Ecclesiastes 2:18–24 — The Fruits of Toil

And I detested all the fruits of my toil under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who is to come after me. And who knows whether that one will be wise or a fool? Yet that one will take control of all the fruits of my toil and wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity.

So my heart turned to despair over all the fruits of my toil under the sun. For here is one who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill, and that one’s legacy must be left to another who has not toiled for it. This also is vanity and a great evil.

For what profit comes to mortals from all the toil and anxiety of heart with which they toil under the sun? Every day sorrow and grief are their occupation; even at night their hearts are not at rest. This also is vanity.

There is nothing better for mortals than to eat and drink and provide themselves with good things from their toil. Even this, I saw, is from the hand of God.

— Ecclesiastes 2:18–24 (NABRE)

Note

The Preacher has done the Machine thing — accumulated wisdom, labor, and wealth — and arrived at exhaustion. The fruits belong to someone else. The nights are restless. The grief is constant.

His conclusion is not to stop working. It is to reconnect the act of labor to the satisfaction of labor: eat, drink, find good things in your own toil.

The Machine severs this connection. You labor; the output belongs to the system, the owner, the algorithm, the heir. What remains is toil without return — vanity and a great evil.

The alternative the Preacher points toward is the same one Huxley names from Pala and the Tao names from the wisely governed country: enjoy the labor of your hands. Not the fruits accumulated. The doing itself.

There is nothing better for mortals than to eat and drink and provide themselves with good things from their toil.