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7 Truly the light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to behold the sun; 8 But if a man lives many years and rejoices in them all, yet let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many. all that is coming is vanity.
-Ecclesiastes 11:7-8 (NKJV)
Chapter 11 builds on what chapter 10 started. Once we begin accepting the truth that there are things objectively better than other things, that there is an order to the universe and the like of which we’ve already spoken, we need to settle in and get to work. That will involve going through the cycles.
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The “work”-so to speak of going through the cycles is not an endless spinning in place without advancement. There are those who mistakenly believe the point is to simply chase your own tail. They will probably make statements such as, “The journey is more important than the destination.” Of course we should enjoy the journey, we’re on it and it’s a large part of what we’re engaged in. When it comes to the reality of eternity, the destination is of paramount importance. If we don’t arrive safely in Heaven the journey wasn’t worth it.
Those who make statements like the aforementioned will most likely exhibit a great disdain for any type of authority or certainty. They’ve probably deluded themselves into thinking ambiguity is the magical mcguffin which must be pursued at all costs. Individuals of this ilk are more than likely prone to other forms of magical thinking. They’ll probably be communal, wear the proverbial “rose tinted glasses”, will make the mistake of thinking the goal is to form a consensus and the like.
“The work” so-to-speak is more like the screw in the image above. We’re going through cycles at frequent intervals. We don’t seem to be making much progress but every cycle does in fact advance us (linearly) toward the end goal.
As it says in verse 7 above, “…the light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to behold the sun…” However, verse 8 reminds us we’ll need to work through a lot of the darkness to get to the light.