It seems to me that the mystery of so sublime a subject transcends all the vision of the human intellect. And for that reason I think it best to refrain from the attempt to explain how this thing is. For it is my opinion that one who is investigating an incomprehensible object ought to be satisfied if this reasoning shall have brought him far enough to recognise that this object most certainly exists; nor ought assured belief to be the less readily given to these truths which are declared to be such by cogent proofs, and without the contradiction of any other reason, if, because of the incomprehensibility of their own natural sublimity, they do not admit of explanation.
Anselm, 1033-1109, Monologium, Chapter 64 (translated by Sidney Norton Dean, Proslogium; Monologium; An Addendix in Behalf of the Fool by Gaunilon and Cur Deus Homo, Open Court Publishing Company, 1926, p. 89)
Is this the correct approach to these things? Where should we conclude we can not figure something out but should still accept it.
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The are things that are incomprehensible to the brain that can only be understood with the heart.
ReplyDeleteI have found there are things that boggle both my head and heart that I nonetheless forced to conclude are true.
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