You'll have to excuse me. I am just really antsy about the whole "we're finishing Kohelet" thing. Naturally, I cope by finding more Calvin and Hobbes comics that I think were meant to be integrated into the text as visual aids. Since the publisher of Artscroll or whatever didn't so it, I feel as though it is my obligation to share the comics with you and relate them to Kohelet.
But first, can we take a second to discuss how the Chacham said adieu? (ha-ha, it's already been a second. You may as well take a few more seconds..) He starts off by essentially calling everyone idiots. He's right and everyone else is dumb. His beginning philosophy was all about realism and accepting reality. Things are changing now, though. Slowly but surely, he starts becoming more and more haughty and ends up with the philosophy of "If I were the ruler, everything would be perfect." He doesn't want to accept reality anymore. Because it's dumb. He needs perfection. It's the only thing that'll do. And you know what else- he's not willing to take that leap of faith anymore. It's too much of a jump and he doesn't want to risk it. The Yirei Elokim is a fool and that's the end of it. The whole world is topsy turvey. Gahh. Why is this happening? Where's the realist we all know and love? (Pow pow, Jamie?) What do you guys think about the transformation of the Chacham? Believable? Unbelievable? Disappointed? Surprised?
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Finally, more Calvin!
Okay, this one is a bit of a stretch, but bear with me here. This reminds me a little bit of the Chacham at the end. Sort of the whole "we don't actually know what God is and what's going on... God may as well be a chicken for all we know!" That sort of thing. So why just assume the YE is right in his assumptions. What makes his theory any more likely than the "chicken god" principle? (Also, come on, the comic is cute..)
This brings me back to the Chacham/YE debates of the previous chapters when they're discussing the whole system of judgement. Does God account for all circumstances- "extenuating circumstances", as Calvin would say? According to the YE, God does in this world. That's why bad people don't get punished right away; they have mercy. In this system, Calvin will have a chance to make up for his "salamander incident"...
This is the anti-Chacham. Kind've like the Nehaneh in the beginning- he had this "ignorance is bliss" principle. This principle of "there's no way that we can possibly understand the world anyways.." In the first few perakim, the Nehaneh felt that God controls everything, but we can't understand it, so let's just be happy and go party.
This is also flashback to what I think I'll now call the "Nehaneh Classic". This was his original philosophy (just imagine Calvin said something about God in the beginning or something). This is the philosophy that all the other people totally demolished. The YE was all like- don't think you're not responsible. That's just an excuse. There's a partnership between you and God but you're still very much responsible for your actions. Do you think that you're responsible for your actions or that everything is predetermined? Or that everything is just chance?
This reminds me of the Chacham in the debates. If we can't see anything happening, then how are we supposed to know that there is something out there? Or not. I can't quite decide who this reminds me of the most.. What do you guys think? Who is this?
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