He was looking for the value of
one finite term in that of another, and the whole result could
only be one of those indeterminate equations in mathematics which
end with infinity. Yet this is as far as the reasoning intellect
by itself can go, unless irrational sentiment or faith brings in
the infinite. Believe in the infinite as common people do, and
life grows possible again.
"Since mankind has existed, wherever life has been, there also
has been the faith that gave the possibility of living. Faith is
the sense of life, that sense by virtue of which man does not
destroy himself, but continues to live on. It is the force
whereby we live. If Man did not believe that he must live for
something, he would not live at all. The idea of an infinite
God, of the divinity of the soul, of the union of men's actions
with God--these are ideas elaborated in the infinite secret
depths of human thought. They are ideas without which there
would be no life, without which I myself," said Tolstoy, "would
not exist. I began to see that I had no right to rely on my
individual reasoning and neglect these answers given by faith,
for they are the only answers to the question.
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