Blaise Pascal was a French mathematician,
physicist and religious philosopher. He was born in 1623 and died at the young
age of 39 of stomach cancer, in 1662. He invented a calculator called
Pascaline, which some believe is the forerunner of computers. By recording
barometric pressure at various altitudes, he validated Torricelli's theory and
in recognition of this work came the Pa unit as measurement of this physical
phenomenon. His work on the fixed likelihood of a particular outcome in the
rolling of dice in gambling was the beginning of the modern theory of
probabilities.
In
his introduction to Blaise Pascals’ book entitled Pensee, T. S. Eliot recommends
Pascal to “those who doubt, but who have the mind to conceive, and the
sensibility to feel the disorder, the futility, the meaninglessness, the
mystery of life and suffering, and who can only find peace through a
satisfaction of the whole being”.
Now
to Pascal himself in the Pensees;
“…One must have very clear sight to see all
the principles, and in the next place an accurate mind not to draw false
deductions from known principles.”
“Words
differently arranged have a different meaning, and meanings differently
arranged have different effects”.
“The
whole visible world is only an imperceptible atom in the ample bosom of nature.
No idea approaches it………..What is a man in the Infinite?”
“Since
he (refers to man/woman) is
infinitely removed from comprehending the extremes, the end of things and their
beginning are hopelessly hidden from him in an impenetrable secret, he is
equally incapable of seeing the Nothing
from which he was made, and the Infinite in which he is swallowed up.” (My
italics)
“We
naturally believe ourselves far more capable of reaching the center of things
than of embracing their circumference. ”
“Let us not therefore look for certainty and stability”. “How
can part know the whole?”
“Since
everything then is cause and effect, dependent and supporting, mediate and
immediate, and all is held together by a natural though imperceptible chain,
which binds together things most distant and most different, I hold it equally
impossible to know the parts without knowing the whole and to know the whole
without knowing the parts in detail.”
“So
if we are simply material, we can know nothing at all; and if we are composed
of mind and matter, we cannot know perfectly things which are simple, whether
spiritual or corporeal.”
“Justice
and truth are two such subtle points, that our tools are too blunt to touch
them accurately.”
“….
The most powerful cause of error is the war existing between the senses and
reason.” “These two sources of truth,
senses and reason, besides being both wanting in sincerity, deceive each other
in turn.”
“In
disputes we like to see the clash of opinions, but not at all to contemplate
truth when found.”
“The
great and the humble have the same misfortunes, the same grief, the same
passions, but the one is at the top of the wheel, and the other near the
center, and so less disturbed by the same revolution.”
(These following passage from Pascal’s Pensees
is similar to the thoughts from the Upanishad. It is also similar to what Lord
Krishna tells Narada about His relationship with several Gopis (devotees and
admirers) all at the same time.)
“Do
you believe it to be impossible that God is infinite, without parts? - yes, I wish therefore to show you an
infinite and indivisible thing. It is a point moving everywhere with an
infinite velocity; for it is one in all places, and is all totality in every
place.
This
section (233) also has a profound discussion on “God is, or He is not”. ……. Reason
can decide nothing here………What will you wager?...According to reason you can do
neither the one thing nor the other. According to reason, you can defend
neither of the propositions.”
“But
your happiness? Let us weigh the gain and the loss in wagering that God is. Let
us estimate these two chances. If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose
nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation
that He is” (This is the famous Pascals’ wager)
“The
heart has its reasons, which reason does not know” (section 277)
“It
is your own assent to yourself, and the constant voice of your own reason, and
not of others, that should make you believe”. ( section 260)
“It
is right that what is just should be obeyed; it is necessary that what is
strongest should be obeyed. Justice without might is helpless; might without
justice is tyrannical………We must then combine justice and might, and for this
end make what is just strong, or what is wrong just……..” ( section 298)
“….we
have an idea of happiness, and cannot reach it. We perceive an image of truth,
and possess only a lie. Incapable of absolute ignorance and of certain
knowledge, we …..”
“True
religion consists in annihilating self before that Universal being………” (the essence of oriental meditative practice)
“Men
never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious
convictions” ( section 894)
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