I had a hard time choosing just one zinger to analyze for this bonus blog, but I know no one wants to read my paragraphs of unorganized thoughts, and I know Josh doesn't want to have to grade paragraphs of unorganized thoughts either, so it is for the public good that I have made the difficult decision to simply pore over #183 of Pascal's Pensées.
"Two excesses: to exclude reason, to admit nothing but reason."
Aristotle's golden mean is the obvious connection to make here, so that's not the connection I'm gonna make. Just know that I'm thinking it, too.
"Meden Agan" (Nothing in Excess) is the famous quote the oracle at Delphi inscribed on Apollo's temple. The concept of living a life of moderation is not one that would have been unfamiliar to a learned man like Pascal, so 183 comes as no surprise to us as his readers. But to gloss over this thought is to indulge in an excess of self-sufficiency, so I'm not going to allow us as a group of learners to do so.
It is impossible for us to know everything. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try. I have said this since August, but to neglect our faculties of reason is to insult the Giver of this gift. God didn't give us the ability to learn for us to let it collect dust on the shelf while we blindly follow those who claim to know more than we do. It is our duty to study - study sciences, study philosophy, study history, study the Scriptures. In all of this our end goal is to glorify the ultimate Knower, the one who gave birth to all the knowledge we have access to today.
On the other end of this spectrum, we have to take a step back and recognize that all the knowledge we can access is not all the knowledge that there is. God is the true and better Scientist, the true and better Professor, but He is above all else the true and better God. He knows more than we ever will, no matter how much of ourselves we pour into the pursuit of knowledge. So when we eventually hit walls, we should hit them with humility. We were never made to know it all and we were never meant to know it on our own.
To exclude reason is to neglect the mind God gave you with grace and with purpose. How prideful must you be to say "No, God, I do not want this gift you've given!"
To admit nothing but reason is to deny that our God is one that knows it all. How prideful must you be to say "No, God, I do not want your help!"
Nothing in Excess, Nothing in His Absence.
"Two excesses: to exclude reason, to admit nothing but reason."
Aristotle's golden mean is the obvious connection to make here, so that's not the connection I'm gonna make. Just know that I'm thinking it, too.
"Meden Agan" (Nothing in Excess) is the famous quote the oracle at Delphi inscribed on Apollo's temple. The concept of living a life of moderation is not one that would have been unfamiliar to a learned man like Pascal, so 183 comes as no surprise to us as his readers. But to gloss over this thought is to indulge in an excess of self-sufficiency, so I'm not going to allow us as a group of learners to do so.
It is impossible for us to know everything. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try. I have said this since August, but to neglect our faculties of reason is to insult the Giver of this gift. God didn't give us the ability to learn for us to let it collect dust on the shelf while we blindly follow those who claim to know more than we do. It is our duty to study - study sciences, study philosophy, study history, study the Scriptures. In all of this our end goal is to glorify the ultimate Knower, the one who gave birth to all the knowledge we have access to today.
On the other end of this spectrum, we have to take a step back and recognize that all the knowledge we can access is not all the knowledge that there is. God is the true and better Scientist, the true and better Professor, but He is above all else the true and better God. He knows more than we ever will, no matter how much of ourselves we pour into the pursuit of knowledge. So when we eventually hit walls, we should hit them with humility. We were never made to know it all and we were never meant to know it on our own.
To exclude reason is to neglect the mind God gave you with grace and with purpose. How prideful must you be to say "No, God, I do not want this gift you've given!"
To admit nothing but reason is to deny that our God is one that knows it all. How prideful must you be to say "No, God, I do not want your help!"
Nothing in Excess, Nothing in His Absence.
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