Greatness and wretchedness…some have inferred man’s wretchedness all the more because they have taken his greatness as a proof of it, and others have inferred his greatness with all the more force, because they have inferred it from his very wretchedness….
It is dangerous to make man see too clearly his equality with the brutes without showing him his greatness. It is also dangerous to make him see his greatness too clearly, apart from his vileness. It is still more dangerous to leave him in ignorance of both. But it is very advantageous to show him both. Man must not think that he is on a level either with the brutes or with the angels, nor must he be ignorant of both sides of his nature; but he must know both.
I will not allow man to depend upon himself, or upon another, to the end that being without a resting place and without repose…
If he exalt himself, I humble him; if he humble himself, I exalt him; and I always contradict him, till he understands that he is an incomprehensible monster.
I blame equally those who choose to praise man, those who choose to blame him, and those who choose to amuse themselves; and I can only approve of those who seek with lamentation.
It is good to be tired and wearied by the vain search after the true good, that we may stretch out our arms to the Redeemer.
— Blaise Pascal
Cited from Pensées, 416, 418-422.
Witnessing terrorist attacks, mass shootings, and public beatings leaves us aghast. These incidents are so horrendous they leave us speechless and traumatized. Even so, very often out of these dark moments shine forth some individual or group that does the right thing in opposition to evil. Human behavior exhibits both wretchedness and greatness. We can be both superhero and villain. Alive and withered.
An example of the greatness and wretchedness of humankind that comes that comes to mind is Todd Beamer along with the other passengers of Flight 93 that stood against the terrorist hijackers who seized control of the plane with intent to crash the airliner into a designated target in Washington, DC. The Flight 93 passengers sacrificed themselves to thwart a more horrendous evil from taking place. They exemplify a heroic valor worthy of all honor and respect. This illustrates the greatness and wretchedness of humanity described by Pascal.
Pascal’s point about the greatness and wretchedness of mankind is never meant to prove humans being are created in God’s image yet fallen on account of sin; rather, Christian doctrines on man bearing a defaced imago-Dei best accounts for the paradoxical greatness and wretchedness of human behavior. Christian philosopher Robert Velarde explains, “The genius of the argument is in many respects found in its simplicity. It asks the skeptic of Christianity to provide a more adequate solution to the observable human condition than the Christian doctrines of humanity’s creation in the image of God and the Fall, however unlikely these doctrines may initially seem.”
Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) is an esteemed western intellect out of France who delivered numerous profound insights in the arenas of mathematics, science, philosophy, and theology. He invented the Pascaline adding machine.
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