Pascal On Our "Miseries"

Hey, Y'all,

First, a small piece of housekeeping: it was pointed out to me (gracias, Mai!) that I did indeed forget one of the Angelas--my sweet cousin Chuchia (sorry, primita :-)

OK, now, on to the RST: it's a thought from the 17th century French mathematician, physicist, and philosopher, Blaise Pascal--see if this doesn't strike you as true of the human condition, of our search for Truth and Good...

It is in vain, O men, that you seek within yourselves the cure for your miseries. All your insight only leads you to the knowledge that it is not in yourselves that you will discover The True and The Good. The philosophers promised them to you and have not been able to keep their promises...Your principal maladies are pride, which cuts you off from God, and sensuality, which binds you to the earth, and they [philosophers] have done nothing but foster at least one of these maladies. If they have given you God for your object, it has only been to pander to your pride; they have made you think that you were like Him and resembled Him by your nature. And those who have grasped the vanity of such a pretension have cast you down into the other abyss by making you believe that your nature was like that of the beasts of the field, and have led you to seek your good in lust, which is the lot of animals.

Hmmm..."It is in vain, O men, that you seek within yourselves the cure for your miseries. All your insight only leads you to the knowledge that it is not in yourselves that you will discover The True and The Good...Your principal maladies are pride, which cuts you off from God, and sensuality, which binds you to the earth..." Kind of gets you thinking, huh?

You've been prayed for today...