Pensées

Pascal addresses rational objections to Christian belief. Skeptics fault Christians for not providing proof for their faith, yet to provide proof would be contrary to the nature of faith itself. Pascal proposes that religious belief comes down to the question of a wager that we must make: Either there is a God and eternal life, or there is not. If we make a wager in favor of God, we will win eternal life if we are correct. If we wager that God does not exist, we will lose our life in hell if we are incorrect. If, on the other hand, God does not exist, we will have lost nothing by believing in him.

With an equal chance of winning or losing on either side, we would be irrational not to risk everything for the chance of the infinite gain to be won by believing in God. Pascal argues that all of us are obliged to make a wager one way or the other; we cannot remain on the sidelines. The theory of the wager is “conclusive and if men are capable of any truth this is it” (124).

One possible objection is that anyone in this position lacks freedom because he is being constrained to believe by the necessity of the wager. Pascal answers that the inability to believe is due not to reason but to the passions, which we must subdue. If one at least goes through the motions of religious belief, true belief may follow. In the process, one will acquire certain natural virtues that are beneficial to personal life and society. Thus, one truly has nothing to lose in wagering for God and faith.

In his concluding remarks, Pascal repeats some themes sounded earlier. Human beings are naturally “depraved” because they tend toward selfishness instead of seeking the common good. We are indebted to people who point out our faults so we can seek moral improvement. Christianity is true because it teaches the truth of human nature—that man is naturally sinful. Since it grasps this primordial truth, Christianity can be said to be the only religion to have always existed. The fact that it is so seemingly contrary and harsh in its attitude to human nature, and yet has always been believed by the wisest people, proves that it must be true. In the search for truth, the heart is just as important as reason—indeed, it is the heart alone, not reason, that perceives God and results in faith.

Pascal denounces the attitude of indifference to religion and eternal questions of the soul. Considering how personally important these issues are, affecting the very core of our being and our future life, there is no excuse to treat them trivially. Skeptics treat religious questions with great “negligence” and boast that they can find no answer to life’s deepest questions after having made only a cursory and superficial inquiry into the matter.

Such people are “sensitive to minor things” yet “strangely insensitive to the greatest,” an attitude that Pascal finds “monstrous” (131). They believe they are “shaking off the yoke” (131) of moral and religious authority, but their trifling attitude toward their own souls is “the saddest thing in the world” (132). Nevertheless, the Christian must apply the Golden Rule to these indifferent people, treating them with pity and encouraging them to “take at least a few steps in an attempt to find some light” (133).

Pascal turns again to questions of the human condition and knowledge. What makes life so troubling is that nature gives some signs of being governed by a provident God, but signs of darkness and confusion are there too. This mixture of the clear and the obscure makes knowledge of God and ourselves difficult and uncertain. Christianity has recognized this dual nature of man and the universe, giving man a remedy for his ignorance and sin in the form of faith and grace. The fact that Christianity recognizes this demonstrates the truth of the religion. Further, the life of “ungodly” and indifferent people proves the corruption of human nature, one of Christianity’s main claims.

This section contains miscellaneous statements about Christianity. Due to our corrupted imagination, we reverse the importance of things and “turn eternity into nothing and nothing into eternity” (136). Judaism and the Christian church have proven themselves by surviving and transforming the world. Still, the human condition as we await the afterlife is miserable and can be likened to watching fellow prisoners being butchered from day to day and awaiting our like fate.

Christianity teaches two essential truths: that God exists, and that man is corrupt and therefore presently unworthy to meet God. Each of these points must be known and kept in balance with the other. Without knowledge of our corruption, we fall into pride and hubris; without knowledge that there is a Redeemer, we fall into despair.

Jesus, the mediator, shows us both truths: the image of our own wretchedness (because he underwent great sufferings on our behalf) and the image of the divine Redeemer, who was able to overcome these sufferings in rising from the dead.

For Christianity, God is not merely a powerful being to be worshipped, nor the author of mathematical truths, nor a deity who grants man material prosperity and success. For Christianity, God is a being who “fills the soul and heart of those whom he possesses” (141), making them aware both of their wretchedness and of his power to heal them, in the process filling them with “humility, joy, confidence and love” (142). This shows the contrast between the truly Christian conception of God and that of philosophy (e.g., Deism), which is guilty of seeking God without a mediator, i.e., Christ.

Everything in nature and life bears witness to the partly hidden, partly manifest nature of God. God is not totally present to us, but neither is he totally absent. Everything we experience tells us that there is a God but that we have lost the vision of him.

The Jewish people are remarkable in many respects and help to prove the truth of religion. The Jews constitute a single “family” that has existed for thousands of years, despite many attempts to destroy them—a unique occurrence in human history. In their religious history they bear witness to the dealings of God with mankind, providing a reference point for the rest of humanity. The Jewish law is the oldest code of law in the world as well as “the most perfect,” and has been consistently maintained by the Jews themselves despite its rigorous demands.

The sincerity of the Jewish people is shown by the fact that they “lovingly and faithfully” hand on the Old Testament, despite its telling against their own lack of fidelity to God’s laws and God’s promise to disperse them among the peoples of the earth as punishment. 

Although the Jewish religion seems to consist in external rituals, laws, places, objects, and genetic kinship, Pascal argues that in its truest sense it consists “only in the love of God” (145) and that Christianity carries on this idea, doing away with the external elements of Judaism to concentrate on the core of the religion. God himself, in the Old Testament, shows his dissatisfaction with the external rituals and the fact that they point toward an inward faith as their fulfillment. Thus, “true Jews” and “true Christians” can be said to have essentially the same religion.

The particular beliefs, customs, and situation of the Jewish people give convincing proof of the truth of their religion, while other religions fail this test.

The survival of the Jewish people despite persecution and the consistent fulfillment of their prophecies demonstrate the truth of their religion, and hence of Christianity.

This section contains miscellaneous aphorisms on religion and human nature. The desire for the good opinion of one’s fellows is innate in man; while this is a “vile” quality, it also shows man’s excellence and greatness.

Pascal lays out in numbered form his proofs for the truth of Christianity. Christianity has survived and become firmly established despite being “so contrary to nature” (153). It is supported by prophecies and miracles. The survival of the Jewish people also proves it.

This subsection consists of quotes of prophecies from the Old Testament, apparently intended for a section of Pascal’s treatise discussing how such prophecies were fulfilled by Christ in the New Testament.

Pascal recalls the story of Jacob’s bequeath to Joseph at his death, establishing the Jews or Israelites as a people. Moses emerged as the leader of the Israelites, leading them out of Egypt and recording their history in the Scriptures. He predicted that a prophet would arise, whom he prefigured, who turned out to be Jesus. Moses’s prophecies turned out to be accurate in their fulfillment in the New Testament.

Pascal compiles quotes from the Old Testament prophetic Book of Daniel foretelling the coming of the Messiah, identified by Christianity with Jesus.

This section contains various citations from the Old Testament prophetic books of Isaiah and Jeremiah from the Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible, dealing with prophecies of the coming of the Messiah.

This section contains a listing of various prophecies from the Old Testament indicating precise details that were fulfilled in the life of Jesus. By rejecting Jesus as the Messiah, the Jewish leaders ironically proved him to be the Messiah, who was to suffer and be rejected.

This section contains more quotations from the prophetic books foretelling details about the Messiah, identified with Jesus.

Pascal gathers more quotes demonstrating the Jews to be faithful and accurate witnesses to the Messiah, allowing him to be embraced by the Gentiles so that they might obtain salvation. Jesus embodied the paradox of having the greatest “glory” yet suffering the greatest “ignominy”; he gave up his divine glory for the sake of humanity.

The Old Testament as a whole is figurative, using “temporal” things as symbols for “spiritual” meanings that would be fully revealed with the coming of Christ. God thus hid the true, spiritual meaning of things under “physical” symbolism. He used such symbolic revelation so as to communicate with human beings who were not yet ready for spiritual realities, and thus to keep alive in them the belief and hope in the Messiah.

For example, the prophets depicted the Messiah as securing land and temporal blessings for the Jews, and as a military ruler who would defeat their political enemies. In reality, Jesus came as someone who would offer not material goods and political victories, but new life in heaven and victory over sin. Since he appeared as a “poor” man unable to offer the things they expected, the Jewish leaders were “disappointed” and “rejected” him. In doing so, they ironically proved him to be the Messiah foretold in the prophecies as a man who would suffer. At the same time, the Jews who accepted Jesus also bore witness in a positive way to his being the Messiah.

The Jewish people remain as negative witnesses to the truth of Christianity: Even though they are opposed in principle to the Christian message, they preserve in their own religious tradition the books, prophecies and beliefs that foretell Christianity.

First, Pascal underlines the importance of belief based on inner conviction rather than hearsay or “general consent.” One cannot remain on the sidelines on important questions but must either “believe, deny or doubt” (179). Then Pascal presents several quotes from classical Roman authors, received through the writings of Michel de Montaigne, reflecting aphorisms about the foibles of the human search for knowledge.

There are two different types of human mind: the first is the “intuitive,” which is able to go “rapidly and deeply into the conclusions from principles” (181); the second is the “mathematical,” which is able to grasp a large number of principles and keep them distinct. The first is “accurate,” “powerful,” and “precise,” while the second “shows breadth of mind” (181).

Pascal gives a full presentation of his concept of the two types of mind. The intuitive mind is oriented toward “experience” and “practice.” The mathematical mind is oriented toward “definitions and principles.” People with an intuitive mind are good at making practical judgments based on instinct, while those with a mathematical mind are good at abstract reasoning.

This group of subsections consists of a large collection of miscellaneous observations about secular and religious matters. Pascal emphasizes the importance of following “the middle way” in life and controversies and avoiding “heresy on each side” of disputes in theology. In Series XXV, Pascal states his preference for the “man of all-round excellence” (211) in contrast to the specialist who is known for a particular quality or accomplishment.

In Series XXVI, Pascal examines questions relating to heresy, or deviation from the official theological position of the Catholic Church. Truth and falsehood (or error) coexist in life, giving us a challenge for recognizing the truth. In a sense, the existence of error proves the existence of truth, as error would not exist if not for the existence of truth as a reference point. Faith includes “apparently contradictory truths,” but these are rooted in the paradox of Christ’s two natures. The truths actually coexist harmoniously together, but heresy arises as a result of fixation on a seeming contradiction and misunderstanding of the larger truth it embodies.

In Series XXIX, Pascal reflects on the interaction between reality and dreams. Distressing dreams can affect us in our waking hours as if the things that happened during them were real, while life itself can be likened to “a dream.”

In Series XXX, Pascal comments that because we are “as much automaton as mind” (247), reason is not the only way to reach us: Habit also serves to inculcate true beliefs in us more than rational proof. We must therefore “put our faith in feeling” (248).