Comments on: Betting Against Pascal

By: Dana

Dana — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 04:46:35 +0000

Mara, Mara, how short and long ago, how apt this writing and how quickly all things seem to have changed. How it will go? i know not. But I love you for being there, grateful for you, grateful, grateful thank you.

By: unreliable narrator

unreliable narrator — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 19:51:37 +0000

I admire your chart more than I can say. Ppbbbtt! Take that, Blaise, you hopeless little Cartesian.

Borges would say you challenged God to a duel and He answered you, by endowing you with a fabulous ability to graph His holy polyvalence.

By: jenny

jenny — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 05:49:34 +0000

“It occurs to me that I can find evidence for both points of view, so that it finally comes down to a matter of choice.”

Yes! It is our choice. It’s human nature to focus on the evidence that confirms our beliefs. But if the universe echoes back to me the energy I put out to it, how is it advantageous then, to be pessimistic? I’m no stranger to using pessimism as a defense mechanism but man, I have to say that it has never really protected very well. I don’t like who I am when I am feeling smug, and expecting goodness and abundance doesn’t mean we can’t still be surprised, right? Because, well, speaking for myself here, I don’t usually have a fucking clue what abundance is going to look like. I think Nell Casey’s got it all wrong. Optimism isn’t about getting the pony you asked for for Christmas. Happiness is wanting what I have. It’s the belief that, no matter how things turn out, that God, the Universe, whatever, will give me the grace I need to find the spiritual gifts of the situation/experience.
This principle seems to hold true even for people who are living in extreme circumstances. It’s the whole “Life is Beautiful” thing, isn’t it?

By: patrick

patrick — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 21:15:29 +0000

I can’t help it… whenever someone mentions the wheel of fate, I immediately think of “The Confederacy of Dunces”

By: Audrey

Audrey — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 23:21:38 +0000

There’s a bit in Antarctica (by Kim Stanley Robinson) that I love, where one of the narrators is explaining that she believes in optimism as a kind of mission, a thing one does without considering evidence, because this is how she makes it through life. I should bump that up my re-read pile. With our current weather the setting seems appropriate.

By: Kathleen McDade

Kathleen McDade — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 22:15:17 +0000

I enjoyed reading this. But darn it, the library doesn’t seem to have the book you mentioned! I’ll have to check interlibrary loan.