Being sure about something is always straightforward when there is nothing to compete with it. So how can we be sure about anything? An anonymous saying goes, “A man with a watch knows the time. A man with two watches isn’t so sure”.
Voltaire was one of those philosophers known only by that name. His actual name was François Marie Arouet. He chose Voltaire as his pseudonym because he was something of a political satirist as well as a philosopher. As the latter he was somewhat ahead of his time. Living amid the 17th century’s rapid scientific discovery and promised understanding of the universe, Voltaire decided it wouldn’t hurt to inject a bit of doubt. His emphasis on the relativity of all knowledge has a surprisingly contemporary feel to it considering it is only in recent years that sciences ability to provide objective information has been questioned.
In Voltaire’s “Micromégas”, he imagined alien visitors coming to earth who were wildly different from human beings. They possessed perceptive and rational abilities well beyond our capacity and they were so tall the pacific ocean merely lapped across their feet. After observing the earth for a while they believed that nothing inhabited the planet, but after using special magnifying glasses they discovered whales. With even more powerful lenses they saw human beings but decided nothing so small could be capable of rational thought.
The lifespan of these aliens was tens of thousands of years yet they were saddened by the brevity of their lives. They found it impossible to believe that wisdom could be achieved in a mere one hundred thousand years. One of the aliens had hundreds of senses and another thousands, yet both lamented their ability to perceive the world. So despite their sense and intellectual capacity they were unable to apprehend intelligent life on earth.
Voltaire offers two lessons. First, be wary of rationality’s promise of true knowledge. More often than not it is as blind as our own personal limitations and prejudices. As one spiritual writer quoted, “The battle in the clouds will be known to the deaf only as lightening and to the blind as thunder”.
Second, the saying, “The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence” is a warning not a reality. It isn’t. I don’t know how old that saying is, but it keeps appearing from one generation to the next as wisdom from the ages that we tend to ignore. It wouldn’t be important if we didn’t need our grass to be as green as our neighbours in order to be happy. The problem of course is one of perception: we think they are happier than they really are.
Voltaire offers us a simple philosophy that is found in the biblical commandment not to covet. Essentially he was saying we should stop admiring our neigbours lawn and take the time to enjoy your own. It’s surprising how much we miss in our own lives because we are so convinced that others are happier than we are. We have closed our eyes to what is already ours to enjoy.
Digby Wilkinson 2009