Wisdoms Melancholy essays

Wisdoms Melancholy essays Man has always been characterized as a curious creature, desiring to learn and expand his knowledge base. In the past men have defied everything in nature and in their souls to just find the answer to their most vexing questions. Ecclesiastes correctly proclaims that the wisdom and knowledge man lusts after leads to sadness and mourning. Knowledge has been repeatedly abused and has caused a countless amount of deaths and a plethora of reasons to lament. Throughout history and literature, wisdom that has been sought inevitably leads to grief. Since the beginning of man in the book of Genesis, men have hungered for the fruits of knowledge which have eventually led to death and destruction. In the Garden of Eden Adam and Eve partook of the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge because they wanted the power and wisdom that God possessed. As a result, Adam and Eve caused the Fall of Man and God punished them with the existence of death, pain of childbirth, and hardships of labor. The Bible's motif of sorrowful knowledge is present throughout the book of Ecclesiastes which states that everything is meaningless and a mere "chasing of the wind." Ecclesiastes states that "better is the man who has never been, who has never seen the evil done under the sun," meaning that it is better to never have been born than to possess knowledge which leads to grief and regret. Oedipus clearly supports the notion that knowledge leads to pain, suffering, and grief. In Sophocles' novel, Oedipus, Oedipus is a powerful and happy king who is destroyed by the knowledge that he has killed his father and married his mother. Before knowing that he was a pariah, Oedipus was healthy and content and would have remained so if he had never known the Truth. The knowledge of his actionsnot the actions alonedestroyed Oedipus, causing him to gash-out his eyes and live in exile. History has proven that knowledge is the cau ...