# VI explained — A Confession > Chapter companion for A Confession by Leo Tolstoy. ## What happens The narrator describes his search for life's meaning through science and philosophy, finding that experimental science avoids the question and abstract philosophy confirms his despair. He cites Socrates, Schopenhauer, Solomon, and Buddha, all of whom conclude that life is an evil or vanity, and that death or annihilation is preferable. The chapter ends with the narrator's despair reinforced by these authorities. ## Themes in this chapter ### The Search for Life's Meaning The narrator's central quest is to find the meaning of life, which he pursues through science and philosophy but finds only despair. ### Death and Mortality The chapter heavily emphasizes death as the inevitable end, with Socrates, Schopenhauer, Solomon, and Buddha all pointing to death or annihilation as the only resolution. ### Vanity of Worldly Success Solomon's Ecclesiastes passage and the Buddha's story highlight the emptiness of worldly pleasures, wisdom, and achievements. ## Character check-ins ### Narrator The narrator recounts his personal journey through science and philosophy, concluding that life has no meaning. ### Socrates Quoted as saying that truth is approached by departing from life, and that the wise man seeks death. ### Schopenhauer Quoted extensively on the will to live and the annihilation of the will leading to nothingness. ### Solomon Quoted from Ecclesiastes on the vanity of all things under the sun. ### Buddha Referenced as Sakya Muni, whose story of the prince encountering sickness, old age, and death illustrates the conclusion that life is the greatest evil. ## Key lines > We approach truth only inasmuch as we depart from life We come closer to truth only by moving away from life. _Socrates' statement as recalled by the narrator, emphasizing the value of death over life._ > Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. Everything is utterly meaningless, says the Preacher; all is meaningless. _The opening of Ecclesiastes, used by Solomon to express the futility of all human endeavors._ > The life of the body is an evil and a lie. Therefore the destruction of the life of the body is a blessing, and we should desire it Physical life is evil and false, so its destruction is good and to be wished for. _The narrator's summary of Socrates' view on death._ > Life is that which should not be—an evil; and the passage into Nothingness is the only good in life Life is something that ought not to exist—it is evil; the only good in life is the transition into nothingness. _The narrator's paraphrase of Schopenhauer's philosophy._ > To live in the consciousness of the inevitability of suffering, of becoming enfeebled, of old age and of death, is impossible—we must free ourselves from life, from all possible life It is impossible to live while aware that suffering, weakness, aging, and death are unavoidable; we must escape life entirely. _The narrator's rendering of Buddha's teaching._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/a_confession_se/chapters/vi - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/a_confession_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/a_confession_se/chapters