despair

“When I see the blindness and wretchedness of man, when I regard the whole silent universe, and man without light, left to himself, and as it were, lost in this corner of the universe, without knowing who has put him there, what he has come to do, what will become of him at death , and incapable of all knowledge, I become terrified…. And there upon I wonder how people in a condition so wretched do not fall into despair. I see other persons around me of a like nature. I ask them if they are better informed than I am. They tell me that they are not. And thereupon these wretched and lost beings, having looked around them and seen some pleasing objects, have given and attached themselves to them. For my own part, I have not been able to attach myself to them, and, considering how strongly it appears that there is something else than what I see, I have examined whether this God has not left some sign of Himself.”

-Blaise Pascal, “Pensees“

Musings

Muse: 1) to become absorbed in thought, especially meditatively 2) the nine goddesses, daughters of Zeus, who preside over the arts and sciences 3) a woman, or force personified as a woman, who is the source of inspiration for an artist.

The Darker the Night

Blindness and Wretchedness