The Sun’s Descent

Mar 19, 2026 | By Kelsey Rayer UT Austin ‘28

Useless labor, fleeting riches, forgotten reputations, and imperfect justice haunt the Preacher’s reflections in Ecclesiastes. “All is vanity.” [1] Toil under the sun cannot justify itself; virtue and wisdom are “striving after the wind.” [2]  The Earth needs an external authority’s redemption, something Plato recognizes “isn’t being but is still beyond being, exceeding it in dignity and power.” [3] It needs God. However, my business degree begs: “What need is there for redemption in a classroom of future investment bankers or consultants? Is finance’s paycheck and promise of fulfillment from increased shareholder value not enough?” Possibly. But the paycheck will soon be spent, and powerpoints long forgotten. So, why does our work matter today? Mirroring the Platonic sun, the Preacher challenges individuals, corporations, and the cities they inhabit to strive for selfless virtue in service of an ultimate good, fulfilled only by God.

Everything remains below the sun. The Preacher recognizes that work falls short of what Plato recognizes as perfect goodness, or the sun. Self-made goals become meaningless striving. To cultivate abundant vineyards, buildings, concubines, and treasure, the Preacher believed his pleasure “was [his] reward for all [his] toil.” [4] But beyond him, who will enjoy his labor’s fruit? Death breeds uncertainty; it ends every apparent good. This is the ultimate equalizer: “just as [man] came, so he shall go, and what gain is there to him who toils for the wind?” [5] All meet the same end no matter their righteousness; but even in life, “there are righteous people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked, and there are wicked people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous.” [6] The Earth will never be perfectly just or reward achievement. 

Plato’s sun embodies the human need to see goodness fully realized. In the Republic, Plato imagines education towards truth as a cave where people break free from fleeting shadows to see the sun, or “the idea of the good…the cause of all that is right and fair in everything.” [7] However, to transcend the cave fully would mean leaving behind all images, including language. So despite the prisoner’s escape, Plato implies that, in reality, transcendence is impossible. Human reliance on image seals the cave. While perfect good exists, our understanding cannot reach it. The sun remains above; all meaning is mere shadows lit by artificial light. Platonic philosophy becomes an endless striving for something out of reach. Plato recognized our need for a perfect good, but human fallibility keeps that good out of reach. Achievement is then meaningless: If everything is a shadow of truth, why strive for the truth at all? Plato lacks an objective reason to strive for the good. Therefore, individuals cannot justify their own work or defer responsibility to companies or cities; as shadows, these institutions must exist for something beyond their own gain to have true meaning. No amount of profit or “improved stakeholder value” can save these institutions from death. The cave is inescapable.

The sun must descend to humanity. Even if we could leave the cave, Plato never clarifies how the prisoner “is released.” [8] He suggests that philosophers are “painters who use the divine pattern,” but they cannot know that pattern if they are bound by chains. We can never turn our heads, so even our wisest contemplations are capable of only naming shadows. “Even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out.” [9] Humanity needs an external source to provide freedom from its chains and expose the cave’s deceptions. Only then can the prisoner truly participate in the good. The Preacher provides hope in God’s perfect justice and man’s sole duty––obedience to God and his call to goodness. He concludes Ecclesiastes stating, “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.” [10] Only God can redeem the world’s injustice by existing outside created order. His righteous judgment after death provides ultimate retribution. But knowing the true good on Earth requires God’s wisdom; God must bring the light to the prisoners. God Himself is the ultimate good, so it is only when God reconciles the broken world to himself that we can begin to truly see. The Word descends. Emmanuel. Knowing Christ and obeying God’s commandments then aligns our work with the ultimate good. Diligent and virtuous work becomes heavenly participation: not as a means to gain full understanding since we “do not know the work of God who makes everything,” [11] but as a hopeful reflection of what God will bring to fullness in life after death—a world beyond being. We can then consecrate every act, recognizing that its good takes part in the ultimate good. Spreadsheets become means to bring order to chaos; auditing–a chance to ensure business integrity; governance–a platform to execute justice. Ephemerality remains, but Christ’s reconciliation grants daily purpose to cultivating good in imperfection.

Ecclesiastes continually challenges my inclination to imagine that my best life is one built on my achievements. Diligent work is not about me, but instead about helping Earthly practices further participate in the good. I get to work with God in restoring goodness to His creation. Anything built by my hands will fade. So too will every regime and the corporations that contributed to their flourishing. But by grace, the Spirit can use my work to help my most beloved fields of study better embody God’s redemption. The cross allows us to strive for the sun, knowing we remain below it.

[1] The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2016), Eccles. 1:1.

[2] ESV, Eccles. 1:17

[3] Plato, The Republic, trans. Allan Bloom (New York: Basic Books, 1968), bk. 6, 509b.

[4] ESV, Eccles. 2:10

[5] ESV, Eccles. 5:16

[6] ESV, Eccles. 8:14

[7] Plato, Republic, bk. 7, 517c.

[8] Plato, Republic, bk. 7, 515c.

[9] ESV, Eccles. 8:17

[10] ESV, Eccles. 12:13-14

[11] ESV, Eccles. 11:5