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CULTIVATING AN ABUNDANT GARDEN
WHERE VOLTAIRE WENT WRONG
BY GRACE BENNEYWORTH
“Candide,” a French novella teeming with satire, subverted ideals of the institutions of the Enlightenment era when François-Marie Arouet published the piece in 1759. Arouet, also known by his nom de plume Voltaire, was a famous critic of the French monarchy’s infamously enforced nobility and religious dogma. Voltaire rejected these ideals and delivered a message of personal preservation through his novel.
The story’s protagonist, Candide, has a naivety to his nature. Throughout the novel, he finds himself living among the “best of all possible worlds.” This idea parallels Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz’s philosophy. Leibniz, a prominent German philosopher and mathematician, believed that because things cannot be other than they are, they must be inherently for the best. His idea was one of shameless optimism.
In writing “Candide,” Voltaire debases Leibniz by defending the senseless violence in the piece with the justification of a benevolent, omniscient god. The characters pursue a perfect world, and though still unhappy, they reveal to the reader that we must keep a clear-eyed detachment between ourselves and the world.
Voltaire concludes the novella with an invitation: “Let us go and cultivate our garden.”
Voltaire underwrites that we are not in the best of all possible worlds. All the same; we are here. Voltaire could not justify or overlook the evil inherent to political, philosophical and scientific improvements that birthed the institutions of modern democracies. Thus, he urges us not to intertwine ourselves too tightly with liberty, progress or the moral intent of any other. We should not ground ourselves too closely to structuralist thought. Undiluted optimism is a dead end in the face of a search for total harmony.
Instead, let us cultivate our own garden: the individual self.
Personal fulfillment is the focal point of Voltaire’s message. To take care of ourselves, we must find the enzymes that ferment us as individuals. Political and social discourse is not excluded from this, which is where Voltaire’s critique falls short. If we find ourselves passionate about social affairs, why should we hesitate to make this a part of how we devote ourselves?
Promoting equity can prescribe a most sincere sense of belonging. Perhaps, it is more important to nurture ourselves in relation to the world rather than ignoring it altogether.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, a German poet, wrote, “Let everyone sweep in front of his own door, and the whole world will be clean.” Sweeping our own front door implies stained hands. It’s up to us to resolve what we won’t let be wiped away. This can be taxing, mucky work, but this reveals an open field. There is ground yet to be uncovered, new passions waiting to be unearthed and people we have yet to touch.
To Voltaire, cultivation is but a mere beckon to live quietly: to take care of one’s own. Devote your energy to refining your own mental cavity. But for the modern reader, this line may take a number of translations. We must enrich our lives to make another breath that is much easier to take in. Being an active participant in your life does not exclude pursuing passions that go beyond the self. Expanding our existence entails caring for others. Those dearest to us deepen our roots.
There’s a particular passage in “Candide” that indicates a subtle turning point to Voltaire’s individualist mindset. In the novel, an old woman speaks of her tribulations and advises the protagonist to divert himself, to indulge in the lives and stories of those around him. The old woman characterizes the perseverance through life’s sufferings as holding onto a ravenous snake. The longer we hold out and the more we hold on, the more it tears our flesh. She bets her life on a shared yearning, encompassing all of humanity, for suffering to cease. We recognize our tribulations in others and garner a deep sympathy for existence.
Even if the sentiment we share as people is suffering, are we still not describing unity? The question becomes one of responsibility in aiding in others’ lives — their gardens.
The affinity over suffering in the same realm creates a greater agency amongst living beings than if we were to live only pertaining to ourselves. We should not let ourselves be swept up in extreme optimism, as Voltaire points out, to let valuable time and relationships be wiped away. There is an overwhelming quality to life, and we won’t conquer all evils or be the best of all possible people. But if we come to find our grounding point, and nurture our needs, we gain a perspective of how diverse we want our garden to be. We get to decide where we want growth.
There is middle ground; we can foster our lives while also aiding in others. Improvement in civility and community gives meaning to human preservation. Adopting this perspective for your own backyard also alters your worldview. A communal garden blooms beautifully if it sprouts from healthy roots. To cultivate one’s garden is to understand that we may not be in the best of all possible worlds, but we may try to flourish what we do have.
VANGUARD OPENER
