Focusing on chapters 8 and 9 of Ecclesiastes, the Teacher is going toe-to-toe with our illusions of control. In chapter 8 he knocks down the sense that we can control any of the stuff, or vapor, of life. In chapter 9 he dismisses any notion of control over how long our lives are, ultimately saying that "time and chance happen to us all." By dashing these illusions of control of all of our external stuff, he leaves us with the reality that the only thing we can control is our interior life. We can no longer look to the stuff of vapor to try to earn God or the good life, but we can look through the vapor to the God who is always present. What this takes is a shift in our interior lives, a change of perspective, to see God through all things.