登陆注册
15710700000013

第13章

The weight of the universe therefore far from crushing a real atheist does not even shake him. All these evidences of a creator, repeated thousands and thousands of times, evidence that are placed far above the comprehension of men like us, are self-evident (however far one push the argument) only to the anti-Pyrrhonians, or to those who have enough confidence in their reason top believe themselves capable of judging on the basis of certain phenomena, against which, as you see, the atheist can urge others perhaps equally strong and absolutely opposed. For if we listen to the naturalists again, they will tell us that the very causes which, in a chemist's hands, by a chance combination, made the first mirror, in the hands of nature made the pure water, the mirror of the simple shepherdess; that the motion which keeps the world going could have created it, that each body has taken the place assigned to it by its own nature, that the air must have surrounded the earth, and that iron and the other metals are produced by the internal motions of the earth, for one and the same reason; that the sun is as much a natural product as electricity, that it was not made to warm the earth and its inhabitants, whom it sometimes burns, any more than the rain was made to make the seeds grow, which it often spoils; that the mirror and the water were no more made for people to see themselves in, than were all other polished bodies with this same property;

that the eye is in truth a kind of glass in which the soul can contemplate the image of objects as they are presented to it by these bodies, but that it is not proved that this organ was really made expressly for this contemplation, nor purposely placed in its socket, and in short it may well be that Lucretius, the physician Lamy, and all Epicureans both ancient and modern were right when they suggested that the eye sees only because it is formed and placed as it is, and that, given once for all, the same rules of motion followed by nature in the generation and development of bodies, this marvelous organ could not have been formed and placed differently.

Such is the pro and the con, and the summary of those fine arguments that will eternally divide the philosophers. I do not take either side.

``Non nostrum inter vos tantas compenere lites.''

This is what I said to one of my friends, a Frenchman, as frank a Pyrrhonian as I, a man of much merit, and worthy of a better fate. He gave me a very singular answer in regard to the matter. ``It is true,'' he told me, ``that the pro and con should not disturb at all the soul of a philosopher, who sees that nothing is proved with clearness enough to force his consent, and that the arguments offered on one side are neutralized by those of the other.

However,'' he continued, ``the universe will never be happy, unless it is atheistic.'' Here are this wretch's reasons. If atheism, said he, were generally accepted, all the forms of religion would then be destroyed and cut off at the roots. No more theological wars, no more soldiers of religion - such terrible soldiers! Nature infected with a sacred poison, would regain its rights and its purity. Deaf to all other voices, tranquil mortals would follow on the spontaneous dictates of their own being, the only commands which can never be despised with impunity and which alone can lead us to happiness through the pleasant paths of virtue.

Such is natural law: whoever rigidly observes it is a good man and deserves the confidence of all the human race. Whoever fails to follow it scrupulously affects, in vain, the specious exterior of another religion; he is a scamp or a hypocrite whom I distrust.

After this, let a vain people think otherwise, let them dare affirm that even probity is at stake in not believing in revelation, in a word that another religion than that of nature is necessary, whatever it may be. Such an assertion is wretched and pitiable; and so is the good opinion which each one gives us of the religion he has embraced! We do not seek here the votes of the crowd.

Whoever raises in his heart altars to superstition, is bound to worship idols and not to thrill to virtue.

But since all the faculties of the soul depend to such a degree on the proper organization of the brain and of the whole body, that apparently they are but this organization itself, the soul is clearly an enlightened machine. For finally, even if man alone had received a share of natural law, would he be any less a machine for that? A few more wheels, a few more springs than in the most perfect animals, the brain proportionally nearer the heart and for this very reason receiving more blood - any one of a number of unknown causes might always produce this delicate conscience so easily wounded, this remorse which is no more foreign to matter than to thought, and in a word all the differences that are supposed to exist here. Could the organism then suffice for everything? Once more, yes; since thought visibly develops with our organs, why should not the matter of which they are composed be susceptible of remorse also, when once it has acquired, with time, the faculty of feeling?

The soul is therefore but an empty word, of which no one has any idea, and which an enlightened man should only use to signify the part in us that thinks. Given the least principle of motion, animated bodies will have all that is necessary for moving, feeling, thinking, repenting, or in a word for conducting themselves in the physical realm, and in the moral realm which depends upon it.

Yet we take nothing for granted; those who perhaps think that all the difficulties have not yet been removed shall now read of experiments that will completely satisfy them.

1.The flesh of all animals palpitates after death. This palpitation continues longer, the more cold blooded the animal is and the less it perspires. Tortoises, lizards, serpents, etc. are evidence of this.

2.Muscles separated from the body contract when they are stimulated.

3.The intestines keep up their peristaltic or vermicular motion for a long time.

同类推荐
  • 圣多罗菩萨一百八名陀罗尼经

    圣多罗菩萨一百八名陀罗尼经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 无形篇

    无形篇

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 世范

    世范

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • The Mountains

    The Mountains

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 四品学法经

    四品学法经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 异世之魂控天下

    异世之魂控天下

    这是关于一个宅男跟四个妙龄少女、几个基友以及一只傲娇萝莉的和谐故事。书名有点烂,简介有点臭,内容有点和谐。
  • 星魂圣君

    星魂圣君

    江海浮沉,卧蛟腾空化游龙。混沌鸿蒙,盘古开天分阴阳。沉眠十载,一朝轰动四方!在这个以武为尊的世界,强者永远备受瞩目,高高站在顶峰;而弱者如蝼蚁,无人关切,卑微底下。废物?不,是天才,是天妒之才!天生经脉受阻而无法修行,被视为废物的少年杨锋,偶得星霜贯体,纳逆天星魂,自此横空出世。以剑为笔,以血为墨,书就一代至尊传奇!
  • 重生之巨星崛起

    重生之巨星崛起

    苏浩重生2004年,意外得到了娱乐王者系统,他发现娱乐界不一样了,很多经典之作竟然没有了!重活一回,他势要在影视歌搅动风云,成为娱乐界一颗璀璨的巨星!他开始出演星爷的电影!和星爷成为至交!他开始与不同的女明星闹出绯闻!只因他是很多女明星心目中要合作的演员!他开始执导前世大火的电影!他开始制霸娱乐界!做娱乐界的王者!
  • 大陆之荣耀

    大陆之荣耀

    家族异变,老奴带他背井离乡,突破枷锁,最终成神东洲之地,隶属皮毛,横刀立马,宁杀不放。
  • 竹君与梅君的日常

    竹君与梅君的日常

    爱吃辣椒的竹君和钻饭眼里的梅君的轻松日常,应如飞的恋爱经历等。敬请期待!
  • 丑丫头倒追冷少:我要变漂亮

    丑丫头倒追冷少:我要变漂亮

    开学第一天,来到学院门口,一群疯狂“女粉丝”围堵门口,无法入内。“谁有那么大的来头?”因为一个小小的座位问题,居然误打误撞地惹上了国民校草,课间校草把她抵到墙角“你什么事都要听我的”,某女不信邪“不!可!能!”,还没说出下一句话“唔……你这个坏蛋!”这一惊天之吻惹来不小的麻烦,成为了女生的全民公敌,头号黑名单。接下来的事更是意外,爸妈出国偷溜,恶魔居然撞上家,“在这里你也要听我的,不然我就让你知道痛苦的滋味”,某女无奈抱头“恶魔校草快闪开!”【求支持】
  • 梦中缘,请三思

    梦中缘,请三思

    每一段美好都希望被记住,只是时光会将一切荒芜。但,总有那么一个难忘的人,一个定格的瞬间,值得留恋、让人追寻;总有那么一种情,不求朝暮相见,只想在灵魂深处相偎,能多久,就多久。……残烛照影斗清寒,自在浮云惹碧山。一缕相思一缕梦,半生离散半生缘。
  • 拔一切业障根本得生净土神咒

    拔一切业障根本得生净土神咒

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 穿越之腹黑帝王俏皮妃

    穿越之腹黑帝王俏皮妃

    她是二十一世纪的一个花季少女,调皮可爱,典型的吃货加宅女一枚。阴差阳错之下,在睡梦中穿越,醒来之后发现自己穿越到了一个架空的年代,成为将军府的三小姐,过着舒适的米虫生活。直到有一天,一道选秀的圣旨打破了她平静的米虫生活。他是一国之君,励精图治,宽厚仁慈,在温文儒雅的面具下隐藏着腹黑狡诈的另一面;当新时代的米虫宅女遇到腹黑狡诈的皇帝,他们之间会有什么故事发生呢?【情节虚构,请勿模仿】
  • 元始无上之主

    元始无上之主

    无上大陆,是自盘古开天辟时候混沌之心飞走,经过无数年的演变形成的一片大陆,詹天赐出生与这个大陆中的一个小家族,经历千辛万苦练就无上神功,成为这片大陆之主。