[PRL] dijkstra anecdote

[Joe Marshall]

"Richard C. Cobbe" <cobbe at ccs.neu.edu> writes:

> Just for the sake of recognizing the allusions, what is this Dream of
> Leibniz?

That reason and intelligence will triumph in the end.






"Leibniz's Philosophical Dream"
Translated by Donald Rutherford

I was satisfied with what I was among men, but I was not satisfied
with human nature. I often considered with chagrin the hardships to
which we are subjected, the shortness of our life, the vanity of
glory, the improprieties that are born of sensual pleasure, the
illnesses that overwhelm even our spirit; finally, the annihilation of
all our greatness and all our perfections in the moment of death,
which appears to reduce to nothing the fruits of our labors. These
meditations left me full of melancholy. I naturally loved to act well
and to know the truth. Yet it appeared that I punished myself
unnecessarily, that a successful crime was worth more than an
oppressed virtue, and that a madness that is content is preferable to
an aggrieved reason. However, I resisted these objections and directed
my spirit on the right course by thinking about the divinity who must
have given a proper order to everything and who sustained my hopes
with the expectation of a future capable of redressing
everything. This conflict was renewed in me by the sight of some great
disturbance, either among men, when I saw injustice triumph and
innocence chastened, or in nature, when hurricanes or earthquakes
destroyed cities and provinces and caused thousands to die without
distinguishing the good from the wicked, as though nature cared no
more for us than we trouble ourselves about ants or worms that we
encounter in our path. I was greatly moved by these spectacles and
could not stop myself pitying the condition of mortals.

One day, being fatigued from these thoughts, I fell asleep and found
myself in a dark place which resembled an underground cavern. It was
vast and very deep and everywhere there swarmed men who strangely
rushed into the darkness in pursuit of luminous trifles they called
"honors," or glittering little flies they called "riches." There were
many who searched the ground for bright bits of rotten wood they
called "sensual pleasures." Each of these evil lights had its
followers; there were some who had changed parties and others who had
quit the chase altogether because of exhaustion or despair. Some of
those who ran blindly and often believed they had reached their goal
fell into crevasses, out of which only moans were heard. Some were
bitten by scorpions and other venomous creatures that left them
wretched and often mad. Yet neither these examples nor the arguments
of persons better informed stopped others from chasing the same
hazards and even entering into fights in order to forestall rivals or
keep themselves from being forestalled.

In the vault of this huge cavern there were little holes and almost
imperceptible cracks. Here a trace of daylight entered; yet it was so
weak that it required careful attention to notice it. One frequently
heard voices which said, "Stop you mortals, or run like the miserable
beings you are." Others said, "Raise your eyes to the sky." But no one
stopped and no one raised their eyes except in pursuit of these
dangerous trinkets. I was one of those who was greatly struck by these
voices. I began often to look above me and finally recognized the
small light which demanded so much attention. It seemed to me to grow
stronger the more I gazed steadily at it. My eyes were saturated with
its rays, and when, immediately after, I relied on it to see where I
was going, I could discern what was around me and what would suffice
to secure me from dangers. A venerable old man who had wandered for a
long time in the cave and who had had thoughts very similar to mine
told me that this light was what is called "intelligence" or "reason"
in us. I often changed position in order to test the different holes
in the vault that furnished this small light, and when I was located
in a spot where several beams could be seen at once from their true
point of view, I found a collection of rays which greatly enlightened
me. This technique was of great help to me and left me more capable of
acting in the darkness.

After testing many positions, I was at last led by my good fortune to
a place which was unique and the most advantageous in the cave, a
place reserved for those whom the divinity wished to remove completely
from this darkness. Hardly had I begun to look upward than I was
surrounded by a bright light shining from all sides: the whole cave
and its miseries were fully disclosed to my eyes. But a moment later a
dazzling clarity surprised me. It soon expanded and I saw before me
the image of a young man whose beauty enchanted my senses. There
seemed a majesty about him, which produced a veneration mixed with
apprehension; yet the gentleness of his gaze reassured me. I began,
however, to be aware of myself weakening and was about to faint, when
I felt myself touched by a bough imbued with a marvelous liquor. I
could compare it to nothing I had ever felt before and it gave me the
strength to endure the presence of this celestial messenger. He called
me by name and spoke to me in a charming voice: "Give thanks to the
divine goodness which releases you from this madness." At the same
time he touched me again and at that instant I felt myself rise. I was
no longer in the cavern; I no longer saw the vault above me. I found
myself on a high mountain, which revealed to me the face of the
earth. I saw at a distance what I only wanted to consider in general;
yet when I studied some spot in a determined way, it at once grew and
I needed no other telescopic vision than my own attention to see it as
though it were next to me. This gave me a marvelous pleasure and
emboldened me to say to my guide: "Mighty spirit--for I cannot doubt
that you are of the number of those celestial figures who make up the
court surrounding the sovereign of the universe--since you have wanted
to clarify so my eyes, will you do as much for my mind?"

It seemed to me that he smiled at this speech and took pleasure in
hearing of my desire. "Your wish is granted," he said to me, "since
you hold wisdom above the pleasure of those vain spectacles the world
presents to your eyes. However, you will lose nothing that is
substantial in those same spectacles. You will see everything with
eyes clarified in a completely different way. Your understanding being
fortified from above, it will discover everywhere the brilliant
illumination of the divine author of things. You will recognize only
wisdom and happiness, wherever men are accustomed to find only vanity
and bitterness. You will be content with your creator; you will be
enraptured with the vision of his works. Your admiration will not be
the effect of ignorance as it is with the vulgar. It will be the fruit
of knowledge of the grandeur and marvels of God. Instead of scorning
with men the unravelled secrets, which in earlier times they regarded
with astonishment, you will find that when you are admitted into the
interior of nature your raptures will go on growing the farther you
advance. For you will only be at the beginning of a chain of beauties
and delights that go on growing into infinity. The pleasures that
enchain your senses and that Circe of your legends who changes men
into beasts will have no hold on you, so long as you attach yourself
to the beauties of the soul, which never die and never disappoint. You
will belong to our fold and will go with us from world to world, from
discovery to discovery, from perfection to perfection. With us you
will pay court to the supreme being, who is beyond all worlds and
fills them without being divided. You will be at once before his
throne and among those who are distant from it. For God will establish
his seige in your soul and heaven follows him everywhere. Go,
therefore, and raise your spirit above all that is mortal and
perishable, and cleave only to the eternal truths of the light of
God. You will not always live here below, this mortal life which
sufficiently approaches that of beasts. There will come a time when
you will be delivered entirely of the chains of this body. Use well,
therefore, the time that providence gives you here, and seek that your
perfections to come will be proportional to the cares you give
yourself here in achieving them."