The Conclusion of the Whole Matter Ecclesiastes 12:9-14 "When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?" "The answer my friend is blowing in the wind, the answer is blowing in the wind." Three thousand years before these songs were written, a famous "Preacher" said, "I have seen the works that are done under the sun, and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind" (1:14). As it has been said, "One thing we learn from history is that man does not learn from history." One thing that Solomon has learned in life "under the sun" is that "all is vanity" (1:2,14;2:11,17;3:19;11:8;12:8). Solomon has used the word "all" over seventy times in Ecclesiastes. There is life with God (the Shepherd,12:11), or there is life without Him "under the sun." A life of purpose, or a life of emptiness, it is all or nothingness (vanity).