Voltaire The Good Brahmin Analysis

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The Good Brahmin In Voltaire’s, The Good Brahmin, Voltaire speaks of an encounter with an old Brahmin forces him to think whether it is better to be ignorant and blissful or aware of one’s ignorance and unhappy. Near the house of the Brahmin “lived a narrow-minded old Indian woman” who is referred to as a “simpleton and rather poor.” However, this woman lives her life contently, and does not concern herself with the mysteries of life such as what is time, what is eternity, and what produces her thoughts. Personally, I would rather live my life similar to that of Voltaire and the Brahmin, than to live my life like the poor simpleton. Although I would risk the possibility of never attaining absolute omniscience, I would find the quest for…show more content…
Would one believe that such a struggle is worth the fight when it is impossible for any mere human being to ever reach a state of omniscience? My personal belief is that this idea is absurd. It is absolutely true that if one were to spend the majority of their time contemplating time, existence, religion, and some of the various other principles in Voltaire’s story that they would quickly find themselves living a life full of despair and longing. The reality of the situation, however, is that most humans would not find it relevant to incorporate this practice into their everyday lives. If every person found it pertinent to question life in general, there would be no advances made in the modern world. Life as we know it would just plateau. Whether or not we know the exact principles of time and the definition of time does not change the fact that time would continue to progress normally. The same goes for knowing the origin of life. In the end, people would still be born and people would still die whether or not they knew if “Brahma was born of Vishnu or if they are both eternal.” At the end of the day, knowing the answers to some of life’s most pressing questions would, ironically, not change the way most people lived their
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