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to lighten your mood (not):
"When I see the blind and wretched state of man, when I survey the whole universe in its dumbness and man left to himself with no light, as though lost in this corner of the universe, without knowing who put him there, what he has come to do, what will become of him when he dies, incapable of knowing anything, I am moved to terror, like a man transported in his sleep to some terrifying deset island, who wakes up quite lost and with no means of escape. Then I marvel that so wretched a state does not drive people to despair. I see other people around me, made like myself. I ask them if they are any better informed than I, and they say they are not. Then these lost and wrteched creatures look around and find some attractive objects to which they become addicted and attached. For my part I have never been able to form such attachments, and considering how very likely it is that there exists something besides what I can see, I have tried to find out whether God has left any traces of himself."
Ok, not exactly light reading...but despair isn't new, either.
by tjb22 on Mon Jul 17, 2006 at 08:39:44 PM PDT
He was disillusioned 375 years ago. Imagine how he'd be now.
Great thinker on many levels. But I'm still an Euler man myself.
It's rough out here on the campaign trail: kissing hands, shaking babies. ... Pat Paulsen
by Trim Your Bush on Mon Jul 17, 2006 at 08:45:31 PM PDT
[ Parent ]
he made dying young almost seem like a blessing. Ofcourse, what can one expect from a man who said "the more I see of man the better I like my dog"?
by tjb22 on Mon Jul 17, 2006 at 08:50:59 PM PDT
by leo joad on Mon Jul 17, 2006 at 08:46:08 PM PDT
"American Idol"...who'd have thought???
by tjb22 on Mon Jul 17, 2006 at 08:51:58 PM PDT
Coincidence? I think not!
We may be on to something here.
We'll square the circle, double the cube and trisect an angle.
And we'll prove the Riemann Hypothesis.
by Trim Your Bush on Mon Jul 17, 2006 at 09:07:24 PM PDT
by leo joad on Mon Jul 17, 2006 at 08:53:02 PM PDT
A sect of Catholicism that was not widely accepted. He's one of the Enlightenment thinkers who does not believe that body and soul must be separate. And heck, read some of his writings, he had quite a sense of humor, too.
by tjb22 on Mon Jul 17, 2006 at 08:55:13 PM PDT
the Pensées right now--and finding much to love.
There are, in every age, new errors to be rectified, and new prejudices to be opposed. -Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
by slksfca on Mon Jul 17, 2006 at 10:35:19 PM PDT
... I'm terribly not up to date on Pascal's writings. I do think, however, that it's when people join collectively to see that what's going on in their worlds is common among them, that's when you sow the seeds for change.
Courage has nothing whatever to do with testicles.
by VetGrl on Mon Jul 17, 2006 at 09:00:18 PM PDT
When we become convinced that there are more important things than our distractions. Pascal was part of an "Age of Enlightenment"...if having a whole "age" of "enlightenment" doesn't encourage us, what else can?
by tjb22 on Mon Jul 17, 2006 at 09:02:58 PM PDT
wide narrow
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