Blaise Pascal in “Pensées” on the path to faith through restraining the passions

At least try to understand that if reason itself pushes you towards faith, and you are still unable to believe, then the cause of such inability lies in your own passions. Strive to overcome yourself, but not by multiplying proofs of the existence of God; rather, by curbing your passions. You want to arrive at faith but do not know the way; you want to be cured of unbelief and ask for remedies: learn from those who were once as much in bondage as you are, and who then gradually staked all their goods; these people have found the path you are seeking, and have been cured of the malady of which you long to be cured. Begin where they began: in everything behave as though you already believed, sprinkle yourself with holy water, ask for Masses to be said, and so on. And you will involuntarily be imbued with faith and cease to be so clever.

“But that is just what I fear.”

“And what is there to fear? What do you lose?”

And so that you may grasp how right such conduct is, I will add: it will help you curb your passions, the stumbling blocks on the road to faith.

End of this discourse. “So, what do you risk by making such a choice? You will become honest, incapable of betrayal, humble, grateful, a doer of good, a man capable of impartial, sincere friendship. Yes, of course, base pleasures will be closed to you, glory and sensual delight, but will you receive nothing in return? I tell you, you will gain much even in this life, and with every step along the chosen path your gain will become more certain, and that against which you staked will become more insignificant, for you will have wagered on the certain and the infinite, sacrificing nothing in the process.”

Blaise Pascal, “Pensées”