Quotation sobre Eclesiastes 1:2

The concept of hevel is central to the theme of the Book of Kohelet. Hevel is the vapor of breath on a cold day that quickly disappears. The author points to the essential quality of perception that it is not firmly attached to the underlying reality. As meaning floats above the shape of the letters on a page, so our perception points to but never exactly grasps reality. A change in our perspective can alter the meaning of a word or an event. Yet it is impossible to grasp reality more firmly than through perception and the meaning of things. This is not a condition which can be improved upon. It is the very nature of our situation -- we apprehend reality through our perceptions, and they are ephemeral like a mist that disappears. The notion of “hevel” is related to the observation that uncertainty is the most obdurate characteristic of human existence. This has been a theme of many of the defining works of science, mathematics and philosophy of the twentieth century. Compare: Russel’s Paradox; Einstein’s principles of Special and General Relativity; Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle; Bohr’s Argument for Complementarity; Godel’s incompleteness theorum; Mandelbrot’s Fractal Geometry, Von Neumann’s Game Theory, Frege’s Philosophy of Arithmetic; Claude Shannon’s Theory of Information and Entropy, Maurice Merleau Ponty’s Primacy of Perception; J.L. Austin’s Sense and Sensibilia, the Boyd or OODA Cycle in strategic studies, and the notion of agile development in both computer coding and entrepreneurial businesses.

And Solomon was the richest of all men, as it is written, "And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones" (I Kings 10:27). For him it was proper to say "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity" (Eccl. 1:2), and one ought not to busy himself with anything save for the reverence of Heaven. And thus did Moses, our teacher, peace be upon him, say: "And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God" (Deut. 10:12). And thus did David, the King, peace be upon him, say: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (Ps. 111:10).