Solomon gave himself wholly to study and teaching. Solomon felt God had called him to this task. He even introduces himself as the king in past tense. Solomon had moved on to the grandest pursuit of all, the pursuit of knowledge.

Now, after an extended time in this capacity in study, research and teaching the first thing Solomon says in the form of introduction about this venture is that it is a crummy, worthless career choice.

Solomon concludes that:

1. He cannot get to the information he needs in order to answer the questions that he has.
2. God is doing what he wants. All our study and the little bit of understanding we gain is not going to change a thing.

Solomon’s career as a researcher and teacher is hopelessly summed up in a proverb in
Ecclesiastes 1:15:

"What is crooked cannot be straightened;
what is lacking cannot be counted."

What he intends to be saying is:

If God has twisted it, then the problem cannot be resolved.
If God has not revealed the information, you are not going to find the answer.

Sure, advances can be made in science, technology, mathematics and all other fields.
But, eventually, in every field, you are going to reach the point where you can go no further.
And then, all you have are more twisted problems and more unanswerable questions.

“The more knowledge, the more grief!” – Ecclesiastes 1:18

“It is curious that people who are filled with horrified indignation whenever a cat kills a sparrow can hear the story of the killing of God told Sunday after Sunday and not experience any shock at all.”
-  Dorothy Sayers

American Church attendance is steadily declining from 20.4% in 1990 to 18.7% in 2000 to 17.7% in 2004. The number of people attending may have stayed the same from 1990 to 2004, but during that time the population of the US grew 18% (or, by 48 million people). Only 6% of churches are growing, which means 94% are losing ground in their communities. Catholic Churches dropped the most, 11%, while Evangelicals dropped the least, 1%. (source here)