Voltaire's Garden

Born this day in 1694 – Voltaire, French historian, playwright, and philosopher (d. 1778).

He was an ardent critic of the church and Christianity and a Deist who wrote,

"He challenged orthodoxy by asking: "What is faith? Is it to believe that which is evident? No. It is perfectly evident to my mind that there exists a necessary, eternal, supreme, and intelligent being. This is no matter of faith, but of reason."

He would identify with Christianity in some of his writings by calling it, "our religion," even as he criticized it.

As an advocate for religious freedom, he wrote, " "It does not require great art, or magnificently trained eloquence, to prove that Christians should tolerate each other. I, however, am going further: I say that we should regard all men as our brothers. What? The Turk my brother? The Chinaman my brother? The Jew? The Siam? Yes, without doubt; are we not all children of the same father and creatures of the same God?"

In writing Candide, he advocated for a life of simplicity that reminds me of the book of Ecclesiastes in the closing song of the musical setting inspired by his work (via Leonard Bernstein).

I think it describes the tug-of-war within his own soul, and perhaps of the times he lived in -- even the divergent claims made by many of his deathbed utterances.