The words Solomon and wisdom are often found in the same sentence. Alas, wisdom and P-B are mutually exclusive and as we shall see Solomon certainly lived in an age when humanity was unconscious, very unconscious. Like most of us today he was controlled by his false-self energy centers seeking security, sensation and power.
Solomon was among the richest kings of his time and he was determined to protect those riches. “He repaired the citadel around which the city [Jerusalem] had been built; he raised forts and stationed garrisons at strategic points of his realm to discourage invasion and revolt. He divided his kingdom, for administrative purposes, into twelve districts which deliberately crossed tribal boundaries; by this plan he hoped to lessen the clannish separatism of the tribes, and to weld them into one people. He failed, and Judea failed with him.” Solomon had as much success attaining security as we do today—none.
Perhaps his purported wisdom helped him find fulfillment in the sensations of pleasure. “Some of his wealth he used for his private pleasure. He indulged particularly his hobby for collecting concubines—though historians un-dramatically reduce his ‘700 wives and 300 concubines’ to 60 and 80 … Finally he resolved to adorn the city with a new temple for Yahveh and a new palace for himself … So for seven years the Temple rose, to provide for four centuries a lordly home for Yahveh. Then for thirteen years more the artisans and people labored to build a much larger edifice, for Solomon and his harem. Merely one wing of it — ‘the house of the forest of Lebanon’ — was four times as large as the temple.” And not a peep out of Yahveh—you gotta love that kind of chutzpah from the wise-guy. So did Solomon who never felt secure find happiness in sensual pleasures? You and I know that pleasure is just another word for suffering. Oh well! Maybe he could manifest his wisdom in attaining power.
Solomon was not wise nor was he religious despite his ostentatious temple. “Having established his kingdom, Solomon settled down to enjoy it. As his reign proceeded he paid less and less attention to religion and frequented his harem rather more often than the temple.” Don’t worry, he knows what he is doing, this is Solomon after all. “The Biblical chroniclers reproach him bitterly for his gallantry in building altars to the exotic deities of his foreign wives, and cannot forgive his philosophical—or perhaps political—impartiality to the gods.”
Ah! He may not have been wise but he was smart. He used his marriages to forge political alliances to consolidate his power. But remember one of the principles of Simple Reality—impermanence—that is to say, nothing lasts. “No remains of the Temple have been found.” Poor Solomon! No security, no happiness from pleasure and no power. But before we feel too superior, are we wise-guys today? Fuugetaboutit! We are all about as wise today as Solomon was then and are having about as much success as he had in experiencing the present moment wherein lies all happiness, joy, peace, freedom and compassion. Wisdom is not a rare commodity in P-B, it is virtually non-existent.
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References and notes are available for this essay.
Find a much more in-depth discussion in the Simple Reality books:
Where Am I? Story – The First Great Question
Who Am I? Identity – The Second Great Question
Why Am I Here? Behavior – The Third Great Question
Science & Philosophy: The Failure of Reason in the Human Community
