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The man who proved that nature does not abhor a vacuum, and then wrote the most honest account ever given of why the universe terrifies us. Fall asleep to the complete philosophy of Blaise Pascal.

Blaise Pascal lived only thirty-nine years, and in those years he changed mathematics, physics, probability theory, and the history of Western prose. But at the center of his life was a night in November of 1654 that he could never describe, only remember. After that night he turned from the world of scientific triumph toward a book he would never finish, a book about what it means to be a human being suspended between two infinites, looking for a God who chooses to remain hidden. This episode follows Pascal from the Paris household where he taught himself geometry in secret as a child to the small room in which he died at thirty-nine with the record of his conversion sewn into the lining of his coat. Three hours of gentle narration for deep rest.

Please listen only in safe, restful contexts.

(0:00:00) The Prodigy

(0:17:02) The Calculator and the Vacuum

(0:33:53) Probability and the Gambler

(0:51:15) The Night of Fire

(1:08:33) Port-Royal and the Jansenists

(1:26:04) The Provincial Letters

(1:43:42) The Pensees Take Shape

(2:00:48) The Hidden God and the Wager

(2:17:29) Reason and the Heart

(2:34:12) The Thinking Reed

SUGGESTED READING

Blaise Pascal, Pensees, translated by A. J. Krailsheimer, Penguin Classics: https://amzn.to/4mQcqcE

The Provincial Letters of Blaise Pascal: https://amzn.to/4sThlew

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All research and writing is done personally. Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.

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