Inner Wisdom, Sorrow, and Vision
Ecclesiastes 1:17-18 - A Neville Goddard interpretation
Read Ecclesiastes 1 in context
Scripture Focus
Biblical Context
The passage describes pursuing wisdom and also recognizing folly; it concludes that greater wisdom brings grief, and more knowledge deepens sorrow.
Neville's Inner Vision
To the one who asks what is this vexation I say: the wisdom you seek is not a collection of clever thoughts, but a state of awareness. Ecclesiastes places before you two movements of consciousness—the noble search for truth and the restless hunger for distinction—both arising within the I AM. When you identify with the ear that listens to both sides, you discover that the higher you climb in mind, the more you sense the weight of separation from your imagined goal. The text does not condemn knowledge; rather it reveals a natural alignment: the more you widen your inner capacity, the more you become aware of what is unfinished within you. The grief is not coming from circumstance but from the belief that your self becomes less by knowing more. Your job is to become the observer who remembers that you are the I AM, not the thoughts about your condition. In this light, vexation of spirit becomes a signaling device that nudges your attention back to source, where all contrasts resolve in the single awareness that you already are complete.
Practice This Now
Imaginative act: Assume the I AM now; envision wisdom and folly as two aspects of one inner movement, and feel-it-real that you are complete, regardless of what you know.
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