From the Christian tradition

Blaise Pascal

Pascal lived in the 17^th century in France.  A man of considerable achievements in many areas of knowledge including mathematics and physics, Pascal is perhaps best known for his Pensées through which he attempted to defend the Christian faith. His thoughts combine the logic of a mathematician and the mysticism of a man who had had a direct encounter with Christ in 1654.  The following passage comes from the Pensées.

The heart has its reasons, which the reason knows nothing about; we know it in a thousand things.  I say that the heart loves the universal Being naturally, according to its inclination……It is the heart that feels God, and not the reason.  This is faith: God sensible to the heart, not to the reason.

Stephen