The book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet as it’s known in Hebrew, wrestles with this very question. It’s a book about searching, about meaning, and often, about the frustrating lack of it. And in Kohelet 7:29, we find a particularly poignant observation: “But, see, this I have found: God made man upright, but they have sought many schemes.”

What does it mean to be “upright”? Well, Kohelet Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on Ecclesiastes, digs into this very verse. It paints a picture of humanity’s original state as something truly remarkable. "God made man upright" – meaning exactly that: humankind was created in a state of righteousness.

And it gets even more fascinating. The text connects this uprightness to another verse, this time from Genesis 3:22. You know, the one where God says, "Behold, man has become like one of us." Kohelet Rabbah takes this to mean that in their initial state, humans were almost angelic! Imagine that – pure, uncorrupted, practically divine.

But then… the fall.

Kohelet Rabbah continues: "When they became two, 'but they have sought many schemes.'" Ah, yes. The moment Adam and Eve, the first two humans, chose a different path. Once there were two of them, the potential for diverging from that original uprightness exploded. The "many schemes" represent all the ways we humans manage to complicate things, to stray from that initial state of grace.

It's a powerful image, isn't it? A reminder of our potential, of the inherent goodness within us, and of the choices that lead us astray. We began with such promise, created “upright,” almost like angels. And yet, here we are, tangled in our own webs of "many schemes."

So, what do we do with this knowledge? Is it simply a lament for a lost past? Or is it a call to action? Perhaps it's both. Perhaps by recognizing our original potential, by acknowledging the inherent uprightness within us, we can strive to choose a different path, to untangle ourselves from those "many schemes," and move, even incrementally, toward that original state of grace.