Tuesday, October 28, 2008

What Wonder

Let man then contemplate the whole of nature in her full and exulted majesty.  Let him turn his eyes from the lowly objects which surround him.  Let him gaze on the brilliant light set like an eternal lamp to illuminate the Universe; let the earth seem to him a dot compared with the vast orbit described by the sun, and let him wonder at the fact that this vast orbit itself is not more than a very small dot compared with that described by the stars in their revolutions around the firmament.  But if our vision stops here, let the imagination pass one; it will exhaust its powers of thinking long before nature ceases to supply it with the material for thought.  All this visible world is no more than an imperceptible speck in natures ample bosom.  No idea approaches it.  We may extend out conceptions beyond all imaginable space; yet produce only atoms in comparison with the reality of things.  It is an infinite sphere, the center of which is everywhere, the circumference nowhere.  In short, it is the greatest perceptible mark of God's almighty power that our imagination should lose itself in that thought.
Returning to himself, let man consider what he is compared with all existence; let him think of himself as lost in his remote corner of nature; and from this little dungeon in which he finds himself lodged-i mean the Universe-let him learn to set a true value on the earth, its kingdoms, and cities, and upon himself.  What is man in the infinite?. . .
For, after all, what is man in nature?  A nothing in comparison with the infinite, an absolute in comparison with nothing, a central point between nothing and all.  Infinitely far from understanding these extremes, the end of things and their beginning are hopelessly hidden from him in an impenetrable secret.  He is equally incapable of seeing the nothingness from which he came, and the infinite in which he is engulfed.  What else then will he perceive but some appearance in the middle of things, in an eternal despair of knowing either their principle or their purpose?  All things emerge from nothing and are born onward to infinity.  Who can follow this marvelous process?  The Author of these wonders understands them.  None but He can.

-Blaise Pascal-

To think, this was written about 300 years before Louie Giglio was born.  I guess it's all jazz anyways.  I wish i could form english words like Pascal.  This is for a lack of inspiration on my part, even if these words inspire me, haha.  Back to God now.

Fall/Late-Summer Milky Way by chipdatajeffb.

3 comments:

ashley. said...

i enjoyed your recitation! you will get one from me soon.

dude, thinking about things like the universe & God's infinite-ness make me get the same feeling as when we talk about how we will be 80 before we even realize it. kind of like i'm going to throw up.

i have been thinking a lot lately about God's grace. we so don't deserve His blessings or love or anything. our good works are like LEPER'S RAGS. gross. but we have been sanctified through Christ. & it's just intense & confusing in a way. like the vastness of the universe. just something else that makes me feel like throwing up, haha.

"but by the grace of God i am what i am & His grace to me was not
without effect. no, i worked harder than all of them - yet not i, but the grace of God that was with me."

suz said...

Good ending. I love Pascal, or what little I have read of him! Reading this my brain just kept imploding thinking about how ridiculous and miraculous earth is. How things simply cannot exist without a Creator. I hope all is well in your quest for knowledge, brotha.

Unknown said...

I had forgotten that this is the kind of thing I associate you with. The galaxy and the Lord. It seems like the constellations have always striked awe in your heart. I am glad.

oh yeah and i'm back! woo, blogspot landon. maybe we can all be friends again!