The Unbearable Lightness of Being — Which Side Is Life On?

The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Perhaps more people have heard of it because of its title than have actually read the text—the book's name is that striking. Centered on the theme of 'lightness and heaviness,' it tells the story of people intertwined with one another against the heavy, turbulent backdrop of Bohemia (Czech Republic) under Soviet rule. It's a story of human beings who become entangled in each other's lives, and who entangle others in their own.

Prague Spring. Wikipedia

I had actually attempted to read this book several times but given up each time. The prose itself was too abstract, and the characters' words didn't flow easily. Beneath the surface of the text, there are layers of complex, interconnected ideas the author has embedded. When I was in my twenties, it appeared on school reading lists, and there were people around me who had already read it at that young age. But back then, I wasn't yet ready for this book.

Much time has passed since then. I've started raising two children, been given more time than before to think deeply about the meaning of life, and as I raise them, I find myself contemplating life's meaning more earnestly than I once did. Now, I feel I can read it a little better than I could twenty years ago. I'm not entirely sure whether I've understood the author's hidden intentions exactly as intended, but that's one of the good things about growing older.

It's a novel that layers the lives of four characters—Tomáš, Tereza, Sabina, and Franz—one upon another. As you peel away each layer, you find yourself gradually going deeper than you had initially anticipated. Actions by characters that seemed simple at first all carry their own meaning, and things you thought were meaningful can turn out to be entirely unnecessary. What seemed heavy turns out to be infinitely light in retrospect, and conversely, a chance occurrence you considered light ends up weighing on your life more heavily than anything else.

Prague's days and nights, which seemed only beautiful, held a heavy past within them.

Our own lives seem to work the same way. The grand endeavors we undertake with a great sense of purpose often lose their color once we reach their destination. 'Was this really what I came all this way for?' Something seems grand on the surface, but when you look inside, there's an empty shell waiting. All that glitters is not gold.

On the other hand, some things we start by chance completely transform our lives. Something everyone was doing anyway, a club you joined just by following a friend, following a friend and ending up somewhere unexpected—these become the paths of our lives. You simply took one step forward, and that step carried you somewhere.

There are no truly extraordinary lives and no truly worthless lives; what is heavy can become infinitely light, and what is light can become infinitely heavy—perhaps that is what life is. Milan Kundera himself lived through modern Czech history, and ultimately had no choice but to leave his homeland and publish this book in France. He is probably evaluated in opposing ways in the Czech Republic—as either a 'traitor' or a 'hero.' His sense of powerlessness over all of this seems to be reflected in the book.

Milan Kundera, Source: Forbes Brasil

As we live our lives, things don't always go the way we want them to. Sometimes we get caught up in unintended conflicts and are forced to choose a side, and sometimes we're criticized for not acting if we say nothing. When I look at others myself, I sometimes judge them in terms of 'heaviness' or 'lightness'—seeing them as one thing or the other. When we can't truly know another person's life in its entirety, is it right to view it so carelessly? Just like those ambiguous words in the book, the title "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" is perfect as something to keep thinking about for a long time.

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