Wow.
When Mashburn said Pascal was dynamite, he wasn't kidding. This was one of my favorite things we've read all semester, and it's one I'll keep in my back pocket for future thoughts and reading.
Pascal would say that man is incapable of describing himself perfectly, but I think he gets pretty close. He says, "For what, in fact, is man in nature? A Nothing in comparison with the Infinite, an All in comparison with the Nothing, a mean between nothing and everything." He goes on to say that "Man is to himself the most wonderful object in nature; for he cannot conceive what the body is, still less what the mind is, and least of all how the body should be united to the mind. This is the consummation of his difficulties, yet it is his very being."
Existential philosophy like this is always my favorite to read because it makes my head hurt and puts me back in my place. I know things because I am more than nothing, but I am not everything so I cannot know everything. But I'm still a thinking thing. I have no choice but to be a thinking thing, and Pascal would say that this is because I am more than nothing. He would also say that this is the source of my honor and my dignity.
"Let us endeavor, then, to think well; this is the principle of morality."
I read this sentence and the segment leading up to it several times before I really grasped what I think Pascal is trying to say here, and I think he is correct. I really think that it kind of goes back to what Kant said about tutelage, and what the goal of the honors program is. If only what is won from the darkness will remain, then we must fight to think well. To be lazy with our minds is to be complacent with the kindness of the One who gave them to us. Do not take the importance of thought lightly. God didn't have to give this gift to you. Since you have it, use it, and in doing so, honor Him above all else.
luke & rachael
When Mashburn said Pascal was dynamite, he wasn't kidding. This was one of my favorite things we've read all semester, and it's one I'll keep in my back pocket for future thoughts and reading.
Pascal would say that man is incapable of describing himself perfectly, but I think he gets pretty close. He says, "For what, in fact, is man in nature? A Nothing in comparison with the Infinite, an All in comparison with the Nothing, a mean between nothing and everything." He goes on to say that "Man is to himself the most wonderful object in nature; for he cannot conceive what the body is, still less what the mind is, and least of all how the body should be united to the mind. This is the consummation of his difficulties, yet it is his very being."
Existential philosophy like this is always my favorite to read because it makes my head hurt and puts me back in my place. I know things because I am more than nothing, but I am not everything so I cannot know everything. But I'm still a thinking thing. I have no choice but to be a thinking thing, and Pascal would say that this is because I am more than nothing. He would also say that this is the source of my honor and my dignity.
"Let us endeavor, then, to think well; this is the principle of morality."
I read this sentence and the segment leading up to it several times before I really grasped what I think Pascal is trying to say here, and I think he is correct. I really think that it kind of goes back to what Kant said about tutelage, and what the goal of the honors program is. If only what is won from the darkness will remain, then we must fight to think well. To be lazy with our minds is to be complacent with the kindness of the One who gave them to us. Do not take the importance of thought lightly. God didn't have to give this gift to you. Since you have it, use it, and in doing so, honor Him above all else.
luke & rachael
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