King James Bible
"And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry."
The rich man addresses his own soul in an internal dialogue, revealing his self-centered worldview. This literary device exposes how he sees his life as entirely self-contained, with no reference to God or others. He assumes his accumulated wealth guarantees a secure future, measuring life by material possessions and time. This presumption ignores both life's uncertainty and the temporary nature of earthly goods. The four imperatives echo the philosophy of hedonistic enjoyment found in Ecclesiastes but stripped of its wisdom context. Jesus uses this as the climax of the fool's thinking—pursuing pleasure as life's ultimate goal while being tragically unaware that his life will end that very night.