The Even Worse

As I read Chapters 8-11 of Candide, I was interested in how Voltaire is able to re-introduce the character of Cunégonde through Candide’s journey. This portrays the “bobbing up-and-down, up-and-down” we saw in Slaughterhouse Five, the concept of good and bad moments our society is so used to. Voltaire once again shows his disgust for the idea that all is for the best when Cunégonde says, “Pangloss cruelly deceived me when he told me that all is for the best in this world” (43). Voltaire repeatedly shows that the much hated life concept will lose all its followers as they confront the worst events in their lives. We are to weak and our acceptance is partial when affronting a bad moment. We accept ideals when we are enjoying good times and believe we will be able to continue on a soft road, but when our feelings and rational minds are forced to live these horrible moments, we immediately crumble under the burden of these challenges. These are the true test of our souls, our beliefs, our mental truths.

When in trouble, I often dream of another kind of relationship between individuals and their environment. A bit of an utopia fantasy to soften the brutal reality to believe that there are other possibilities and realities where horrible events and complicated situations don’t happen. Voltaire also considers these thoughts unworthy as Candide states that he expects the new world to be “the one where all goes well; for I must admit that regrettable things happen in this world of ours, moral and physical acts that one cannot approve of” (48). This is exactly what I feel when trying to confront a situation with a positive attitude believing that all is for the best. My rational and emotional parts are forced to believe that maybe the higher order/intelligence that decides what is for the best got confused or is creating situations and circumstances we don’t quite understand because we don’t know the whole larger picture, we only have our small, short sized view. Knowing everything may somehow make sense of all the insanity.

We are accustomed to comparing our lives, both the good and bad moments with that of the person beside us, be it friend or foe. It is a natural tendency that makes it harder for us to build a simple relationship between the events of our lives and our reactions towards them. We are forced to see how other people are doing in their dramas, making us be constantly disappointed or impressed by our own lives. Voltaire shows how a person who lives by the idea that all is for the better is motivated to continue living by this ideal, when seeing others that have lived even worse moments, as Cunégonde relates that she has been “so terribly unfortunate in my affairs, that I have lost almost all hope” (48). As Cunégonde states this, Voltaire gives her the opportunity to see how another person, the old woman, has lived more horrid moments, confirming the idea that by seeing another’s misfortune we are fueled to continue living, finally appreciating our own lot in life and accepting, at least partially, that all is for the better. That concept may completely change and become distorted when the tables are turned and one is forced to live the short, horrendous end of the stick. I believe that the only way to really understand the complete mystery of life, its majesty and its horror, we must learn to contemplate life from a non judgmental present, creating thus a constant state of reverence and awe, that is the realm of the enlightened: the Buddhas and Christs among us and forever latent within each one of us.