Socrates, Candide, and the Foolishness of Overthinking Life

By Nicolas de Largillière, CC0

Life is a strange thing. One minute you’re thinking it’s all meaningless, the next you’re distracted by some low-level joy — a cold beer, an old record spinning on the turntable, the faint light of a city skyline cutting through the haze of the night.

You’re alive, somehow, but you’re questioning whether it’s worth the pain of self-awareness.

Socrates, the old philosopher who you think you know but you really don’t, said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”

He said this with such conviction that the words seem to echo across the centuries like a judgment in the form of a slap coming out of the mirror everytime your check your pretentious fade.

But then there’s Candide, the simpleton of Voltaire’s satire, who ends the journey not with some deep metaphysical insight, but with a quiet declaration:

“We must cultivate our garden.”

That’s it. Forget the big questions, forget the endless searching for meaning — just tend to your damn garden.

But that, my friends, is exactly why Candide might be the saner one.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

The Search for Meaning: A Trap We Set For Ourselves

Let’s get one thing straight: We’ve all been duped into thinking that if we just ponder enough, if we just intellectualize ourselves to death, we’ll find the key to life’s mysteries.

The truth is, the more you dig, the deeper you fall into the rabbit hole of nihilism.

This isn’t a new observation. Take, for instance, the relationship between Leibniz’s philosophy and Voltaire’s Candide.

Leibniz famously proposed that we live in the “best of all possible worlds,” a utopian vision that Pangloss, Candide’s mentor, parrots throughout the book.

Pangloss insists that even in the face of suffering, war, and plague, everything that happens is for the best.

Candide, in his journey through the absurdities of life, ultimately rejects this nonsense.

He’s seen enough to know that there’s no metaphysical “best” in the world — there’s only what’s in front of you, and that’s where he places his focus.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Intellectuals or Simpletons: Who’s Winning the Battle?

You don’t need a PhD in philosophy to figure out what Voltaire was getting at.

The whole idea that Leibniz’s rationalist utopia is some grand intellectual ideal is absurd.

Voltaire wasn’t anti-intellectual, but he was anti-“overthinking your way into oblivion.”

Socrates said that to live an unexamined life is to live a life unworthy of being lived, but what if the act of over-examining leads us straight into the depths of despair?

What if the act of constant, endless self-reflection is just another way to waste our fleeting time?

There’s a significant difference between examining the world in a way that brings you closer to action and examining it in a way that paralyzes you with indecision.

Candide may be a fool, but by focusing on what’s directly in front of him — his garden, his family, his small piece of the world — he does more than most intellectuals.

He escapes the curse of over-analysis, something we are all too familiar with.

Overthinkers, we drown in the possibilities and become so stuck in theory that we forget to live.

Photo by Tania Malréchauffé on Unsplash

Who’s the Bigger Fool?

You’ve seen it before. The “armchair philosophers” who can’t help but bloviate about the state of the world, critiquing everything and everyone from the comfort of their cozy, climate-controlled apartment.

They overthink every damn thing and yet do nothing. In the meantime, people like Candide, who know they don’t have all the answers, live, laugh, and try to make their lives better.

At least they try to build something. What do we do? Argue about the “best of all possible worlds” from a sterile classroom.

Intellectual gymnastics without a goal.

Socrates’ IdealCandide’s Realism
Examination leads to truthAction leads to contentment
Intellectual pursuit is the highest goalSimplicity and focus bring peace
Seeking ultimate meaning in the worldFinding meaning in your own small actions

Explaining the Idea to an Apprentice

Okay, kid, let me put it this way. Imagine you’re constantly asking questions about everything — Why are we here? What happens after we die? Why do bad things happen to good people?

Good questions, right? But guess what?

You can ask those questions until you turn blue in the face and you’ll never get a good answer.

Life’s like that. Sometimes, trying to figure it all out just makes you crazy.

So, instead of sitting around wondering if life’s supposed to be perfect, just focus on what’s in front of you.

Take care of the people around you, do the work you need to do, and stop sweating the big picture so much.

Candide’s wisdom was simple: Forget the world’s problems, focus on your own. So, plant your damn garden, kid.

The Critics of Candide’s Wisdom

Of course, the philosophers, scholars, and high-brow critics are going to come at this with their usual intellect.

They’re going to tell you that Voltaire’s satire only works because of its intellectual sharpness, and that Candide’s resignation to a simple life is, in fact, anti-intellectual.

Well, let them say that. In reality, these intellectuals are the ones stuck in a bubble, lost in theories, while the rest of the world keeps turning.

Movies and books challenge the idea that just focusing on the present is a reasonable way to live, suggesting that without enlightenment, you’re just a pawn in someone else’s game.

Can’t argue with that…but…

But those are just stories, nice theories, that reality often mutes, and maybe for the better.

Philosophy is full of all sorts of contradictions, but at the end of the day, we have to ask ourselves: Will the constant intellectualizing actually make life better?

Or will it leave us colder, emptier, and more disconnected from what actually matters?

Critics of the Simple LifeThe Case for Living Simply
Existentialism demands deep reflectionReflection without action is a trap
Intellectualism finds meaning in big ideasSmall, meaningful actions are enough
Nihilism offers a dark, cynical outlookSimplicity fosters genuine contentment

A few words for goodbye!

So, here’s the thing — life is chaos. The more you look for grand meaning, the more likely you are to find despair.

Philosophers will tell you all sorts of stories about how we should be grappling with suffering, knowledge, and existence, but in the end, you have two choices: You can drown yourself in ideas, constantly asking, “Why?” — or you can just live, even if it’s imperfect.

Yeah, it’s messy and dark. Nihilism tells you that everything is pointless. But maybe that’s the point. What if there’s nothing waiting for you at the end of this intellectual road?

The only thing that matters is what you do today, here and now.

So, here we are. You and me. We’re stuck with this world, this life. We don’t know what’s beyond. What if for a little while we choose to focus on the small, simple acts of care and attention that make it all just a little more bearable.

You don’t need a perfect world. You just need to water your garden.

Here’s a poem for you, because why not?

Life’s a fight, we all know that well,
We search for answers, but who can tell?
In gardens we toil, in silence we pray,
Maybe that’s the only way.

Bye.

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