One must know when it is right to doubt, to affirm, to submit. Anyone who does otherwise does not understand the force of reason. Some men run counter to these three principles, either affirming that everything can be proved, because they know nothing about proof, or doubting everything, because they do not know when to submit, or always submitting, because they do not know when judgement is called for. (From: Pensees , 170)
I must have read this about 1980, soon after I first became a Christian. I am not in the same place as I was then, although I find this collection, of what amounts to seventeenth century blogs, fascinating. I suspect few if any modern blogs will stand the test of time as successfully as Pascal's.
These pensees, thoughts, are simply jottings. Scraps of a busy life. This paragraph illustrates Pascal's view that life is contradictory. It only makes sense, if we believe mutually exclusive things about everything ... and then perhaps life does not make sense at all ...
Comments