Blaise Pascal | The Mathematician Who Found God

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. CHAPTERS 0:00:00 Chapter 1: The Prodigy 0:17:02 Chapter 2: The Calculator and the Vacuum 0:33:53 Chapter 3: Probability and the Gambler 0:51:15 Chapter 4: The Night of Fire 1:08:33 Chapter 5: Port-Royal and the Jansenists 1:26:04 Chapter 6: The Provincial Letters 1:43:42 Chapter 7: The Pensees Take Shape 2:00:48 Chapter 8: The Hidden God and the Wager 2:17:29 Chapter 9: Reason and the Heart 2:34:12 Chapter 10: 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 These are affiliate links. At no extra cost to you, I earn a small commission if you purchase through them. ABOUT THIS CHANNEL Sleepy Philosophy Radio offers longform, carefully researched philosophy for rest and deep background engagement. Each episode is written personally, read slowly, and designed to carry the listener gently through several hours of substantive ideas. New episodes explore one philosopher or school at a time, with an emphasis on depth over breadth and on the human life behind the thought. RELATED VIDEOS Soren Kierkegaard for Sleep, three hours on the philosophy of faith and despair Fyodor Dostoevsky, the suffering of the rational mind, for deep rest The Philosophy of Meaning, a gentle three hour introduction Music credit: All research and writing is done personally. Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. If this helped you rest, consider subscribing to Sleepy Philosophy Radio for more gentle, longform philosophy. #PhilosophyForSleep #Pascal #Pensees