Thomas Aquinas
What is humankind's purpose in life? What does it mean to be happy? What is happiness, and where do we find it? These are some of the questions I have had in mind for the past few years, and ones which are very hard to fathom, much less answer. However, these are the questions which Thomas Aquinas attempts to address and even answer in his book Summa Theoligiae: Purpose and Happiness, Volume 16, Questions 1-5. In these five sections, Aquinas (henceforth known as "A") practically spells out-in his opinion-what our purpose on earth is, what makes us happy, what happiness is, and how to gain and keep it. If a person totally and completely believes in what A spells out in these sections, they would gain a philosophical roadmap to steer by for the rest of their life. Although A makes it very easy to follow his ideas, there is a lot of superfluous information which served only to confuse me a little. So in writing the paper I will attempt to boil down the ideas presented by A and perhaps make them a little more accessible to the common reader. In this volume of the Summa Theologiae, A lays his ideas out in a very simple format. His five main points are divided into five "questions" in the volume. Furthermore, each of the fi
In reading this volume of collected readings by Thomas Aquinas, I learned a lot. I learned that mankind is directed towards a purpose. That final purpose may be reached in a variety of ways, but the fact remains that there is such a thing as a final destiny. So our lives do have meaning as well as direction. Also, I learned where happiness lies and where happiness does not lie. For a fact happiness does not lie in any of the worldly possessions we are hell-bent on attaining because we think they will make us happy, or give any profound meaning to our lives. The only path to true happiness and forgiveness lies through God because in him all things are possible. And although we cannot be as close to him in this life as we would like to be, we can come close to him -as well as happiness- through bringing our own souls closer to the perfection that is God. Another point A makes is whether or not happiness lies in honors and glory. According to him, "...happiness is what men prize above all things" (35) and many people prize their honor above all things, so happiness must lie in honor and glory. However he replies to this that "Happiness is man's true good" (37). Sometimes honor and glory can be found in good ways as well as bad. For example, a soldier may risk his life on the battlefield to save a fallen comrade. On the other hand, a rather funny example comes to mind. In the movie "While You Were Sleeping" with Sandra Bullock, the rich man she wants to marry as a child threw a rock at a squirrel's nest to knock it to the ground. Then he saved them by calling the Humane Society or something like that. "The Boy Who Saved the Squirrels" story was in the newspaper, on TV and everything. He never told the truth but reveled in the glory nonetheless. This is an example of bad glory. Therefore, because glory can be ill as well as good, and happiness is man's true good, true happiness cannot lie in glory. Though A proves that we can find a measure of happiness in God in this life, he next asks the question, "Does every human being desire happiness?" (141) This does not seen to be true at first, because different human beings desire different things. Some want fast cars and wealth and power and glory. A has already shown that true happiness does not lie in any of these things, so these people cannot be happy. Also, many people "...do not recognize it," (141) it being God and true happiness. In this case, ignorance is not bliss, but instead keeps these people from attaining true happiness. What a sad story. A concludes that in order to truly be happy in this life, a man must find true happiness. The only way to find true happiness is to find it within God. Otherwise it looks as if you are an atheist, you are pretty much screwed and will definitely go to hell. Have a nice life! The last point I want to mention is that concerning God itself. While people talk of having visions of God and of higher beings, A thinks that this may be impossible, because "Seeing the divine essence is proper to the divine mind. The human mind stands below this, and at full height does not break through to such a vision" (85). Yet from the natural things around us we did not create, we know that there is an existing God that created all things. So how then do men come to know this great happiness? A says that "Complete happiness requires the mind to come through to the essence itself of the first cause" (85). The first cause is God who is our beginning as well as our end. In order to know true happiness, our minds must be reunited with the being which gave us life, namely God because within him alone our happiness lies. After the first question, A presents his next point in the second question, entitled "Objective Beatitude." In this section, A considers eight different places in which happiness could lie. Some of these places include within riches, honors, glory, power, or pleasure. Firstly, A presents his ideas
Some common words found in the essay are:
Laden Taliban, Summa Theologiae, Firstly Happiness, Thomas Aquinas, Happiness Volume, Saved Squirrels, President Bush, true happiness, Objective Beatitude, , God Otherwise, happiness lie, happiness lies, happiness god, man's true, soul body, happiness man's, true happiness lie, truly happy, power held, souls closer, true happiness lies, happiness lie happiness, true happiness god, man's true happiness,
Approximate Word count = 3135
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
