71. The importance of knowledge
71. THE IMPORTANCE OF KNOWLEDGE
Since happiness is in the will (attaining its true end), and secondly in the feelings (the feeling of satisfaction that results from the presence of the end), why is the reason so important for the attainment of happiness? Isn’t St. Thomas too intellectualistic?
Happiness can be considered in two ways. First, according to the general notion of happiness; and thus of necessity every man desires happiness. . . (for in this sense) to desire happiness is nothing else than to desire that one’s will be satisfied. And this everyone desires. Secondly we may speak of happiness according to its specific notion, as to that in which it consists. And thus not all know happiness, because they know not in what thing the general notion of happiness is found. . .
Since therefore happiness is to be gained by means of certain acts, we must . . . know by what acts we may obtain happiness, and by what acts we are prevented from obtaining it (I-II,5,8;6).
If we don’t know the road, we cannot attain the goal, no matter how much we desire it. The way to perfect happiness is Christ, Who said “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (Jn 14:6). And the “acts” by which we attain Him and happiness are faith, hope, and love.
St. Augustine imagined God speaking to him while he was vainly searching for happiness in sin: “Seek what you seek, but it is not where you seek it.”
Reason, discernment, discrimination between the real good and the apparent good, between objective reality and subjective feeling—this is essential for happiness, and for salvation.
Pascal explains the nobility of reason in Pensee #347: “Man is only a reed, the weakest in nature, but he is a thinking reed. There is no need for the whole universe to take up arms to crush him: a vapor, a drop of water is enough to kill him. But even if the universe were to crush him, man would still be nobler than his slayer, because he knows that he is dying and the advantage the universe has over him. The universe knows nothing of this. Thus all our dignity consists in thought. It is on thought that we must depend for our recovery, not on space and time, which we could never fill. Let us then strive to think well; that is the basic principle of morality.”
This “thinking well” has very little to do with IQ. It requires simplicity, not complexity. Simplicity or singleness of mind comes from simplicity or singleness or purity of heart: “Blessed are the pure of heart for they shall see God” (Mt 5:5). The heart (will) leads the mind here. “If your will were to do the will of My Father, you would understand My teaching” (Jn 7:17). Blessed Mother Teresa rarely used words of more than one syllable, but she understood life and love and God far better than any mere theologian.
St. Thomas is great because he is not a mere theologian, he is also a saint. His answer to Christ when He asked him what he wanted as his reward for writing the Summa, was “only Yourself, Lord”. That’s true intelligence.
Karl Barth was asked this question after his final lecture: “Professor Barth, we all believe you are the greatest theologian of the twentieth century. Tell us, please, what is the profoundest idea you have ever had.” His answer came instantly: “Jesus loves me.”
That kind of wisdom is the apex of reason and the secret of happiness. It’s hard only because it’s so simple.