Pascal what is man analysis. Blaise pascal - thoughts. Ways to Convert to the True Faith: Encourage People to Listen to the Voice of Their Own Heart
The object of Pascal's reasoning is man and his being, everything else is considered relative to him. Man was declared both insignificant and great at the same time (the famous Pascalian: "homme de" passe infiniment l "homme" - "man is infinitely superior to man") Subsequently, representatives of neo-Thomism and modernism turned to Pascal to rely on him. And they succeeded - so much Pascal is rich, multifaceted and contradictory! Modern existentialists also rely on him, considering Pascal the founder of their philosophy. "Pascal is the first thinker who went through the experience of mechanistic rationalism of the 17th century. on the "reasons of the heart", different from the "reasons of the mind", and thereby anticipating the subsequent irrationalist trend in philosophy (F. Jacobi, romanticism, etc. up to the representatives of existentialism) "E. Butru. Pascal. Translated from French. St. Petersburg ., 1901.
Some aphorisms of Pascal:
1. The famous "Pascal's wager", formulated by him precisely in the "Thoughts": "God exists or not. Which side will we lean on? The mind cannot decide anything here. We are separated by endless chaos. At the edge of this infinity, a game is being played, the outcome of which is unknown. What will you bet on? [...] you can not choose. Without asking your consent, you've already been busted for this game. So what will you bet on? Let's think. Since the choice is inevitable, let's think about what affects you less. You are threatened with two losses: in one case, the loss of truth, in the other - good, two values are put at stake - your mind and your will, knowledge and eternal bliss, while your nature is equally turned away from error and from immeasurable torment. Whatever you bet on, the mind will put up with any choice - after all, no one is given to refuse the game. So everything is clear here. But what about eternal bliss? Let's weigh our possible gain or loss if you bet on the eagle, that is, on God. Let's compare the one and the other: if you win, you will win everything, if you lose, you will not lose anything. Do not hesitate to bet on God!”
2. About the “reasons of the heart” (Pascal is the forerunner of existentialism, but his century chose the path of oblivion of existence, the path of the “new European subject”, “objective knowledge”): “The heart has its own mind, about which our mind knows nothing”, “ God is known by the heart, not by the mind. That's what faith is. God appears to the heart, not to the mind."
3. About the “thinking reed”: “Man is just a reed, the weakest of the creatures of nature, but he is a thinking reed. In order to destroy it, it is not at all necessary that the whole Universe takes up arms against it: just a breath of wind, a drop of water. But even if the Universe destroyed him, a person is still more exalted than his destroyer, for he realizes that he is parting with life and that he is weaker than the Universe, but she is conscious of nothing. So, all our dignity is in the ability to think. Thought alone elevates us, not space and time, in which we are nothing. Let us try to think decently, this is the basis of morality.
4. On the absurdity of war (actually xenophobia): “Why are you killing me when you have the advantage? I am unarmed. - Why don't you live on the other side? My friend, if you lived on this shore, I would be a murderer and it would be unjust to kill you in this way. But as soon as you live on the other side, I am brave, and rightly so.
5. About the horror of infinity: “I do not know who plunged me into our world, nor what our world is, nor what I myself am; doomed to the most severe ignorance, I don’t know what my body, my feelings, my soul are, I don’t even know what that part of my being is, which is now wrapping my thoughts in words, talks about the whole universe and about itself, and just like that but it is not capable of knowing itself, like the whole universe. I see the terrifying spaces of the Universe closing around me, I understand that I am enclosed in some deaf nook and cranny of these boundless spaces, but I cannot understand why I am here and not in some other place, nor why so much, and not so many fleeting years have been given me to live in eternity, which preceded my birth and will last when I am gone. Wherever I look, I see only infinity, I am enclosed in it, like an atom, like a shadow that is destined to disappear forever in a moment: I know only one thing for sure - that I will die very soon, but it is this inevitable death that is most incomprehensible to me. And just as I don’t know where I came from, I don’t know where I’m going, I only know that beyond the boundaries of earthly life either eternal non-existence awaits me, or the hand of an angry Lord, but which of these destinies I am doomed to, I will never know. Such is my position in the universe, as uncertain as it is unstable. And here is my conclusion: in no case should one waste time trying to figure out the lot prepared for people.
6. About human insignificance: “Our judges,” says Pascal, “understood this secret very well. Their red robes, their ermines, the chambers in which they judge, all this solemn appearance was urgently needed. If physicians did not have robes and doctors had their square caps, they could not fool people as they do now ... Our kings do not put on too magnificent clothes, but they are followed by guards with halberds; all these trumpets and drums, the troops surrounding them - all this makes even the brave one tremble. One must have a too purified mind to consider the same person as everyone else, the great padishah, surrounded by forty thousand janissaries ... If doctors really knew how to heal, they would not need caps: the greatness of science would in itself be worthy of respect.
7. About human professions: “Chance,” he says, “makes people masons, warriors, roofers. The military say: only war is a real thing, all civilians are idlers ... Habit conquers nature ... Sometimes, however, nature takes over, and instead of a soldier or a bricklayer, we see just a person.
8. About human pleasures, the causes of new misfortunes and new sufferings: “When I,” says Pascal, “sometimes think about the anxieties of people, about the dangers and misfortunes to which they expose themselves, I often say that all human disasters come from one things, namely from the fact that people do not know how to sit quietly in a room. A man who has enough to live on, if he knew how to stay at home, would not go to the sea or to war. But when, having found the source of our misfortunes, I tried to discover the reason why people expose themselves to all these disasters, I saw that there is some real good here ... Let's imagine the best position, for example, the position of a king. If he does not have entertainment and variety, the most prosperous life from our point of view will soon become disgusting to him. He will think of conspiracies, rebellions, death, and in the end he will become more unhappy than the last of his subjects, who has the opportunity to diversify his life. Hence the general passion for entertainment. That's why they are looking for games, women, wars, big positions. No hunter hunts a hare for the sake of a hare. If this hare had been given to him for free, he would not have taken it. People are looking for noise and fuss, distracting them from thoughts about the insignificance of our existence. All life goes like this: we seek peace by overcoming obstacles, but once we have overcome them, peace becomes unbearable for us. A man is so unhappy that he misses even for no reason, just because of his build, and he is so vain and petty that when there are a thousand reasons for boredom and anguish, some trifle like a billiard ball can entertain him. After all, tomorrow he will boast in the company of friends that he played better than his opponent. What does it mean to be chancellor, minister, etc.? It means to be in such a position when from morning to evening crowds of people crowd in the hall and in the office, preventing the lucky man from thinking about himself. Let him retire, retaining all his wealth, or even getting more than before, he will be unhappy and abandoned, because no one now prevents him from thinking about himself.
9. In the end, about a person. What is a man - this judge of all things, a stupid earthly worm, a vessel of truth, a cesspool of delusions, the glory and shame of the universe? Neither an angel nor an animal... All life, all philosophy depends on the question: is our soul mortal or immortal? “It is possible,” says Pascal, “not to develop the Copernican system, but the question of the immortality of the soul must certainly be resolved in one sense or another.” Meanwhile, there are philosophers who build their systems completely independently of this question. It is amazing, says Pascal, to what extent the indifference of many people in this case reaches. “We are like travelers on a deserted island, or criminals burdened with chains, who every day look with complete indifference as one of their comrades is killed, knowing that their turn will come. What is to be thought of a man sentenced to death who, having only an hour to petition for pardon, and knowing that he can certainly obtain pardon, will spend that hour playing piquet? Here is our portrait. Who can lead us out of this chaos? Neither skeptics, nor philosophers, nor dogmatists could do anything. A skeptic cannot doubt everything, for example, when he is stabbed or burned; finally, he cannot doubt his doubt. The dogmatist builds a tower to the heavens, but it collapses, and an abyss opens up under his feet. Reason, therefore, is powerless. Only the heart, only faith and love can lead us out of this abyss” Streltsova G.Ya. Blaise Pascal.- M., 1979.
In Pascal's "Thoughts" there is a thought that strikes with its logic and persuasiveness. Addressing atheists, Pascal says: before arguing against the Christian religion, one must study it. But atheists deny the existence of God without understanding even the foundations of the Christian religion. The fact that the most important thing is the salvation of a person, and that a person prefers to deal with momentary affairs, paying much more attention to them than to his own salvation, indicates that a person is in captivity to Satan, since it is really impossible to imagine that, being of sound mind, you can choose five minutes of entertainment instead of eternal bliss. So unusually Pascal proves the existence of the devil.
Meanwhile, “with my moral ignorance,” Pascal is convinced, “the science of external things will not console me at the moment of sorrow, while the science of morality will always console me in ignorance of external things” Morois A. Literary portraits. - M., 1970. So, "one must know oneself, if this does not help to find the truth, then at least it will help to direct life well, and this is all justice." But when studying a person, the strict “geometric method” turns out to be powerless, because it is impossible to give unambiguous definitions here (philosophers, for example, have 288 different opinions about the Highest Good and the same “discordance” of opinions about happiness, good and evil, the meaning of life, etc. d.), nor arrange everything in an axiomatic-deductive order. Then Pascal decided to proceed from experimental observations of human life, and the first thing that struck him was the “abyss of contradictions” in a person, as if he had “not one soul” but “many souls” fighting with each other. "Man is infinitely superior to man." He captures the main antinomy - the "greatness" and "insignificance" of man. “All the greatness of a man lies in his thought,” Pascal repeats many times in his Thoughts. Here is his famous fragment: “Man is the weakest reed in nature, but a thinking reed. There is no need for the whole universe to rise up to crush it: a couple, a drop of water is enough to kill it; but if the Universe killed him, then all the same, a person is nobler than that which kills him, for he knows that he is dying, he also knows about the superiority that she has over him, but the Universe knows nothing about this. So our whole dignity consists in thought. Only it elevates us, and not space and time, which we cannot fill. Let us strive to think well: this is the basis of morality.
And yet this "Cartesian note" does not dominate in his worldview, for there is a "good heart" that feels God and is full of love for people, which is higher, nobler than a well-reasoning mind. It is the “heart” that makes up the deep foundation of the personality, the spiritual core of the “inner man” (sincere, non-hypocritical, “genuine”), in contrast to the “outer man”, which is controlled by the “mind-weather vane”, which comes not from love and mercy, but from “ cold" arguments and evidence. Therefore, the “heart” is the “subject of the moral order” as the highest of the three orders of being, not reducible to each other: just as from all bodies in nature, taken together, not one “grain of mind” can be obtained, so from all minds taken together, do not get a “grain of love”, because this is a “different order” Morois A. Literary portraits. - M., 1970. The "moral order of being" is so much superior to the "intellectual", and even more so - "physical", that Pascal considers it "supernatural", ascending to God himself. So the mature Pascal overcame his youthful rationalism and "put the mind in its place", not absolutizing it, like Descartes, but not humiliating it either. Yes, “all the greatness of a person is in thought,” Pascal repeats and sighs sadly: “But how stupid she is!” Sometimes he speaks ironically about the "insignificance" of the mind: What a funny hero! Pascal B. Thoughts. SPb., per. Pervova P.D., 1888
Thoughts
Thank you for downloading the book from the free e-library http://filosoff.org/ Happy reading! Pascal Blaise Thoughts The idea, internal order and plan of this work What is the benefit and duty of a person: how to ensure that he comprehends them and is guided by them. Order. - People neglect faith; they hate and fear the thought that perhaps it contains the truth. In order to cure them of this, first of all prove that faith is not in the least contrary to reason, nay, that it is worthy of praise, and in this way inspire respect for it; then, having shown that it deserves love, sow in virtuous hearts the hope of its truth, and, finally, prove that it is the true faith. Faith is praiseworthy because it has known the nature of man; faith is worthy of love, because it opens the way to the true good. 2. For sinners doomed to eternal damnation, one of the most unexpected shocks will be the discovery that they are condemned by their own reason, to which they pleaded when they dared to condemn the Christian faith. 3. Two extremes: cross out the mind, recognize only the mind. 4. If everything in the world were subject to reason, there would be no room left in the Christian doctrine for what is mysterious and supernatural in it; if nothing in the world were subject to the laws of reason, the Christian doctrine would be meaningless and ridiculous. Ways to convert to the true faith: call people to listen to the voice of their own hearts 5. Forewarning. - The metaphysical proofs of the existence of God are so different from the arguments we are used to and so complex that, as a rule, they do not affect people's minds, and if they convince someone, then only for a short time, while a person follows the course of development of this proof, but already an hour later he begins to think apprehensively whether this is an attempt to fool him. Quod curiositate cognoverunt superbia amiserunt. This is what happens to everyone who tries to know God without calling on the help of Jesus Christ, who wants to partake of God without an intermediary, known without an intermediary. Meanwhile, people who have come to know God through His Mediator have also come to know their own nothingness. 6. How wonderful it is that the canonical authors never proved the existence of God by drawing arguments from the natural world. They simply called to believe in Him. David, Solomon, and others never said: "There is no void in nature, therefore, God exists." They were undoubtedly smarter than the smartest of those who came to replace them and constantly resorted to such evidence. This is very, very important. 7. If all the proofs of the existence of God, gleaned from the world of nature, inevitably speak of the weakness of our reason, do not be dismissive of the Holy Scriptures because of this; if the understanding of such contradictions speaks of the power of our mind, read the Holy Scriptures for it. 8. I am not talking about the system here, but about the features inherent in the human heart. Not about zealous reverence for the Lord, not about detachment from oneself, but about the guiding human principle, about selfish and selfish aspirations. And since we cannot but be agitated by a firm answer to a question that touches us so closely - after all the sorrows of life, where inevitable death will plunge us with monstrous inevitability, threatening us every hour - into eternity of non-existence or into eternity of torment ... 9. The Almighty leads people's minds to faith with arguments, and hearts with grace, for His instrument is meekness, but to try to convert minds and hearts with force and threats is to instill terror in them, not faith, terrorem potius quam religionem. 10. In any conversation, in any dispute, it is necessary to reserve the right to reason with those who lose their temper: “And what, in fact, revolts you?” 11. Those of little faith should first of all be pitied - this unbelief itself makes them unhappy. Offensive speech would be appropriate when it would do them good, but it goes to the detriment. 12. Pity the atheists, while they are tirelessly searching - is not their plight worthy of pity? To stigmatize those who boast of godlessness. 13. And he showers ridicule on him who seeks? But which of these two is more derisive? Meanwhile, the seeker does not mock, but pities the mocker. 14. A fair wit is a trashy person. 15. Do you want people to believe in your virtues? Don't brag about them. 16. You should feel sorry for both of them, but in the first case, let this pity be nourished by sympathy, and in the second, contempt. The difference between human minds 17. The smarter a person, the more originality he sees in everyone with whom he communicates. For an ordinary person, all people look the same. 18. How many people in the world listen to a sermon as if it were an ordinary evening service! 19. There are two kinds of people for whom everything is the same: holidays and weekdays, laymen and priests, any sin is similar to another. But some draw the conclusion from this that what is forbidden to the priests is also forbidden to the laity, and others - that what is permitted to the laity is also permitted to the priests. 20. Universality. - The sciences of morality and language, although isolated, are nevertheless universal. Mathematical knowledge and direct knowledge 21. The difference between mathematical and direct knowledge. - The beginnings of mathematical knowledge are quite distinct, but in everyday life they are not used, therefore it is difficult to penetrate into them out of habit, but for anyone who penetrates, they are completely clear, and only a very bad mind is not able to build a correct reasoning on the basis of such self-evident principles. The beginnings of direct knowledge, on the contrary, are widespread and commonly used. There is no need to delve into something, to make an effort on oneself, all that is needed here is good vision, but not just good, but impeccable, because there are so many of these principles and they are so branched that it is almost impossible to cover them all at once. Meanwhile, if you miss one thing, a mistake is inevitable: that is why great vigilance is needed in order to see everything to the last, and a clear mind, in order, based on such well-known principles, to draw correct conclusions later. So, if all mathematicians had vigilance, they would be capable of direct knowledge, because they are able to draw correct conclusions from well-known principles, and those capable of direct knowledge would be capable of mathematical ones, if they had the trouble to peer closely into mathematical principles that are unusual for them . But such a combination is not common, because a person capable of direct knowledge does not even try to delve into mathematical principles, but a person capable of mathematics is mostly blind to what is before his eyes; moreover, having become accustomed to making conclusions on the basis of precise and clear mathematical principles well studied by him, he is lost when faced with principles of a completely different order, on which direct knowledge is based. They are barely distinguishable, they are felt rather than seen, and whoever does not feel is hardly worth teaching: they are so subtle and diverse that only a person whose feelings are refined and unmistakable are able to catch and draw correct, undeniable conclusions from what is prompted. feelings; moreover, often he cannot prove the correctness of his conclusions point by point, as is customary in mathematics, because the principles of direct knowledge almost never line up in a row, like the principles of mathematical knowledge, and such a proof would be infinitely difficult. A cognizable subject must be grasped immediately and entirely, and not studied gradually, by inference - at first, in any case. Thus, mathematicians are rarely capable of direct knowledge, and those who know directly - of mathematical, because mathematicians try to apply mathematical measures to what is accessible only to direct knowledge, and end up with absurdity, because they want to give definitions at all costs, and only then move on to the basic principles, meanwhile, for this subject, the method of inference is unsuitable. This does not mean that the mind generally refuses them, but it makes them imperceptibly, naturally, without any tricks; to clearly tell how exactly this work of the mind takes place is beyond the power of anyone, and to feel that it is happening at all is accessible to very few. On the other hand, when a person who cognizes an object directly and is accustomed to grasping it with a single glance, is faced with a problem that is completely incomprehensible to him and requires preliminary acquaintance with many definitions and unusually dry principles to solve, he is not only afraid, but also turns away from it. As for the bad mind, it is equally inaccessible to knowledge, both mathematical and direct. Therefore, a purely mathematical mind will work correctly only if all definitions and beginnings are known to it in advance, otherwise it gets confused and becomes unbearable, because it works correctly only on the basis of beginnings that are completely clear to it. And the mind, knowing directly, is not able to patiently seek out the first principles underlying purely speculative, abstract concepts that it has not encountered in everyday life and is unusual for it. Sanity 22. Varieties of sanity: some people talk sensibly about the phenomena of a certain order, but begin to talk nonsense when it comes to all other phenomena. Some are able to draw many conclusions from a few beginnings - this testifies to their sanity. Others draw many conclusions from phenomena based on many beginnings. For example, some correctly deduce consequences from the few principles that determine the properties of water, but for this you need to be distinguished by outstanding common sense, because these consequences are almost imperceptible. But this by no means means that all capable of such conclusions are good mathematicians, for mathematics contains many principles, and there is a mind of such a turn that it is able to comprehend only a few principles, but to their very depth, while phenomena based on many principles are incomprehensible to him. Therefore, there are two mindsets: one quickly and deeply comprehends the consequences arising from this or that beginning - this is a penetrating mind; the other is capable of embracing many beginnings without getting entangled in them—this is the mathematical mind. In the first case, a person has a strong and sound mind, in the second - a wide one, and these properties are not always combined: a strong mind at the same time can be limited, a broad mind - superficial. 23. He who is accustomed to judging everything by the prompting of the senses understands nothing in logical conclusions, because he strives at first glance to make a judgment about the subject under investigation and does not want to delve into the principles on which he is based. On the contrary, one who is accustomed to delve into the principles understands nothing about the arguments of the senses, because first of all he tries to single out these principles and is not able to cover the whole subject with one glance. Rules underlying judgments. Diversity and unity 24. Mathematical judgment, direct judgment. - True eloquence neglects eloquence, true morality neglects morality - in other words, morality that makes judgments neglects morality that comes from the mind and does not know the rules. For judgment is as much inherent in feeling as scientific calculations are inherent in reason. Direct knowledge is inherent in judgment, mathematical - in the mind. Neglect of philosophizing is true philosophy. 25. Who judges a work without adhering to
The idea, internal order and plan of this work
What is the benefit and duty of a person: how to ensure that he comprehends them and is guided by them
1. Order. - People neglect faith; they hate and fear the thought that perhaps it contains the truth. In order to cure them of this, first of all prove that faith is not in the least contrary to reason, nay, that it is worthy of praise, and in this way inspire respect for it; then, having shown that it deserves love, sow in virtuous hearts the hope of its truth, and, finally, prove that it is the true faith.
Faith is praiseworthy because it has known the nature of man; faith is worthy of love, because it opens the way to the true good.
2. For sinners doomed to eternal damnation, one of the most unexpected shocks will be the discovery that they are condemned by their own reason, to which they pleaded when they dared to condemn the Christian faith.
3. Two extremes: cross out the mind, recognize only the mind.
4. If everything in the world were subject to reason, there would be no room left in the Christian doctrine for what is mysterious and supernatural in it; if nothing in the world were subject to the laws of reason, the Christian doctrine would be meaningless and ridiculous.
Ways to Convert to the True Faith: Encourage People to Listen to the Voice of Their Own Heart
5. Notification. - The metaphysical proofs of the existence of God are so different from the arguments we are used to and so complex that, as a rule, they do not affect people's minds, and if they convince someone, then only for a short time, while a person follows the course of development of this proof, but already an hour later he begins to think apprehensively whether this is an attempt to fool him. Quod curiositate cognoverunt superbia amiserunt.
This is what happens to everyone who tries to know God without calling on the help of Jesus Christ, who wants to partake of God without an intermediary, known without an intermediary. Meanwhile, people who have come to know God through His Mediator have also come to know their own nothingness.
6. How wonderful it is that the canonical authors never proved the existence of God by drawing arguments from the natural world. They simply called to believe in Him. David, Solomon, and others never said: "There is no void in nature, therefore, God exists." They were undoubtedly smarter than the smartest of those who came to replace them and constantly resorted to such evidence. This is very, very important.
7. If all the proofs of the existence of God, gleaned from the world of nature, inevitably speak of the weakness of our reason, do not be dismissive of the Holy Scriptures because of this; if the understanding of such contradictions speaks of the power of our mind, read the Holy Scriptures for it.
8. I am not talking about the system here, but about the features inherent in the human heart. Not about zealous reverence for the Lord, not about detachment from oneself, but about the guiding human principle, about selfish and selfish aspirations. And since we cannot but be moved by a firm answer to a question that touches us so closely - after all the sorrows of life, where inevitable death will plunge us with monstrous inevitability, threatening us every hour - into eternity of non-existence or into eternity of torment ...
9. The Almighty leads people's minds to faith by arguments, and hearts by grace, for His instrument is meekness, but to try to convert minds and hearts by force and threats is to instill terror in them, not faith, terrorem potius quam religionem.
10. In any conversation, in any dispute, it is necessary to reserve the right to reason with those who lose their temper: “And what, in fact, revolts you?”
11. Those of little faith should first of all be pitied - this unbelief itself makes them unhappy. Offensive speech would be appropriate when it would do them good, but it goes to the detriment.
12. Pity the atheists, while they are tirelessly searching - is not their plight worthy of pity? To stigmatize those who boast of godlessness.
13. And he showers ridicule on him who seeks? But which of these two is more derisive? Meanwhile, the seeker does not mock, but pities the mocker.
14. A fair wit is a trashy person.
15. Do you want people to believe in your virtues? Don't brag about them.
16. You should feel sorry for both of them, but in the first case, let this pity be nourished by sympathy, and in the second, contempt.
The difference between human minds
17. The smarter a person is, the more originality he sees in everyone with whom he communicates. For an ordinary person, all people look the same.
Sage Blaise Pascal: read short thoughts and best sayings. Blaise Pascal: the best words, short and wise!
Blaise Pascal
(1623 Clermont-Ferrand, France - 1662 Paris, France)
French mathematician, physicist, writer and religious philosopher.
I equally condemn those who take it upon themselves to praise a person, and those who see only humiliating sides in him, as well as those who think only how to entertain him; I can approve only with a sigh of those who seek the truth. The Stoics say: go inside yourself, there is your peace; and that's not true. Others say: do not delve into yourself, look for your happiness outside yourself - in entertainment; and that's not true. Sickness will come, and happiness will be neither inside nor outside of us: it is in God and outside and inside of us.
We have such a lofty conception of the human soul that we cannot endure its contempt, do without at least some soul not honoring us; all the bliss of people consists in this honor.
The lowest trait in a man, but at the same time the greatest sign of his superiority, is the pursuit of glory. Indeed, no matter what a person has on earth, no matter what health and comfort he enjoys, he is dissatisfied if he does not enjoy respect among people. He respects the mind of man so much that, having all sorts of advantages, if he does not occupy an advantageous place in the minds of people, he is dissatisfied. He likes this place more than anything in the world: nothing can distract him from this desire; and this is the most indelible property of the human heart. Even those who despise the human race, equating it with animals, even they want people to be surprised and believe them. At the same time, they contradict themselves, their own views: their nature, which overcomes everything, convinces them of the greatness of man more than reason - of his baseness.
Despite all the weaknesses that overwhelm us, we cannot suppress the involuntary instinct that elevates us.
The greatness of man is so noticeable that it is proved even by his very weakness. What is characteristic of the nature of animals, we call weakness in man, proving by this that if now his nature is likened to the nature of animals, then, therefore, he has lost the best nature that was once characteristic of him.
Man is great, conscious of his miserable condition. The tree does not recognize itself as miserable. Therefore, to be poor means to be aware of one's plight: but this consciousness is a sign of greatness.
Since insignificance is judged by greatness, and greatness by insignificance, some proved the complete poverty of a person all the more easily because they based this proof on greatness; and since others were just as successful in proving greatness, deriving it from poverty itself, everything that some could adduce in proof of greatness served others as an argument in favor of disaster, because disaster is the more palpable, they said, the fuller was the previous one. happiness; others have argued the opposite. So their disputes revolved in an endless circle, for, as they understand their own, people find in themselves both greatness and insignificance. In a word, man is conscious of his miserable condition. He is pathetic because he really is; but he is great because he knows it.
I can easily imagine a man without arms, without legs, without a head, since only experience teaches us that the head is more necessary than the legs; but I cannot imagine a man without thinking: it would be a stone or an animal.
Therefore, thought distinguishes the essence of man, and without it it is impossible to imagine him. How exactly do we feel pleasure? Is it fingers? Is it by hand? Muscles or blood? It is clear that this feeling in us must be something immaterial.
It is not in the space occupied by me that I should place my dignity, but in the direction of my thought. I will not become richer by possessing the expanses of the earth. In relation to space, the universe embraces and absorbs me like a point; I embrace her with my thought.
Man is the most insignificant blade of grass in nature, but a thinking blade of grass. You don't have to arm the entire universe to crush it. To kill it, a small evaporation, one drop of water, is enough. But let the universe crush him, the man will become even higher and nobler than his murderer, because he is aware of his death; the universe does not know its superiority over man.
Thus, all our dignity lies in thought. This is how we must rise, and not by space and duration, which we cannot fill. Let us try to think well: this is the beginning of morality.
It is dangerous to point out to man too much his resemblance to animals without showing him his greatness. It is also dangerous to draw his attention too often to his greatness, without reminding him of his insignificance. The most dangerous thing is to leave him in the dark about both. On the contrary, it is very useful to present both to him.
A person should not think what he is equal to animals, nor that he is equal to angels, and it must not be allowed that he does not know either one or the other; he should know both at the same time.
Let the man know now the value of himself. Let him love himself, for in his nature is the capacity for good; but let him for this reason not love the evil sides inherent in him. Let him despise himself, because this faculty is idle; but for this he does not despise his natural inclination towards goodness. Let him hate, let him love himself: he carries in himself the ability to know the truth and be happy; but the truth itself, constant and satisfying, is not in it.
Therefore, I would like to arouse in a person the desire to find this truth, to bring him to freedom from passions and readiness to follow the truth where he finds it. Knowing how much his knowledge is obscured by passions, I would like him to hate in himself the sensuality that governs his will, so that it would not blind him when choosing and would not be able to stop him when the choice was made.
I realize that I could not exist at all, for my "I" is contained in my thought; therefore, I, who think, would not exist if my mother were killed before I received a soul; therefore, I am not a necessary being. Equally, I am neither eternal nor infinite; but I clearly see that in nature there is a necessary, eternal and infinite Being.
Pride outweighs all infirmities. She either hides them, or if she discovers them, she is conceited by their consciousness. Among all our weaknesses, delusions, etc., it is so naturally strong in us that we gladly give up our very lives, if only we would talk about it.
Vanity is so rooted in the heart of a man that the soldier, and the batman, and the cook, and the porter are not averse to boasting; everyone likes to have his admirers; and philosophers are not alien to this feeling. Those who write against fame themselves want to have the fame of good writers, and their readers to boast that they have read them; and I myself, who write this, perhaps have the same desire, as well as the reader.
Curiosity is also vanity. More often than not, we only want to know in order to report what we have learned. They would not travel the seas for the mere pleasure of seeing the sea without the hope of ever telling what they saw.
In a city through which one only passes one does not care to gain respect; it's a different matter if you have to stay in it for a while. But how much exactly? Looking at the duration of our vain and miserable life.
It is surprising that such an obvious thing as human vanity is so little known that it seems strange and unusual to call the desire for honors and greatness stupidity.
Without grace, a person is full of innate and irremediable error. Nothing shows him the truth; on the contrary, everything deceives him. The two vehicles of truth, reason and feeling, in addition to their inherent lack of truthfulness, still abuse each other. Feelings deceive the mind with false signs.
The mind also does not remain in debt: spiritual passions darken the senses and give them false impressions. Thus, both sources for the knowledge of truth only obscure each other.
How difficult it is to propose something to the discussion of another without impairing his judgment by the very manner of the proposal! If you say: I find that this is good or that this is unclear, or the like, then the opinion of the judge is either carried away by this judgment, or, on the contrary, is irritated. It's better not to say anything; then he will judge the object as it is, that is, according to what it is at that time, and according to other circumstances given to the object against his will. But even if you have not made any remarks, it is very possible that your silence itself will have its effect, depending on how he reacts to it, how he explains it to himself - and it may also be that, if he is a physiognomist, then the very expression your face or the tone of your voice will affect his decision. It is so difficult not to shift a judgment from its natural foundation, or rather, how few firm, unshakable judgments!
The most important thing in life is the choice of craft. This choice depends on the case. According to custom, they become a bricklayer, a soldier, a roofer. "He is a good roofer," or "foolish soldiers" alone say; others, on the contrary, express themselves as follows: the great thing is only war, the rest of the occupations are trifles. As from childhood they hear a lot of praise for famous crafts and censure of all others, so they choose; because everyone naturally seeks a laudable occupation, and not a ridiculous one. Reviews of others undoubtedly affect us; we err only in applying them. The power of custom is so great that from those whom nature has created as mere people, representatives of various specialties are developed; whole regions produce only masons, others only soldiers, and so on. Of course, nature is not so monotonous, but it is subject to custom. Sometimes nature also takes over, keeping a person in his innate inclinations, regardless of custom, whether good or bad.
Our imagination so expands before us the finite time of this life, as a result of constant reflection on it, and so diminishes eternity, thanks to insufficient reflection on it, that from eternity we make nothing, and from nothing we make eternity. And all this is so deeply rooted in us that no power of reason can protect us from it.
Cromwell was ready to shake the whole Christian world: the king's family died, it seemed that he had gained power forever, but a fine grain of sand got into his bladder - and what? When Rome itself began to tremble before him, this small grain of sand killed him, reduced his family to its former state, established peace and restored the king to the throne.
The will is one of the main organs of belief: it does not form beliefs, but evaluates things that can be considered either true or false, depending on how you look at them. The will, giving priority to one over the other, turns the mind away from exploring the properties of a thing that is not pleasing to it, and therefore the mind, walking in step with the will, stops its attention on what the will indicates, and judges by what it sees.
Imagination enlarges small objects to the extent that they completely fill our soul, and, in reckless audacity, reduces great objects to their own size, speaking, for example, about God.
All human occupations tend to acquire property, but people would not be able to prove that they own it in all justice. Their right is based only on the imagination of legislators, and the very strength of possession is highly doubtful. The same is true of knowledge: disease takes it away from us.
We assume that all people equally perceive the impressions of external objects, but we make this assumption at random, because we have no evidence for this. I understand that the same words are used in the same cases, and whenever two people see that a body or an object changes its place, both express the impression of the same object in the same words, saying to both that it moves . And from this identity of definitions a strong proof of the identity of ideas is derived. But the latter is hardly proved by this definitively, although much can be said in defense of such a conclusion. We know that the same consequences are often deduced from different assumptions.
Seeing an action repeated constantly with the same data, we deduce from this the concept of natural necessity, as we expect that tomorrow will be a day, and so on; but often nature deceives us and does not obey its own laws.
It is easier to die without thinking about death than to bear the thought of death without being in danger.
If a man were happy at all, he would feel happier the less he was entertained. But such happiness is known only to God and the saints.
Yes, but doesn't it mean to be happy, finding pleasure in fun? No, because this happiness is external and depends on many accidents, which can be the cause of inevitable grief.
Entertainment is the only means of comforting us in our sorrows, but at the same time our greatest misfortune lies in it, because it mainly prevents us from thinking about ourselves. Without it, we would live in boredom, and this boredom would prompt us to look for surer means of getting rid of it. But entertainment delights us, and with it we insensibly live to death.
Human condition: inconstancy, boredom, restlessness.
Everything is unbearable for a person, it is complete peace, without passion, without work, without entertainment. He then feels his insignificance, his imperfection, his dependence, weakness, emptiness. Boredom, gloom, sorrow, sadness, annoyance, despair rise immediately from the depths of the soul.
When a soldier or worker complains about their work, leave them without any business.
Faith, of course, reveals to us something that we cannot know through the senses, but it never contradicts them. She is above them, not against them.
When playing a human, they think they are playing an ordinary organ; it is really an organ, but a strange, changeable organ, the pipes of which do not follow one another along the neighboring degrees. Those who know how to play only on ordinary organs will not evoke harmonious chords on such an organ.
Never is evil done more fully and more joyfully than as a result of a false conclusion of conscience.
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1. Order. - People neglect faith; they hate and fear the thought that perhaps it contains the truth. In order to cure them of this, first of all prove that faith is not in the least contrary to reason, nay, that it is worthy of praise, and in this way inspire respect for it; then, having shown that it deserves love, sow in virtuous hearts the hope of its truth and, finally, prove that it is the true faith. Faith is worthy of praise, because it has known the nature of man; faith is worthy of love, because it opens the way to the true good.2. For sinners doomed to eternal damnation, one of the most unexpected shocks will be the discovery that they are condemned by their own reason, to which they referred, daring to condemn the Christian faith.3. Two extremes: cross out the mind, recognize only the mind.4. If everything in the world were subject to reason, there would be no place left in the Christian doctrine for that which is mysterious and supernatural in it; if nothing in the world were subject to the laws of reason, the Christian doctrine would be meaningless and ridiculous.
Ways to Convert to the True Faith: Encourage People to Listen to the Voice of Their Own Heart
5. Forewarning. - The metaphysical proofs of the existence of God are so different from the arguments we are used to and so complex that, as a rule, they do not affect people's minds, and if they convince someone, then only for a short time, while a person follows the course of development of this proof, but already an hour later he begins to think apprehensively whether this is an attempt to fool him. Quod curiositate cognoverunt superbia amiserunt 1. This is what happens to everyone who tries to know God without calling on the help of Jesus Christ, who wants to partake of God without an intermediary, to the known without an intermediary. Meanwhile, people who have come to know God through His Mediator have also come to know their own nothingness.6. How wonderful it is that the canonical authors never proved the existence of God by drawing arguments from the natural world. They simply called to believe in Him. David, Solomon, and others never said: "There is no void in nature, therefore, God exists." They were undoubtedly smarter than the smartest of those who came to replace them and constantly resorted to such evidence. This is very, very important.7. If all the proofs of the existence of God, gleaned from the world of nature, inevitably speak of the weakness of our reason, do not be dismissive of the Holy Scriptures because of this; if the understanding of such contradictions speaks of the strength of our mind, read the Holy Scriptures for it.8. I am not talking about the system here, but about the features inherent in the human heart. Not about zealous reverence for the Lord, not about detachment from oneself, but about the guiding human principle, about selfish and selfish aspirations. And since we can't help but1 What they learned out of curiosity, they lost out of pride (lat.).
to excite a firm answer to a question that touches us so closely - after all the sorrows of life, where with monstrous inevitability the inevitable death that threatens us every hour will plunge us - into eternity of non-existence or into eternity of torment ... 9. The Almighty leads people's minds to faith with arguments, and hearts with grace, for His instrument is meekness, but to try to convert minds and hearts by force and threats means to instill terror in them, not faith, terrorem potius quam religionem 1 .10. In any conversation, in any dispute, it is necessary to reserve the right to reason with those who lose their temper: “And what, in fact, revolts you?”11. Those of little faith should first of all be pitied - this disbelief itself makes them unhappy. Offensive speech would be appropriate when it would do them good, but it goes to the detriment.12. To pity the atheists while they tirelessly seek—isn't their plight worthy of pity? To brand those who boast of godlessness.13. And he showers ridicule on the one who seeks? But which of these two is more derisive? Meanwhile, the seeker does not mock, but pities the mocker.14. A fair wit is a wretched person.15. Do you want people to believe in your virtues? Do not brag about them.16. One should pity both of them, but in the first case, let sympathy feed this pity, and in the second, contempt.
The difference between human minds
17. The smarter a person is, the more originality he sees in everyone with whom he communicates. For an ordinary person, all people look the same.1 More like a deterrent than a lesson (lat.).
18. How many people in the world listen to the sermon as an ordinary evening service!19. There are two kinds of people for whom everything is the same: holidays and weekdays, laymen and priests, any sin is similar to another. But some draw the conclusion from this that what is forbidden to the priests is also forbidden to the laity, and others - that what is permitted to the laity is also permitted to the priests.20. Universality. - The sciences of morality and language, although isolated, are nevertheless universal.