Page 123 - The Poetic Books - Student Text

Pascal, the French Christian philosopher, lived in the late 1600s before internet and TV and radio and
electricity. He observed the same attempt to divert one’s mind from sadness.

The only good thing for men therefore is to be diverted from thinking of what they
are, either by some occupation which takes their mind off it, or by some novel and
agreeable passion which keeps them busy, like gambling, hunting, some absorbing show,
in short by what is called diversion.
That is why gaming and feminine society, war and high office are so popular. It is not
that they really bring happiness, nor that anyone imagines that true bliss comes from
possessing the money to be won at gaming or the hare that is hunted: no one would
take it as a gift. What people want is not the easy peaceful life that allows us to think of
our unhappy condition, nor the dangers of war, nor the burdens of office, but the
agitation that takes our mind off it and diverts us. That is why we prefer the hunt to the
capture.
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After this disappointment, Solomon considered the difference between wisdom and folly. His
experiment with pleasure was solid. No one could try pleasure more than a king. In regarding wisdom,
he saw it as infinitely better than folly (2:13). Yet both the wise man and the fool come to the same end.
What then was the value of his wise experiment with pleasure? Both the wise and the fool will soon be
forgotten. One who uses careful wisdom does not know what will happen next. Will the next person
simply mess it all up? All that painstaking work can easily go for nothing in a few years. “This too is
meaningless and a great misfortune (2:21).”

His advice is simple. “A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their
own toil (2:24).” Still thinking from a pagan position, he assumes that God is active in everything. To the
one who pleases Him, God gives pleasure, but to the sinner he gives only weariness. The problem, of
course, is discovering what might please God. “This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind (2:26).”

203 Blaise Pascal, Pensees, trans. A. J. Krailsheimer (New York: Penguin Books, 1995), 37-38.
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