The Simplicity of Happines

As Candide ended, Voltaire concreted his ideas about life in the conclusion. With an allusion to the Garden of Eden, he shows that humans have to toil, to "work without arguing," in order to be happy or "make life bearable," as Martin puts it. He also implies that having a simple life is much better than living in luxury and wealth, as the Turkish philosopher thought that people are only happy when they live simple lives and Pococurante, a rich nobleman, lived unpleased in an extravagant palace. Even though I don't agree completely with him, starting with believing in the Garden of Eden or whatever it represents, I do think that people who just live without questioning everything, and simply work, tend to be happier.

I am not a real believer in that God made the Earth in a week, placed a man on it and then made a kleptomaniac woman out of his liver, but where all these ideas come from, religion, does help a lot in making things simpler, understandable and therefore more pleasing for people. By believing in the idea that humans need to follow God's will and work hard, be nice with others, be humble and do things for the good of everyone, life is made less complicated. Meanwhile, if you try to be the best always and expect good things to happen specifically to you, you will be definitely disappointed and hopelessly seek happiness and to reach your goals. I interpret that Voltaire in Candide was trying to say that in such an unfair world, it is better to resign from the complicate things, like philosophy and existentialist questions, and have a simple life where all you can do is work. As reflecting on the book made me see, it is better to focus on working on the present and finding the happy things in its simplicity rather than thinking about complicated questions about life.

Happiness: as simple as water in hot summer...