What it Means to be a Thinking Reed
By Chad Grell

The heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing…(p.127)

The quotation above, taken from Pascal’s Pensées, seems disparaging of reason. Reason, the cornerstone of the Enlightenment and that which has traditionally been held as the central attribute that differentiates humans from beasts, is here said to be limited and restricted in its powers. Instead of being able to grasp the truth about the universe in its entirety, instead of having that Cartesian hope where one “firm and immovable” (Descartes, p.63) point is established and a systematic understanding of everything takes shape, reason is lowered and its powers are diminished. In many ways “the heart,” an ambiguous and mysterious concept that possesses knowledge that reason can never hope to possess, takes the place of reason. From this quotation one might be tempted to conclude that “the heart” is infinitely more important than reason. Such a conclusion is far from the mark. Pascal ultimately believes that when faced with the challenge of trying to live in the best possible way, people desperately need both reason and “the heart.” Exploring how two quotations taken together define “the mind” and “the heart” and the relationship they have with one another shows that “the mind” and “the heart” must work together to guide human beings on their quest for how to live best. The two quotations that will commence the investigation are as follows:
Principles are felt, propositions proved, and both with certainty though by different means. (p.28)

The heart has its order, the mind has its own, which uses principles and demonstrations…. (p.94)

Before seeing the relationship between “the heart” and “the mind” that is implicit in these two quotations, one must first understand what Pascal means by the order of “the mind.” According to the two quotations the mind’s order includes using “Principles and demonstrations” to prove propositions with certainty. The word “demonstration” denotes a rigorous, methodical procedure that procures certitude. Logical proofs are excellent examples of demonstrations since they utilize sound, truth-preserving laws to deductively move from premises to certain conclusions that follow from those premises. Demonstration, though, is only half of what Pascal believes comprises the order of the mind: “the mind has its own [order], which uses principles and demonstrations” (p.94). The mind needs both principles and demonstrations in order to function, and logical proofs show this to be true.
The first requirement for a logical proof is an assumption; before the truth-preserving laws of logic can be executed, an assumption must first be stated. How can one know, though, when an assumption is really true? Every proposition that can be used as an assumption depends on logical proofs that rest on other assumptions which in turn rest on other logical proofs that rest on other assumptions, and so on ad infinitum:
…for anyone can see that those [principles] which are supposed to be ultimate do not stand by themselves, but depend on others, which depend on others again, and thus never allow of any finality. (p.62)

Clearly, demonstration can never determine the truthfulness of the principles that it needs in order to operate; hence, demonstration can never be complete in and of itself-the truthfulness of demonstration depends on the truthfulness of one’s principles.
Since principles are so vital to the order of the mind, one must investigate their nature. Where do principles come from? Principles come from “the heart.” Without even knowing what Pascal means by “the heart,” one can already see that the relationship between “heart” and mind is established: the mind depends on “the heart”: “….it is on such knowledge [of first principles], coming from the heart and instinct, that reason has to depend and base all its argument” (p.28, italics added).
Before examining the mind’s dependency on “the heart” further, though, a more complete understanding of what Pascal conceives “the heart” to be is essential. In one pensée, Pascal lumps the following three words together: “Heart, Instinct, Principles” (p.52). As will become more evidenced in the rest of the paper, there is a clear relationship between these three concepts: “The heart” is nothing other than a compilation of instincts, while principles are instincts that can be understood by the mind.
The heart, the aggregation of all instincts, is responsible for supplying the mind with the principles it needs to work. Thus it becomes clear that if the mind is going to be certain, then the heart must be certain. Unfortunately, the certainty of the heart is highly suspect since the instincts of which it is composed are backwards, corrupt, and fallible. One example of the corruption of instinct is the selfish nature of human beings:
It is untrue that we are worthy to be loved by others. It is unfair that we should want such a thing. If we were born reasonable and impartial, with a knowledge of ourselves and others, we should not give our wills this bias. However, we are born with it, and so we are born unfair. (p.126)

If human beings were not born with the instinct to greedily satisfy the self at the expense of others, then according to Pascal a healthier, peaceful, more orderly world would be the result. But instinct is corrupt and therefore the heart is corrupt: “How hollow and foul is the heart of man!” (p.43).
What explains the corruption of the heart, and what are the results of such corruption? Answering the second question helps to answer the first. One can clearly see that the result of a corrupt heart is a deplorable human condition: “Who cannot see from all this that man is lost, that he has fallen from his place, that he anxiously seeks it, and cannot find it again?” (p.135). In the quotation above, the word “fallen” implies a reference to the fall of Adam and Eve recounted in Genesis. Adam and Eve’s fall shattered their relationship with God. The communication between God and man that had allowed man’s instincts to be harmonious and pure darkened and faded; humanity was exiled from the Garden of Eden. Yet even after their transmogrification through original sin, Adam and Eve could still remember, still sense, that paradise which they lost. That Pascal sees a duality in human nature similar to the duality found in Genesis is clear:
That is the state in which men are today. They retain some feeble instinct from the happiness of their first nature, and are plunged into the wretchedness of their blindness and concupiscence, which has become their second nature. (p.47-48)

In this quotation there is, significantly, a differentiation between the order of the heart as it should be, that is, the “first nature,” and the heart as it is, which is wretched and blind and seethed in corruption. Instead of possessing a heart that delivers indubitably true, God-given instincts, humans have a heart weakened by “blindness and concupiscence,” and submerged in a state of wretchedness. Such a heart simply cannot be expected to supply dazzlingly pure and correct principles for reason’s use.
In light of some of the quotations above concerning the state of humanity, one might conclude that obtaining certainty at all is impossible. After all, sometimes Pascal does not sound too optimistic about obtaining certainty in the face of an infinite universe: “I look around in every direction and all I see is darkness. Nature has nothing to offer me that does not give rise to doubt and anxiety” (p.134). Despite his occasional pessimism and despair, though, Pascal ultimately believes that certainty is achievable. If certainty were not achievable then one of the main quotations this paper is based on, the one that maintains both principles and propositions achieve certainty “though by different means” (p.28), would have to be rejected as false. Since the quotation cannot be rejected as false, though, a reconciliation between the quotation and the evidence that would lead one to believe certainty cannot be obtained is in order.
Reason depends on the heart, yet the heart is corrupt and cannot be trusted. The only way to achieve certainty, the only way to know that one’s principles and propositions are true, is to correct the heart by returning its instincts to the “first nature.” As explained above, there is a differentiation between the order of the heart as it should be and once was and the order of the heart as it is. So long as one is subject to a heart that is not as it should be, achieving certainty is impossible. If one can change one’s heart into what it should be then achieving certainty is, well, a certainty!
What is one supposed to change one’s heart into, though? In order to overcome the corrupted heart, the heart must be secured and directed by God: “Man without faith can know neither true good nor justice…God alone is man’s true good…”(p.45). Without faith in God, the good that is certainty can never be obtained. God must ultimately be the source of all certainty for the heart and therefore for the mind.
The question now becomes, is it possible for one to will one’s heart into being guided by God? Pretending one recognized his heart and instincts as corrupt, could he, by himself, transform his corrupt heart into one that is as it should be? The answer is, emphatically, no: “We shall never believe, with an effective belief and faith, unless God inclines our hearts, and we shall believe as soon as he does so” (p.110). True faith ultimately comes from God, and despite whatever attempts humans make to try to create a heart rooted in the certainty that is God, failure is inevitable so long as God refrains from instilling belief.
At this point one could resign oneself to despair, unable to correct a corrupted heart and a fallible reason. Yet all is not lost. Though faith ultimately comes from God, and though God is the one who must ultimately incline the heart, human beings are not entirely powerless to effect positive transformation.
Though reason depends on the heart for certainty, reason can still ascertain certainty about one thing: the weakness of reason. Reason can reasonably recognize that it depends on principles, and that demonstrating the truthfulness of those principles is impossible. When one recognizes the weakness and inability of reason to prove the first principles it depends on, a vital step has been taken towards transforming one’s heart into what it should be.
With reason’s derailment comes the profound realization that human knowledge is limited:
Men, it is in vain that you seek within yourselves the cure for your miseries. All your intelligence can only bring you to realize that it is not within yourselves that you will find either truth or good. (p.48)

As soon as one realizes that one’s reason is unable to conceive of or understand first principles or the nature of an infinite universe and a complex world, then one can begin to perceive one’s true condition: “Man’s condition: inconstancy, boredom, anxiety” (p.6). Trying to understand man is “beyond all human philosophy” (p.34).
Such recognition of one’s weakness is a humbling affair, but it is from such humility that the potential for human greatness emerges: “…it is wretched to know that one is wretched, but there is greatness in knowing one is wretched” (p.29). Why is there greatness in knowing one’s wretchedness? Knowing one’s wretchedness helps one to search for God; this search can have momentous results: “But it is true at once that he [God]… reveals himself to those who seek him...(p.139, italics added). When God reveals himself to human beings he is utilizing their capacity, their “original nature,” to reestablish and strengthen the original, good, and pure instincts that they once possessed. While God does not necessarily bring about such a transformation when people search for him, from Pascal’s point of view, God is far more likely to reveal himself to those who are seeking him than those who are not. If God is more likely to reveal himself to those who are seeking him, and if searching for God can be influenced by reason’s recognizing its eternal weaknesses, then reason can actually help to transform the heart into what it should be.
At first, acknowledging that reason can help correct the corruption of the heart sounds contradictory. After all, reason’s dependence on the heart has already been established; how could the order of the heart be significantly influenced by reason? Though the claim that the heart can be significantly influenced by reason sounds contradictory, that is exactly what Pascal is saying: “Submission and use of reason; that is what makes true Christianity” (p.53). Undeniably, Pascal believes the Christian religion is the way to God. In saying that submission and reason comprise Christianity, Pascal is saying that the combination between submission and reason is the true way to have faith in God.
The magnitude of this fact cannot be ignored, for in it lies what Pascal finally envisions for answering that gargantuan question of how one should live. In order to live in the best possible way, one must think. In the modern world, one instantly equates thinking with reasoning. This shows how powerful the Cartesian philosophy has influenced the modern world. Unlike Descartes, though, Pascal refuses to separate the heart from one’s mental, intellectual fabric; the heart should not be relegated below reason and denounced because its instincts cannot be ordered by reason. The intellect is composed of principles that emanate from instinct just as much as it is composed of syllogisms and mathematical equations, a fact that Descartes never fully appreciated. As will be seen below, thinking is an all-important activity for human beings that depends on the heart just as much as it depends on reason.
Thinking is not reasoning; thinking is the synthesis between reasoning and the heart. The major clue that thinking is a synthesis between reason and the heart is found in a pensée that discusses the importance of ordering thought:
It is not in space that I must seek my human dignity, but in the ordering of my thought…Through space the universe grasps me and swallows me up like a speck; through thought I grasp it. (p.29)

Pascal states as a matter of fact that he grasps the universe through his thought. Grasping the universe entails grasping one’s self. The only way to grasp one’s self, though, is through God: “Since we do not know of ourselves what we are, we can learn it only from God” (p.49). Therefore, thought necessarily includes learning who one is through God. Reason, sheer logic and mathematical demonstration are not types of thinking because they cannot grasp the self. Hence, thinking must be more than reason, and it must somehow include some form of communication with God since that is the only way to know one’s self. Since Pascal asserts that, “It is the heart which perceives God and not the reason” (p.127), thinking must somehow be based on “the heart.”
This synthesis between the heart and the mind is all-important; thinking is the only way a human being can attain certainty. By now, it should be apparent what is meant by certainty. Certainty is the knowledge that something is rightly ordered.
When one utters a proposition, one wants to know if it is “true.” A main component of truth is that the method one uses to obtain the truth is ordered properly, i.e., valid. One can see that a logical proof is arranged and ordered in the best possible way, but one cannot see that one’s instincts, and therefore one’s principles, are ordered in the best possible way. The only way to know that one’s instincts are ordered in the best possible manner is to know that they are ordered by the highest authority, the strongest power, and the wisest source in all of the universe: God.
By having his heart directed and guided and returned to its original nature by God, Pascal is able to live knowing the certainty of his reason and the certainty of his principles. He has found a way to live as a thinking being. The activity of thinking combines the certainty that comes from God with the humanistic use of reason and ultimately expresses the powers and benefits of Christianity:
The Christian’s God does not consist merely of a God who is the author of mathematical truths and the order of the elements…But the God of the Christians is a God of love and consolation: he is a God who fills the soul and heart of those whom he possesses: he is a God who makes them inwardly aware of their wretchedness and his infinite mercy: who unites himself with them in the depths of their soul: who fills it with humility, joy, confidence and love: who makes them incapable of having any other end but him. (p.141-142)

Those who originally wanted to claim that reason is far less important than the heart should, by now, see that thinking demands the operation of both the heart and the mind and that they both deserve equal praise.
The relationship between faith and reason is hence one of working together. Reason needs the heart, but the heart can benefit from reason’s demonstrations as well.
The heart may have its reasons that reason will never know, but reason has powers and opportunities that the heart has not. To eliminate either reason or the heart means to eliminate the all-important power of thinking. Without thinking, without the synthesis between the knowledge of the heart and the powers of the mind, humanity would ultimately be lost. As it is, though, “Man is only a reed, the weakest in nature, but he is a thinking reed” (p. 66, italics added).
Works Cited
Primary Work:
Pascal, Blaise. Pensées. New York: Penguin Books, 1995.

Secondary Works:
Descartes, René. Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy, Third Edition. Translated by Cress, Donald. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 1993.

The Harper Collins Study Bible, New Revised Standard Edition. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1993.

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