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<font size="4">Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)</font></B></p>
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<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0"><FONT SIZE=3>&quot;THE
zeal for the Lord hath eaten me up.&quot; Such has indeed been the
case with Pascal, almost literally. The fire that burned in him was
too ardent and vehement for the vehicle, the material instrument,
which was very soon used up and reduced to ashes. At twenty-four he
was already a broken man, being struck with paralysis and
neurasthenia; he died at the comparatively early age of 39,
emulating, as it were, the life career of his Lord the Christ who
died at 33. The Fire martyrised the body, but kindled and brought
forth experiences and realisations that save and truths that abide.
<SPAN STYLE="font-weight: medium">It</SPAN><B> </B>was the Divine
Fire whose vision and experience he had on the famous night of 23
November 1654 which brought about his final and definitive
conversion. It was the same fire that had blazed up in his brain,
while yet a boy, and made him a precocious genius, a marvel of
intellectual power in the exact sciences. At 12 this prodigy
discovered by himself the 32nd proposition of Euclid, Book I. At
sixteen he wrote a treatise on conic sections. At nineteen he
invented a calculating machine which, without the help of any
mathematical rule or process, gave absolutely accurate results. At
twenty-three he published his experiments with vacuum. At twenty-five
he conducted the well-known experiment from the tower of St. Jacques,
proving the existence of atmospheric pressure. His studies in
infinitesimal calculus were remarkably creative and original. And it
might be said he was a pioneer in quite a new branch of mathematics,
viz., the mathematical theory of probability. We shall see presently
how his preoccupation with the mathematics of chance and probability
coloured and reinforced his metaphysics and theology.</FONT><BR>
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<FONT SIZE=2>Page – 107</FONT><BR>
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<FONT SIZE=3>But the pressure upon his dynamic and heated brain –
the fiery zeal in his mind – was already proving too much and he
was advised medically to take complete rest. Thereupon followed what
was known as Pascal's mundane life – a period of distraction and
dissipation; but this did not last long nor was it of a serious
nature. The inner fire could brook no delay, it was eager and
impatient to englobe other fields and domains. Indeed, it turned to
its own field – the heart. Pascal became initiated into the mystery
of Faith and Grace. Still he had to pass through a terrible period of
dejection and despair: the life of the world had given him no rest or
relaxation, it served only to fill his cup of misery to the brim. But
the hour of final relief was not long postponed: the Grace came to
him, even as it came to Moses or St. Paul as a sudden flare of fire
which burnt up the Dark Night and opened out the portals of Morning
Glory.</FONT></P>
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<FONT SIZE=3>Pascal's place in the evolution of European culture and
consciousness is of considerable significance and importance. He came
at a critical time, on the mounting tide of rationalism and
scepticism, in an age when the tone and temper of human mentality
were influenced and fashioned by Montaigne and Rochefoucauld, by
Bacon and Hobbes. Pascal himself, born in such an atmosphere of doubt
and disbelief and disillusionment, had sucked in a full dose of that
poison; yet he survived and found the Rock of Ages, became the
clarion of Faith against Denial. What a spectacle it was! This is
what one wrote just a quarter of a century after the death of Pascal:</FONT></P>
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<FONT SIZE=3>&quot;They can no longer tell us that it is only small
minds that have piety. They are shown how it has grown best in one of
the the greatest geometricians, one of the subtlest metaphysicians,
one of the most penetrating minds that ever existed on earth. The
piety of such a philosopher should make the unbeliever and the
libertine declare what a certain Diocles said one day on seeing
Epicurus in a temple: 'What a feast, what a spectacle for me to see
Epicurus in a temple! All my doubts vainsh, piety takes its place
again. I never saw Jupiter's greatness so well as now when I behold
Epicurus kneeling down!&quot;<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&sup1;</FONT></FONT></P>
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<FONT SIZE=2><FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&sup1;</FONT> &quot;Ils ne
peuvent plus nous dire qu'il n'y a que de petits esprits qui aient de
la pi<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&eacute;</FONT>t<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&eacute;</FONT>:
car on leur en fait voir de la mieux pouss<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&eacute;</FONT>
dans run des plus grands g<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&eacute;</FONT>o-m<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&egrave;</FONT>tres,
l'un des plus subtils m<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&eacute;</FONT>taphysiciens,
et des plus p<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&eacute;</FONT>n<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&eacute;</FONT>trants
esprits que aient jamais <FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&eacute;</FONT>t<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&eacute;</FONT>
au monde. La pi<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&eacute;</FONT>t<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&eacute;</FONT>
d'un tel philosophe devrait faire dire aux ind<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&eacute;</FONT>vots
et awe libertins ce que dit un jour un certain Diocl<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&eacute;</FONT>s,
en voyant Epicure dans un temple: 'Quelle f<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&ecirc;</FONT>te,'
s'<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&eacute;</FONT>criait-il, 'quelle spectacle
pour moi, de voir Epicure dans un temple! Tous mes soup<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&ccedil;</FONT>ons
s'<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&eacute;</FONT>vanouissent: la pi<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&eacute;</FONT>t<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&eacute;</FONT>
reprend sa place; et je ne vis jamais mieux la grandeur de Jupiter
que depuis que je vois Epicure <FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&agrave;</FONT>
genoux!' &quot; a – Bayle: <I>Nouvelle de la R<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&eacute;</FONT>publique
des Lettres.</I></FONT><BR>
		</P>
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<FONT SIZE=2>Page – 108</FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0"><FONT SIZE=3>What
characterises Pascal is the way in which he has bent his brain –
not rejected it – but truly bent and forced even the dry
&quot;geometrical brain&quot; to the service of Faith.</FONT></P>
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<FONT SIZE=3>In his inquiry into truth and certitude Pascal takes his
stand upon what he calls the geometrical method, the only valid
method, according to him, in the sphere of reason. The characteristic
of this method is that it takes for granted certain fundamental
principles and realities – called axioms and postulates or
definitions – and proceeds to other truths that are infallibly and
inevitably deduced from them, that are inherent and implied in them.
There is no use or necessity in trying to demonstrate these
fundamentals also; that will only land us into confusion and muddle.
They have to be simply accepted, they do not require demonstration,
it is they that demonstrate others. Such, for instance, are space,
time,  number, the reality of which it is foolishness and pedantry to
I seek to prove. There is then an order of truths that do not i
require to be proved. We are referring only to the order of I
physical truths. But there is another order, Pascal says, equally I
valid and veritable, the order of the Spirit. Here we have i another
set of fundamentals that have to be accepted and taken for granted,
matrix of other truths and realities. It can also be called the order
of the Heart. Reason posits physical fundamentals; it does not know
of the fundamentals of the Heart which are beyond its reach; such are
God, Soul, Immortality which are evident only to Faith.</FONT></P>
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<FONT SIZE=3>But Faith and Reason, according to Pascal, are not
contraries nor irreconcilables. Because the things of faith are
beyond reason, it is not that they are irrational. Here is what
Pascal says about the function and limitation of reason:</FONT></P>
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<FONT SIZE=3>&quot;The last movement of reason is to know that there
is an infinity of things that are beyond it. It must be a very weak
reason if it does not arrive there.&quot;<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&sup1;</FONT></FONT><BR>
		</P>
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<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0"><FONT SIZE=2><FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&sup1;</FONT>
&quot;La derni<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&egrave;</FONT>re d<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&eacute;</FONT>marche
de la raison, c'est de conna<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&icirc;</FONT>tre
qu'il y a une infinit<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&eacute;</FONT> de
chases qui la surpassent. Elle est bien faible si elle ne va
jusque-l<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&agrave;</FONT></FONT><BR>
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<FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Luxi Serif">Page –
109</FONT><BR>
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<FONT SIZE=3>&quot;One must know where one should doubt, where one
should submit.&quot;<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&sup1;</FONT></FONT></P>
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<FONT SIZE=3>&quot;Two excesses are equally dangerous: to exclude
reason, to admit nothing but reason.&quot;<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&sup2;</FONT></FONT></P>
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<FONT SIZE=3>He goes farther and adopting a positive attitude says:</FONT></P>
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<FONT SIZE=3>&quot;We know truth not by reason alone, but by the
heart also: it is in the latter way that we know the first
principles, and in vain does reasoning, that has no part in it,
attempt to combat them... The heart feels... and the reason demon
strates afterwards... Principles are felt, propositions are deduced.
. . . &quot;<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&sup3;</FONT></FONT></P>
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<FONT SIZE=3>About doubt, Pascal says that the perfect doubter, the
Pyrrhonian as he is called, is a fiction. Pascal asks:</FONT></P>
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<FONT SIZE=3>&quot;What will men do in such a state? Will he doubt
everything?... Will he doubt whether he doubts ? Will he doubt
whether he exists?. . . In fact there has never been a perfectly
effective Pyrrhonian.&quot;<FONT SIZE=1 STYLE="font-size: 8pt">4</FONT></FONT></P>
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<FONT SIZE=3>The process of conversion of the doubting mind, of the
dry intellectual reason as propounded and perhaps practised by Pascal
is also a characteristic mark of his nature and genius. It is
explained in his famous letter on &quot;bet&quot; or &quot;game of
chance&quot; <I>(Le Pari). </I>Here is how he puts the issue to the
doubting mind (I am giving the substance, not his words): let us say
then that in the world we are playing a game of chance. How do the
chances stand? What are the gains and losses if God does not exist?
What 'are the gains and losses if God does exist? If God exists, by
accepting and reaching him what do we gain? All that man cares for –
happiness, felicity. And what do we lose? We lose the world of
misery. If, on the other 'hand, God does not exist, by believing him
to exist, we lose nothing, we are not more miserable than what we
are. If, however, God exists and we do not believe him, we gain this</FONT></P>
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<BR>
</P>
<P style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0"><FONT SIZE=2><FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&sup1;</FONT>
&quot;Il faut savoir douter o<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&ugrave;</FONT>
il faut, se soumettre o<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&ugrave;</FONT> il
faut.&quot;</FONT></P>
<P style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0"><FONT SIZE=2><FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&sup2;</FONT>
&quot;Ce sont deux ex<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&egrave;</FONT>s
<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&eacute;</FONT>galement dangereux, d'exclure
la raison, de n'admettre que la raison.&quot;</FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0"><FONT SIZE=2><FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&sup3;</FONT>
&quot;Nous connaissons la v<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&eacute;</FONT>rit<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&eacute;</FONT>,
non seulement par la raison, mais encore par Ie c<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&aelig;</FONT>ur;
c'est de cette derni<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&egrave;</FONT>re sorte
que nous connaissons les premiers principes, et c'est en vain que Ie
raisonnement qui n'y a point de part, essaye de leg combattre... Le
c<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">œ</FONT>ur sent et la raison d<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&eacute;</FONT>montre
ensuite Les principes se sentent, leg propositions se concluent.&quot;</FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0"><FONT SIZE=2><FONT SIZE=1>4</FONT>&quot;Que
Cera done l'homme en cet <FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&eacute;</FONT>tat?
Doutera-t-il de tout? . . . doutera-t-il s'il doute? doutera-t-il
s'il est?. .En fait qu'il n'y ajamais eu de pyrrhonien effectif
parfait.&quot;</FONT><BR>
		</P>
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<FONT SIZE=2>Page – 110</FONT><BR>
		</P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0"><FONT SIZE=3>world
of misery but we lose all that is worth having. Thus Pascal concludes
that even from the standpoint of mere gain and loss, belief in God is
more advantageous than unbelief. This is how he applied to
metaphysics the mathematics of probability.</FONT></P>
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<FONT SIZE=3>One is not sure if such reasoning is convincing to the
intellect; but perhaps it is a necessary stage in conversion. At
least we can conclude that Pascal had to pass through such a stage;
and it indicates the difficulty his brain had to undergo, the tension
or even the torture he made it pass through. It is true, from Reason
Pascal went over to Faith, even while giving Reason its due. Still it
seems the two were not perfectly synthetised or fused in him. There
was a gap between that was not thoroughly bridged. Pascal did not
possess the higher, intuitive, luminous mind that mediates
successfully between the physical discursive ratiocinative brain-mind
and the vision of faith: it is because deep in his consciousness
there lay this chasm. Indeed, <I>Pascal's abyss (l' ab<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&icirc;</FONT>me
de Pascal) </I>is a well-known legend. Pascal, it appears, used to
have very often the vision of an abyss about to open before him and
he shuddered at the prospect of falling into it. It seems to us to be
an experience of the Infinity – the Infinity to which he was so
much attracted and of which he wrote so beautifully <I>(L'infiniment
grand et l'infiniment petit) – but </I>into which he could not
evidently jump overboard unreservedly. This produced a dichotomy, a
lack of integration of personality, Jung would say. Pascal's brain
was cold, firm, almost rigid; his heart was volcanic, the faith he
had was a fire: it lacked something of the pure light and burned with
a lurid glare.</FONT></P>
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<FONT SIZE=3>And the reason is his metaphysics. It is the Jansenist
conception of God and human nature that inspired and coloured all his
experience and consciousness. According to it, as according to the
Calvinist conception, man is a corrupt being, corroded to the core,
original sin has branded his very soul. Only Grace saves him and
releases him. The order of sin and the order of Grace are distinct
and disparate worlds and yet they complement each other and need each
other. Greatness and misery are intertwined, united, unified with
each other in him. Here is an echo of the Manichean position which
also involves an abyss. But even then God's grace is not a free</FONT><BR>
		</P>
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<FONT SIZE=2>Page – 111</FONT><BR>
		</P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0"><FONT SIZE=3>agent,
as Jesuits declare; there is a predestination that guides and
controls it. This was one of the main subjects he treated in his
famous open letters <I>(Les Provinciales) </I>that brought him renown
almost overnight. Eternal hell is a possible prospect that faces the
Jansenist. That was why a Night always over-shadowed the Day in
Pascal's soul.</FONT></P>
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<FONT SIZE=3>Man then, according to Pascal, is by nature a sinful
thing. He can lay no claim to noble virtue as his own: all in him is
vile, he is a lump of dirt and filth. Even the greatest has his full
share of this taint. The greatest, the saintliest, and the meanest,
the most sinful, all meet, all are equal on this common platform; all
have the same feet of clay. Man is as miserable a creature as a
beast, as much a part and product of Nature as a plant. Only there is
this difference that an animal or a tree is unconscious, while man
knows that he is miserable. This knowledge or perception makes him
more miserable, but that is his real and only greatness – there is
no other. His thought, his self-consciousness, and his sorrow and
repentance and contrition for what he is – that is the only good
part – Mary's part – that has been given to him. Here are
Pascal's own words on the subject:</FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0"><FONT SIZE=3>	&quot;The
greatness of man is great in this that he knows he is miserable. A
tree does not know that it is miserable.</FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY STYLE="text-indent:0.53cm; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">
<FONT SIZE=3>It is misery indeed to know oneself miserable. But one
is great when one knows thus that he is miserable.</FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY STYLE="text-indent:0.53cm; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">
<FONT SIZE=3>Thought is man's greatness.</FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY STYLE="text-indent:0.53cm; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">
<FONT SIZE=3>Man is a mere reed, the weakest in nature, but he is a
thinking reed.&quot;<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&sup1;</FONT></FONT></P>
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<FONT SIZE=3>Pascal's faith had not the calm, tranquil, serene,
luminous and happy self-possession of an Indian Rishi. It was ardent
and impatient, fiery and vehement. It had to be so perhaps, since it
was to stand against his steely brain (and a gloomy vital or life
force) as a counterpoise, even as an antidote. This tension and
schism brought about, at least contributed to his neurasthenia and
physical infirmity. But whatever the effect</FONT><BR>
		</P>
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<BR>
</P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY STYLE="text-indent:0.43cm; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">
<FONT SIZE=2><FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&sup1;</FONT>&quot;La grandeur
de l'homme est grande en se qu'il se conna<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&icirc;</FONT>t
mis<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&eacute;</FONT>rable. Un arbre ne se
conna<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&icirc;</FONT>t pas miserable.</FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY STYLE="text-indent:0.43cm; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">
<FONT SIZE=2>C'est done <FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&ecirc;</FONT>tre
mis<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&eacute;</FONT>rable que de se conna<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&icirc;</FONT>tre
miserable. Mais c'est <FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&ecirc;</FONT>tre grand
que de conna<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&icirc;</FONT>tre qu'on est
mis<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&eacute;</FONT>rable.</FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY STYLE="text-indent:0.43cm; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">
<FONT SIZE=2>Pens<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&eacute;</FONT>e fait la
grandeur de l'homme.</FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY STYLE="text-indent:0.43cm; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">
<FONT SIZE=2>L'homme n'est qu'un roseau, Ie plus faible de la nature,
mais e'est un roseau pensant.&quot;</FONT><BR>
		</P>
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<FONT SIZE=2>Page – 112</FONT><BR>
		</P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0"><FONT SIZE=3>upon
his inner consciousness and spiritual achievement, his power of
expression, his literary style acquired by that a special quality
which is his great gift to the French language. If one speaks of
Pascal, one has to speak of his language also; for he was one of the
great masters who created the French prose. His prose was a wonderful
blend of clarity, precision, serried logic and warmth, colour, life,
movement, plasticity.</FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY STYLE="text-indent:0.41cm; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">
<FONT SIZE=3>A translation cannot give any idea of the Pascalian
style; but an inner echo of the same can perhaps be caught from the
thought movement of these characteristic sayings of his with which we
conclude:</FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0"><FONT SIZE=3>	&quot;Contradiction
is not a mark of falsehood, nor is uncontradiction a mark of truth.&quot;<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&sup1;</FONT></FONT></P>
<P STYLE="text-indent:0.38cm; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">
<FONT SIZE=3>&quot;The infinite distance of the body from the mind
images the distance infinitely more infinite of the mind from Charity
(Divine Grace, Faith).&quot;<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&sup2;</FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY STYLE="text-indent:0.4cm; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">
<FONT SIZE=3>&quot;The heart has its reasons which Reason knows
not... I say, the heart loves the universal being naturally, and
itself also naturally, according to whichsoever it gives itself. And
it hardens itself against the one or the other according to its
choice. You have rejected one and preserved the other. Is it by the
reason that you love ?&quot;<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&sup3;</FONT></FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY STYLE="text-indent:0.42cm; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">
<FONT SIZE=3>&quot;Know then, a you proud one, what a paradox you are
to yourself. Humble yourself, impotent Reason. Learn, man surpasses
man infinitely. Hear from your Master your true state which you do
not know. Listen to God.&quot;<sup>4</sup></FONT><BR>
		</P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0"><BR>
</P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY STYLE="text-indent:0.45cm; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">
<FONT SIZE=2><FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&sup1; </FONT>&quot;Ni la
contradiction n'est marque de fausset<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&eacute;</FONT>,
ni l'incontradiction n'est marque de v<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&eacute;</FONT>rit<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&eacute;</FONT>.&quot;</FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY STYLE="text-indent:0.45cm; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">
<FONT SIZE=2><FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&sup2; </FONT>&quot;La distance
infinite des corps aux esprits figure la distance infiniment plus
infinie des esprits <FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&agrave;</FONT> la
charit<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&eacute;</FONT>.&quot;</FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0"><FONT SIZE=2>	<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&sup3;</FONT>
&quot;Le c<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">œ</FONT>ur a ses raisons que la
raison ne conna<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&icirc;</FONT>t point; ... Je
dis que Ie c<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">œ</FONT>ur aime l'<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&ecirc;</FONT>tre
universel naturellement, et soi-m<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&ecirc;</FONT>me
naturellement, selon qu'il s'y donne; et il se durcit contre l'un ou
l'autre, <FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&agrave;</FONT> son choix. Vous avez
rejet<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&eacute;</FONT> l'un et conserv<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&eacute;</FONT>
l'autre. Est-ce par raison que vous aimez?&quot;</FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY STYLE="text-indent:0.36cm; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">
<FONT SIZE=2><FONT SIZE=1>4</FONT>&quot;Connaissez done, superbe,
quel paradoxe vous <FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&ecirc;</FONT>tes <FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&agrave;</FONT>
vous-m<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&ecirc;</FONT>me. Humiliezvous, raison
impuissante: apprenez que l'homme passe infiniment l'homme, et
entendez de votre ma<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&icirc;</FONT>tre votre
condition v<FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&eacute;</FONT>ritable que vous
ignorez. <FONT FACE="Luxi Serif">&Eacute;</FONT>coutez Dieu.'.</FONT><BR>
		</P>
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