We Still Haven't Figured This Out Yet!

Figured what out? Life? It'll be a long time before life can be figured out in a universal point of view. But I believe that people can figure their own lives out. Every individual is unique and thus has their own unique life that is only theirs to live.  Maybe there is no universal answer for life because each life is so different.  Siddhartha lives life as a Samana for awhile before moving on and trying something different because he does not believe he can achieve Nirvana through this lifestyle.  He then goes on to meet the Buddha with his friend Govinda and does not think he can "figure" his life out with this lifestyle but Govinda is captivated by the Buddha's teachings and goes on to follow that lifestyle. This is illustrative of how people need to make their own choices in order to figure out their life on their own path.  Perhaps this lifestyle will work for Govinda but Siddhartha knows that it will not help him be rid of the Self.  Siddhartha goes on to realize that he was afraid of himself. He's been trying so hard to be rid of the Self but lost himself along the way. He "awakens" and knows that he cannot accept any other teachings. He cannot learn about himself from others. "I will learn from myself, be my own pupil; I will learn from myself the secret of Siddhartha." He must figure himself out without help from anyone else because only he can truly know himself.

I Know That I Know Nothing

I cannot know anything with absolute certainty but I can feel confident about certain things. I know what my name is.  I know how I feel.  I know what kind of music I like. Or do I? For all I know, my name could be Deryck Whibley.  I could be feeling something entirely different than what I think I feel.  And who knows if I really like the music I think I like?  Thinking is not knowing. I do however feel confident in saying that what we know is gained through experience.  However, everyone knows everything differently because two people cannot possibly go through the same thing in the same way.  Or can they?  I can't know for sure.  I can only know that I know nothing.  I could be sitting in front of the cave wall right now and I wouldn't even know it.  Can I know that I exist? If I were to deny the notion that the world I perceive is real, could I deny that, I too am real? But then how could I, not existing, come to even consider this? Through this I conclude that because I doubt, obviously I must exist. Knowing we each exist to ourselves, because thought is self-aware does not necessarily mean we exist to each other. Nor does it mean anything else around us exists to us. Doubt is something that I feel confident about. We rely on our senses to form our knowledge, and our senses are flawed and limited, and therefore can fool us. We can only question our perceptions and confirm them to a reasonable certainty, but never absolutely.  Doubting something can potentially lead to gaining knowledge or lead to some kind of truth. We each have truths that exist to ourselves. But, is there truth that is evident to everyone? We could definitely never find, and ask every living being in the universe about even one single simple truth, to make sure we all agree. How do I know what I know? Who knows? All I know is that I know nothing.

The Garden State (Not New Jersey)

"But let us cultivate our garden."
Candide's reasoning behind this statement is that he comes to realize that we control our fate and our lives. Candide was a character who viewed life with an external locus, believing everything that happened to him was due specifically to fate or luck, but never stopped to consider that he could have prevented it with his own decisions. At the end of this novel, it took Candide basically his whole life to come to the conclusion that he change his actions, take responsibility, and make what is left of his life happy. As of that point, Candide no longer believes in the world as cause and effect. He realizes that in order to be happy, we must make ourselves happy. He realizes that he cannot focus solely on why he was put on earth and his supposed purpose he has, but live out his life the way he wants with the people around him. The garden represents one life and they "must cultivate" it by making their own decisions and mistakes in order to create their very own garden for themselves.  We have to take charge of our situation and make it the best possible rather than simply hoping it will be good (or believing that it's already the best of all possible outcomes). We must care for our garden and bask in the rewards it shall yield through dedicated, hard work.  We get out of it what we put into it.  
I also feel that this is another example of how Adam and Eve and The Garden of Eden fit into the novel. They are ending their adventures in a garden, not beginning them there as Adam and Eve did. Instead of enjoying the free bounty of nature as Adam and Eve did, they must work tirelessly in order to reap any benefits from their garden.  But I think that there's something more in working for your rewards rather than just having them handed to you and I think that's what Voltaire is getting at.