Video: DID BLAISE PASCAL HAVE THE LAST WORD?
Blaise Pascal said, in the mid-1600’s,
“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”
Was this as complete as possible, regarding our “Human Condition”?
I discuss, for a half hour, my own views on this famous phrase, and how I believe Pascal DID NOT HAVE THE LAST WORD: and why…
“DID BLAISE PASCAL HAVE THE LAST WORD”? by Loran Joly:
To see the video:
For, don’t Christian scriptures say,
“Be in the world but not of the world?”
Secondly, if we isolate from the world, are we going to be bored?
Thirdly, even if we could be happy being in a bubble, and cope with our thoughts, does this mean that we can cope with how our loved ones might be suffering?
Fourthly, if we could be happy, in a “room alone”, would we feel “joy”?
What does the word “joy” even imply?
I believe that the psychoanalyst Dr. Esther Buchholz had a more balanced view on being alone vs being in the world.
She wrote, in “The Call of Solitude: Alonetime in a World of Attachment”:
“Others inspire us, information feeds us, practice improves our performance, but we need quiet time to figure things out, to emerge with new discoveries, to unearth original answers.”
https://hac.bard.edu/amor-mundi/ester-buchholz-on-the-solitude-of-thinking-2015-10-13
Also:
We see, lastly, the ideas of Hugh Grant, in “About a Boy”, about being one’s own “ACTIVITIES DIRECTOR”:
“About a Boy (3/10) Movie CLIP – Island Living (2002) HD”: