#MastersofSocialIsolation #2. Blaise Pascal (1662), scientist, philosopher, Christian apologist, diagnosed the human condition: “Boredom, inconstancy, anxiety.” His case for Xty was based on his examination of human nature, particularly our insatiable need for diversion.
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“When I set out to thinking about the various activities of men...I have often said that the sole cause of man’s unhappiness is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his room.” The chief value of wealth is affording for diversion and to keep unhappiness at bay—momentarily.
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Pascal examined our inability to keep to the present. Our thoughts are almost always bound to the past or the future. “Thus we never actually live, but hope to live and since we are always planning how to be happy it is inevitable that we should never be so.”
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The capacity to sit quietly in one’s room implies cultivation of an inner life—not a matter of deep or learned thoughts, but of resting in the core of one’s being. In Christ, who reveals the depth of our disorder and of a God’s love we can find our way back to our true home.
The universe is no longer a cold indifferent room from which we desperately seek escape. We can sit in our rooms without dread, knowing we are never truly alone. And know the happiness of the saints. amazon.com/Saints-Guide-H. Next: Thoreau.
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