Neville Goddard on Ecclesiastes 2:11-17 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read Ecclesiastes 2 in context

Scripture Focus

11Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.

12And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly: for what can the man do that cometh after the king? even that which hath been already done.

13Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness.

14The wise man's eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all.

15Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, that this also is vanity.

16For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever; seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the wise man? as the fool.

17Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and vexation of spirit.

Ecclesiastes 2:11-17

Biblical Context

Ecclesiastes 2:11-17 surveys the speaker's labor and finds it vanity under the sun; wisdom, folly, and death reveal the impermanence of outward results. It points to a shift from external measure to an inner orientation.

Neville's Inner Vision

Viewed through Neville Goddard's psychology, vanity arises when you identify with external works. 'Under the sun' is the dream of separation; awareness—the I AM—is the sole reality. When the wise gaze is in the head, perception is illuminated from within; the fool walks in darkness only because he believes the outward world is the source of meaning. The one event that happens to both is the ordinary movement of life within mind—death and forgetfulness—but you need not be bound by it. The true path is to revise the assumption that life comes from labor; stand now as the I AM and see that all results are images arising from your inner state. The outer world becomes a mirror, not the measure of your worth, and you are remembered in God, not by titles. Dwell in the inner kingdom where light displaces darkness, and let every experience serve the awakening you consciously imagine.

Practice This Now

Choose the end now: I am the I AM, and my life is complete in God. I revise the belief that labor under the sun defines me and feel-it-real the inner reality of sufficiency.