! All is vanity" (1:2 NRSV), words that have
>become classical in the languages into which the Bible
>has been translated. In viewing life without God
>the believer is on the same level as the unbeliever in
>recognizing the desperateness of life. 
>
>
>Hebel [l,b,h], the Hebrew for vanity, as its Arabic
>cognate, suggests a wind or vapor. Man's life is like
>a breath (Psalm 39:5). The development of vanity as
>reflecting the despair of human life in Ecclesiastes
>shows to some commentators that its author was a
>skeptic, an agnostic, or a rationalist, as its
>message seemed to contradict the prophetic message
>that Israel place its hope in God. The tension between
>hope and hopelessness can be resolved in realizing
>that
>the inspired writer is expressing his emotions apart
>from his life as a believer. It does not suggest that
>he has gone after other gods, but rather he views life
>apart from God. Searching for wisdom is no more
>productive than striving after the wind (1:14, 17).
>All work (4:8), wealth (2:1-17), and varied
>experiences (4:7) add nothing to life's meaning. Human
>life is of equal value with that of animals (3:19-20).
>Though vanity is the theme of Ecclesiastes, the idea
>is found elsewhere. It is the despair and frustration
>in seeing that projected goals are unrealized as with
>Job
>(7:3), David (2 Sam 18:31-33), and Elijah (1 Kings
>19:4). Despair is lacking in Jesus, who in the
>forsakenness of death places his confidence in God
>(Matt 27:46). In the Sermon on the Mount he uses the
>transience of life to engender in Christians          
>confidence as God's children (Matt 6:25-33). The other
>biblical usage of vanity condemns idolatrous religions
>and philosophies as useless. Gentiles or pagans
>failing to recognize the true God live in the vanity
>of their minds. Their unbelief is caused by ignorance
>and hardness of heart (Eph 4:17-24). The vanity of
>false
>worship is of no value, as it fails to see that other
>religions and philosophies lead only to damnation.
>Vanity as a despair of value of human life thus
>destroying confidence in self, abilities, and
>possessions can be of value if faith is allowed to
>focus on him with whom true joys are to be found.
>
That was beautiful. Thanks. Ecclesiastes is my favourite Old Testament book.


Cyrus