On Stage 2 210, Pascal describes the “last act,” or death, as “tragic” for that is “the end for ever.” I first had a question there because as he mentioned in Stage 1, if the present is always troublesome to us and unfruitful thoughts plague us as long as we live, then why would death be tragic? Won’t death do us good if it ends our lives which are made up of endless presents that leave us in pain? Then I realized that it actually ties back to the idea discussed in Stage 1 172, which states that we believe that we are just not content yet, but will be in the future, so we entrust our happiness to the future. However, if there is no more future for us by ceasing to exist, then we have no more to desire or look forward to. I agreed very strongly with Pascal here, because I always harbor a longing for the future where I believe that real living would be, while lessening the value of the present which I view as a temporary moment. Yet if life is so fragile that could end anytime by accident, it will be very “tragic,” as Pascal writes, that our life which hasn’t enjoyed any of the present moment would end like that.
