Finite reason

Dim, as the borrow'd beams of moon and stars
To lonely, weary, wand'ring travellers
Is reason to the soul: and as on high
Those rolling fires discover but the sky
Not light us here; so reason's glimmering ray
Was lent, not to assure our doubtful way,
But guide us upward to a better day.
And as day's bright lord ascends our hemisphere;
So pale grows reason at religion's sight;
So dies, and so dissolves in supernatural light.
Some few, whose lamp shone brighter, have been led
From cause to cause to nature's secret head;
And found that one first principle must be;
But what, or who, that UNIVERSAL HE;
. /
Whether some soul encompassing this ball,
Unmade, unmov'd; yet making, moving all;
Or various atoms' interfering dance
Leapt into form (the noble work of chance,)
Or this great all was from eternity;
Not ev'n the stagirite (??) himself could see
And Epicurus guess'd as well as he.
As blindly grop'd they for a future state,
As rashly judg'd of providence and fate:
But least of all could their endeavours find
What most concern'd the good of human kind
For happiness was never to be found;
But vanish'd from 'em, like enchanted ground.
One thought content the good to be enjoyed
This, every little accident destroyed:
The wiser madmen did for virtue toil,
A thorny, or at best a barren soil:
In pleasure some their glutton souls would steep,
But found their line too short, the well too deep,
Any leaky vessels which no bliss cou'd keep.
Thus, anxious thoughts in endless circles roll,
Without a centre where to fix the soul:
In this wild maze their vain endeavours end
How can the less the greater comprehend,
Or finite reason reach Infinity?!
For what could fathom GOD were more than HE

Finite reason
by John dryden (1631 - 1700)

It does not necessarily have to be religion that we cling to, but any spiritual and ethical belief, other wise if we rely only on our limited reason we'll become to believe our selves invincible, and we all know to where that can lead

Epicurus: according to Wikipedia: "Epicurus (Greek Έπίκουρος) (341 BC, Samos – 270 BC, Athens) was an ancient Greek philosopher and the founder of Epicureanism, a popular school of thought in Hellenistic Philosophy that spanned about 600 years. , For Epicurus, the purpose of philosophy was to attain the happy, tranquil life, characterized by aponia, the absence of pain and fear, and by living a self-sufficient life surrounded by friends."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicurus