The concept of hevel is central to the theme of the Book of Kohelet. Hevel is the vapor of breath on a cold day that quickly disappears. The author points to the essential quality of perception that it is not firmly attached to the underlying reality. As meaning floats above the shape of the letters on a page, so our perception points to but never exactly grasps reality. A change in our perspective can alter the meaning of a word or an event. Yet it is impossible to grasp reality more firmly than through perception and the meaning of things. This is not a condition which can be improved upon. It is the very nature of our situation -- we apprehend reality through our perceptions, and they are ephemeral like a mist that disappears. The notion of “hevel” is related to the observation that uncertainty is the most obdurate characteristic of human existence. This has been a theme of many of the defining works of science, mathematics and philosophy of the twentieth century. Compare: Russel’s Paradox; Einstein’s principles of Special and General Relativity; Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle; Bohr’s Argument for Complementarity; Godel’s incompleteness theorum; Mandelbrot’s Fractal Geometry, Von Neumann’s Game Theory, Frege’s Philosophy of Arithmetic; Claude Shannon’s Theory of Information and Entropy, Maurice Merleau Ponty’s Primacy of Perception; J.L. Austin’s Sense and Sensibilia, the Boyd or OODA Cycle in strategic studies, and the notion of agile development in both computer coding and entrepreneurial businesses.
The phrase "under the sun" indicates one of the two perspectives which are contrasted in the Book of Kohelet. "Under the sun" is the practical world of getting and spending, of looking out for our own interests. This is the perspective which we naturally assume. The other perspective which could be denoted as the "world beyond", or the "world to come" or simply "that world" is not separated from this world in time or space, but it derives from a different way of looking at things. In that world, what is right assumes more importance than what maximizes our individual benefit. The same events can be understood from the perspective of this world or from that world, from the perspective of what is under the sun or what is beyond the usual perspective of concern for our self-interest.
The sun yearns to return to the place where it shines. The word "sho'ef" indicates a persistent ambition which stands in contrast to the insubstantial nature of a person's perception. The matters of the physical world are constant and reliable; the perception of man is transitory and incapable of being firmly grasped.
Among the things which are missing for people who live only in the world which is under the sun is the quality of being remembered. Implicitly, Kohelet suggests that one way of scrutinizing an action from the perspective of that world (which is not under the sun) is whether it will be remembered -- or perhaps whether we would like it to be remembered. Alternatively, there may be some effect of merit in that world which elicits remembrance, as in "God remembered Sarah."
Befriending the wind" is ra'ut ruakh. Ra'ut can mean either "friend of" or "badness of". Ruakh can mean wind, spirit or even inspiration. The language of the Book of Kohelet frequently plays with these kind of ambiguities. "Befriending the wind" could also be translated "bad spirit". Ethan Dor Shav suggests another interpretation and etymology for “ra’ut”: The root “ra” as in “re’ut ruach” may suggest meandering rather than either “bad” or “friend”. Compare, for example, Mishle 29:3 Ro’ah zonot, which could be translated as “one who is a companion of harlots”, or “one who wanders with harlots”. The association of wandering with a shepherd connects with Hevel as the name of the original animal herder (Cain and Abel/Hevel); see sources in Ethan Dor-Shav (Azure • AUTUMN 5765 / 2004): “. . . . the core meaning of this precise root verb [is], “to meander”; feeding, grazing, and herding are secondary transpositions. Critically, the Hebrew root ra’ah does not imply gathering, chasing, or herding-in; rather, it connotes the typical (outward-bound) movement of grazing over pasturelands. This is why the verb can easily apply to the roaming of a single animal, with no flock or shepherd about. Cf. Genesis 41:1-2; Song of Songs 4:5 and 6:2. Similarly, it applies where no feeding is involved; cf. Numbers 14:33. Hence, even if we knew no more than this, re’ut is to be understood as a fleeting movement of wind, or air, such as a gust or a breeze. This is cognate to tir’eh-ruah in Jeremiah 22:22 (“a puff of wind,” or “scattered by the wind”). Thus, a close approximation of the phrase hevel u’re’ut ruach, would be “vapor and a stirring of air,” or “vapor and a puff of wind.” In this light, the entire idiom stresses transient phenomena, of no material value. However, the etymology of re’ut itself may give us a clue to uncovering its original connotation; for its Semitic root had an additional meaning, one with a close affinity to the word “vapor.” While the Hebrew language lost this variant, it survives to this day in Arabic: The Arabic root of r-gh-w, as in the noun ragha—froth or foam—and the verb ragha—to froth. Like vapor, it is a potent metaphor of fleeting, passing phenomena. Froth and foam, of course, are made of air, which in the biblical Hebrew is always ruah, bringing us back again to Ecclesiastes’ idiom, “hevel ure’ut ruah,” which we may now render: Vapor and froth (cf. Shakespeare, The Rape of Lucrece: “What win I if I gain the thing I seek? A dream, a breath, a froth of fleeting joy”). “
The Hebrew de'a is rendered as "judgment". In contemporary Hebrew, the word de'a could also mean, "opinion". Usually, the word is translated as "knowledge". Judgment is intended to indicate that there is a faculty of accurately applying one's perception, in addition to abstract knowledge. In contemporary moral discourse, this notion is also connected to the quality of prudence.
The word that means foolishness, sikhlut, could also mean cleverness, from sekhel. The fundamental importance of this double meaning is not lost on Kohelet.
The Hebrew here is ra'ion ruakh, closely related to ra'ut ruakh (befriending the wind). Ra'ion means idea or notion, so the phrase could mean "notion of spirit", or "idea of wind". The concept is that perception has a quality of floating somewhat freely, even wandering, from the determined reality of the physical world.
The essence of wisdom and knowledge is the ability to predict and influence what will happen in various circumstances. However, if we focus merely on wisdom and knowledge, and not on uncertainty and the inherent limits to our power, then frustration, disappointment and pain result. We deceive ourselves into thinking that we have more influence than we really do. The only alternative to the pain of recognizing that we are not entirely in touch with the underlying nature of things is to cultivate an appreciation of the uncertainty itself. We are finite, God is infinite: what more could be expected of us?