- Aristotle: All men want to be happy. Happiness as Aristotle will define rests on a virtuous life.
- Reality is measured by the Creator’s terms, not the creatures. Thomas Aquinas’ seminal 5 Ways On the Existence of God, and consequently source of all things is very useful for this point. In particular, the argument from design corollate to order, not chaos. The basis of scientific inquiry has this fundamental assumption, which is that the universe is ordered at both a macro and micro level. Man too, has a particular order, which is called the natural law.
[The arguments are often named as follows: (1) argument from motion, (2) argument from efficient cause, (3) argument from necessary being, (4) argument from gradations of goodness, and (5) argument from design.]
Closer one sees as God does, the greater one’s vision becomes. Learn to see properly.
Seeing properly, understanding reality corresponds to truth.
Frank Sheed stated, “loving what is good is sanctity, or the health of the will, so seeing what there is (my insertion truth) is sanity, or the health of the intellect.”[1]
Truth (which is one the attributes of God) is the bedrock authentic happiness.
Servais Pinckaers explains it this way, “God always has our (my insertion) happiness and joy in view. He wants us to believe this for His sake, on His own word.”[2]
Truth is a necessary state to happiness. Simply truth not mine or yours. Knowable recognizable, we can understand what is reasonable and unreasonable. In a fallen world, tempted to substitution pleasure. Settle for a counterfeit. A lie does not lead to true happiness just satisfaction. Under sells the human person.
Put them in grave danger of manipulation by others.
[1] Frank J. Sheed, Theology and Sanity (Ignatius: San Francisco 1993) 22
[2] Servais Pinckaers, O.P. The Pursuit of Happiness- God’s Way, Living the Beatitudes (Wipf and Stock: Eugene, OR 1998) 28
You must log in to post a comment.