Man in Moderation

It's crazy how deep Pascal goes. Pascal gets right at the very center of what man is and how man thinks, especially in the piece written on skepticism. Pascal's "paradox of man" is why everything goes on- it's why we don't (or can't) know everything. When you remove God logic from intellectual reasoning, all you have is faulty human thinking, which is mentioned repeatedly in the first chapter of Romans. We can't comprehend absolutes of nothingness or eternity because we aren't made to grasp those concepts. I really legitimately enjoyed all of those points being brought up in the first few pages, but his section on skepticism just shocked me. It's so incredibly accurate- man is great because he is better than the animal, but he must also be reminded how similar he is to beasts. Man can't be happy with nothing, but he is also miserable with everything. That's where it gets real for me- everything has to be in moderation. It's like feeding dogs and cats- you can't leave out a lot of food for a dog, or it will eat too much and be sick. But with cats, you can leave a bowl full and the cat will know when to stop. I would argue that nearly all of our sins relating to vices are not lessons in abstaining from those vices, but show why moderation is so vital to health in all forms.
Overall, I really enjoyed Pascal a lot and I'm looking forward to class discussion on the work.

Edit: I commented on AnnaKate and Caroline's posts.

Comments

He really does an amazing job at grasping and putting the thoughts we all ponder about into logical statements! I loved how you incorporated the bit about the dogs eating to much and cats knowing when to stop! This was a great blog and thoroughly enjoyed it! Way to go, Drew!
Sydney Snow said…
Man is in the middle of everything and must learn his place in this world. Man is in the middle when it comes to knowledge. He knows more than the plants and animals, but he knows nothing in comparison to God. Without God, man really knows nothing. I love the statement you made about man in moderation. We already have to worry about doing everything else in moderation, so it makes sense that we would have to put ourself into moderation.