As part of my Christian life, I read a couple of devotionals every day. By a coincidence, perhaps, one of these daily studies is examining the Book of Ecclesiastes, and the other, the Book of Proverbs. It doesn't take a scholar to know that these two tomes form part of the 'wisdom' literature of the Bible.

If you were to entirely reject religions of all stripes but still want to engage with relevant ancient thinking, then you could do worse than study these two books. I read somewhere (by someone who had tried it) that applying the principles of Proverbs alone can dramatically alter your life for the better. Ecclesiastes contains similar wisdom, though it is presented in a narrative form, teetering at times on the edge of pessimism. The latter ('life is meaningless') can seem quite dark, but is ultimately saved by the knowledge that God is good, even if Man is often not. Do we really need to make sense of things, or is trust a better option?

I find both of these texts reassuring. I need to be on track in my life and proverbs is just the tonic, whilst Ecclesiastes suits my own hopeful pessimism to a tee.