Pascal
The French mathematician Blaise Pascal may have been one of Christianity's most brilliant apologists. Unfortunately, Pascal's life was cut short by cancer at the age of 39. He was in the process of writing one of the best defenses of Christianity since the Reformation. Although Pascal wasn't able to finish his masterpiece, God has graced us with his notes. Listen to this.
What is nature in animals we call wretchedness in man, thus recognizing that, if his nature is today like that of the animals, he must have fallen from some better state which was once his own. Who indeed would think himself unhappy not to be king except one who had been dispossessed?...Who would think himself unhappy if he had only one mouth, and who would not if he had only one eye? It has probably never occurred to anyone to be distressed at not having three eyes, but those who have none are inconsolable.
If man had never been corrupted, he would, in his innocence, confidently enjoy both truth and felicity, and, if man had never been anything but corrupt, he would have no idea either of truth or bliss. But unhappy as we are, we have an idea of happiness but we cannot attain it.
What is nature in animals we call wretchedness in man, thus recognizing that, if his nature is today like that of the animals, he must have fallen from some better state which was once his own. Who indeed would think himself unhappy not to be king except one who had been dispossessed?...Who would think himself unhappy if he had only one mouth, and who would not if he had only one eye? It has probably never occurred to anyone to be distressed at not having three eyes, but those who have none are inconsolable.
If man had never been corrupted, he would, in his innocence, confidently enjoy both truth and felicity, and, if man had never been anything but corrupt, he would have no idea either of truth or bliss. But unhappy as we are, we have an idea of happiness but we cannot attain it.
posted by Daniel | 9:17 PM
2 Comments:
Just did some quick reading on Mr Pascal. He would have been a genious and looks like his name will be remembered for a long time in relation to having a unit of measurement named after him.
I notice that he had a bit to do with Jansenism which got ousted from the church of Rome because of its similarities to Calvinism.
I must say that this extract here in your post went way over my head even though I re-read it a few times.
It's a beautiful quote. Very deep. Pascal's apologetics were more on the existential side of things. In other words, most of his arguments appealed to human experience.
Here I think that he's getting at the longing that we have for something better. We can all sense that we are fallen. Each of us has experienced Eden as a distant memory. That's sort of the gist of it.
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