Qoheleth was the ultimate party-pooper. He felt compelled to remind everyone the king has no clothes, that is, that the world's enthrallment with entertainment, power, knowledge, celebrity, science, and pleasure is ultimately pointless. None of those pursuits offer a satisfactory answer to the ultimate questions, Who am I, why am I here, where am I going?
Qoheleth was plagued by the specter of death and the grave, therefore he was grave.
My fascination with volvelles (paper round charts which, when spun, reveal information in little windows) is partly fueled by my morbid fascination with endless cycles, repetition, and actions that don't get us anywhere. Think merry-go-round or Ferris wheels. Turn, turn, turn but never arrive, arrive, arrive. I suspect that if Qoheleth had access to desk top publishing he too would have created volvelles as object lessons illustrating the tedium, boredom, and ultimate angst of cyclical history and nature.
One of our characters in Ecclesiastes University represents the will to power. I make an oblique reference to his approach to the philosophical elephant in the room (that power is pointless): he's going to use an elephant gun. Upon reflection I think my reference is too oblique.
God never speaks in Ecclesiastes. Qoheleth muses deeply about God but it's a monologue.
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