Finit!

The thesis defense is done, and the Master's is a fait accompli!

How did it go? It went smashingly. I realized about three weeks previous that I had hardly had a philosophical discussion with anyone save The Scientist Dad in over a year. This, as you may imagine, made me rather nervous to attempt a philosophical discussion with three of my most-admired profs. But it all came flooding back in a wave of Pascalian raptures.

It ended on an uplifting note: My advisor recalled her favorite Pascal image. Imagine, if you will, a cave filled with people. Every day several are taken (at random) out of the cave and beheaded. Those left in the cave, instead of preparing for their inevitable end, divert themselves to the point of indifference.

This is human life, says Pascal. This is the human condition. Resist it.

Very Lenten. Very dark. And yet, is it not true?