Shadowy Pursuits, Gambling, Painted Faces, and Pascal

Why is it that most guys don’t like to play poker unless real money is on the table? After all, who wants to play poker for nothing?  I introduce you to a concept surrounding the thrill of pursuit. The thrill of the chase.  The pursuit of whatever it is we are pursuing can be an addictive pacifier for not examining our lives.  We simply pursue one thing to the next, a never ending quest until we die.  We celebrate those who are good at catching what they pursue, only to find they are dissatisfied with the fruit of their pursuit.  Are we pursuing or are we fleeing? Perhaps in a world of pursuit we are really fleeing God and ourselves as reconciled to Him through Christ Jesus and made alive by the Holy Spirit. Thomas Merton explains this so well in his book Ascent to Truth.  Check out some of his incredible words:

“The earthly desires men cherish are shadows.  There is no true happiness in fulfilling them. Why, then do we continue to pursue joys without substance? Because the pursuit itself has become our only substitute for joy.  Unable to rest in anything we achieve, we determine to forget our discontent in a ceaseless quest for new satisfaction.  In this pursuit, desire itself becomes our chief satisfaction.  The goods that so disappoint us when they are in our grasp can still stimulate our interest when they elude us in the present or in the past.”  

Few men have so clearly outlined this subtle psychology of illusion as Blaise Pascal, who writes:

A man can pass his whole life without boredom, merely by gambling each day with a modest sum. Give him, each morning, the amount of money he might be able to win in a day, on condition that he must not gamble: you will make him miserable!  You may say that what he seeks is the amusement of gaming, not the winnings. All right, let him play for nothing.  There will be no excitement. he will be bored to death!

So it is not just amusement that he seeks.  An amusement that is tame, without passion, only bores him.  He wants to get worked up and to delude himself that he is going to be happy if he wins a sum that he would actually refuse if it were given him on condition that he must not gamble.  He needs to create an object for his passions, and to direct upon that object his desire, his anger and his fear–like children who scare themselves with their own painted faces.

Blaise Pascal, Les Pensees (Paris, Ed. Giraud 1928)

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