| Page 2 | Ad Veritatem |
THE ARGUMENT OF DESIRE By: Michael Shonafelt, Esq. |
| Saint Bonaventure wrote, "The
world is a book in which God is written". Nowhere in
creation is God mirrored with greater clarity than in
man. We, as human beings, were created according to the
image of God this (hat eikona), and bear image in
our souls. This image is proper to our human nature;
therefore, though it may be sullied by sin, something of
God is indelibly etched in even the most callused
sinner's heart. In our species, there is evidence of this image everywhere. It manifests itself most clearly in the inexorable longing of all human beings for perfect happiness. No matter how estranged one is from God, he or she still cannot deny the drive for fulfillment, meaning, happiness--a happiness unhindered by the demands of time and mortality--a happiness which (unbeknownst to the ignorant) can only be found in God. In our materialistic culture, this fundamental drive has provided endless fodder for a consumer-based economy.Millions have been invested in producing and marketing creams, formulas, diets and surgical processes to forestall or mask the aging process because our hearts cannot tolerate the idea of mortality, the ultimate spoiler of human happiness. We are barraged incessantly by advertisements for products that promise to fill this void and leave us perfectly contented. We encounter all manner of self-help books and programs designed to ensure our complete fulfillment. All of these things, and more, pander to our undeniable hankering for the eternal. However, much to the consternation of godless man, nothing in this material universe can completely satisfy, because, as Augustine said, our hearts were made by God and for God and they are restless until they rest in God. This desire, then, is the stella Polaris- of our souls. It tells us of God even when our minds are completely blind to His existence. In this sense, the heart, or will, is the truest and noblest of the spiritual faculties of man. Here, a distinction must be made. According to Saint Thomas Aquinas, the superiority of a faculty may be determined by the superiority of its object. The object of the intellect is the idea of a thing whereas the object of the willor heart is the thing itself. In itself, says Saint Thomas, the intellect is the higher of the spiritual faculties because the idea of an object is nobler than the object itself. However, the will is greater in a relative sense because it grasps the good itself, and the "love of God is greater than the knowledge of God." Further, the will has God Himself as its object; it is directed toward God, and will not rest until it attains its ultimate object. The mind, on the other hand, can err in presenting its idea of God. Nevertheless, the will is blind without the intellect, and it cannot proceed without the intellect presenting the idea of the good. It is in this that so many human beings so easily come to err. The intellect is darkened by sin, and therefore, prone to continual error. It may perceive an advertisement for the new Mercedes E Class, for example, and, believing itto be the perfect automobile and the ultimate good for the soul, will present it to the will as such. The will may go along with this idea for a while, but soon, perhaps after the first ding on the driver's side door, will check th intellect and send itback on its search once more. The cycle continues, and modern materialistic human beings ar once more sent down the primrose path toward some other phantom promise of perfect happiness. In this context, th malignancy of sin and ignorance may metastasize in the form of psychosis, neurosis, or despair. |