The Pursuit of True Happiness is NOT Selfish

            I revisit the concepts of eudaimonia and Beatific Vision. “Ugh! We already know this!” I ignore them this time and push them to consider the question: “If we think of eudaimonia or Beatific Vision or transcendent happiness as our goal, doesn’t that suggest our entire goal to be self-serving? Isn’t this kind of thinking selfish and the opposite of Agapic Love?” There is always one student who wants to find the hole in my argument and so they ask this question, thinking they have found the flaw in Western Philosophy and Theology, like they are some revolutionary! I beat that student to the punch, and I ask the question first because there is a rational answer to whether this can be consistent with Agape and humility and self-gift. Of course, we have already answered the question in our discussion about Aristotle and Aquinas, but, again. My students have compartmentalized that information and it does not matter to them after they have taken the test. No! Every piece of information matters! This is a basic premise to Sacramentality!

Our Lady of Knock Shrine in Knock, Co. Mayo, Ireland. It was the Joy of the Apostles at His Resurrection that gave Jesus happiness. Indeed, it is the Joy we find in Him in our conversion that pleases Him. Our happiness and His are entwined. (photo P. Smith)

            For Aristotle, eudaimonia is “human flourishing”, that is, it is the condition in which all humans are content while not being stagnant. It is the condition where all human beings are happy, not necessarily because they are constantly experiencing the same pleasurable moment for eternity; Aristotle and later philosophers and theologians, including Aquinas, explain how Beatific Vision, eudaimonia beyond human ability, is a state where one is able to “contemplate Virtue”. Indeed, as they say, Virtue is its own reward. If we are made to be virtuous, as one practices virtue increasingly, the first thing they witness is the Joy of “the Other”, the object of their virtue. The Joy of “the Other” echoes in the heart and soul of the one who practices Virtue. Eudaimonia or Beatific Vision is the “Joy” that we can now contemplate; it is the state in which we can observe the effects of our virtue, and as we see “the Other” as Beloved, we recognize our Authentic Self, Lover, in action. At the same time, we contemplate the virtue of “the Other” as they Love us. We contemplate the way in which “the Other” recognizes our dignity in how they Love us, and in that contemplation, we view the Authentic Self of “the Other”. We are made to Love and to be Loved. Virtue is that Authentic Self in action. Eudaimonia or Beatific Vision is the Joy we experience when we can contemplate that action as we and “the Other” live it. Because the whole process requires the self and “the Other”, the goal of Eudaimonia or Beatific Vision cannot be considered self-serving the same way eating a second piece of pie when others have had none is self-serving. Eudaimonia or Beatific Vision is only achieved within the context of relationship, therefore, “the Other” is necessarily as important as the self in the practice of Virtue and the telos of Eudaimonia or Beatific Vision.

Eudaimonia, Beatific Vision, and Happiness

I may introduce this unit in my classroom as focusing on “the Other” and I may even mention how we will discuss service and mission, topics that students get more and more excited about the longer I teach, but I take a step back to reiterate the concepts of telos, eudaimonia, and Beatific Vision.

The Cathedral of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven and St. Nicholas (photo P. Smith). To many people, a church is just a building. In Catholic belief the Church is much more than just the physical space or even the people of the Church; the Church is a Sacrament, bot material and transcendent in nature.

            After the groans from students that seem inevitable when I repeat what I think are important concepts, I reiterate what I have said before: telos is a target that we cannot reach, but the more we try, the closer we get to the target, and the closer we get to the target, the better we become as human individuals and as a human society. “Ugh! We already know this!” I know they already know this, but most education on our country is so compartmentalized that students do not always synthesize the details. Kids in this country know more about everything than ever in the history of the world, and if they do not remember all the details, they have more immediate access to virtually any information that they want. But what they do not have is the critical capacity to integrate and synthesize all of this raw information so they can begin to understand deeper and more fundamental Truths about their existence. Without the ability to synthesize all the information we have access to, we cannot develop or create new ideas, theories, philosophies, or theologies that stretch the human mind and heart to higher levels of knowledge and understanding. If we allow ourselves to simply consume information and to think of facts as being sufficient in and of themselves, then we are destined for an intellectual “Pit” out of which there is no escape. I repeat concepts of telos, eudaimonia, and Beatific Vision for my students so they can practice using vocabulary and difficult concepts in a way that builds on itself. By the end of the year, it is amazing how creative many students have become in their articulation of some of the deepest theological concepts in the history of humanity.

The Lover, the Beloved, and the Love Between

            Augustine writes that the Father is the Lover and the Son is the Beloved. Scripture gives evidence for this. At the Baptism of Jesus and at the Transfiguration the voice of God refers to Jesus as “Son”. Jesus refers to the Father multiple times, perhaps most especially in the Lord’s Prayer, when He prays for unity of the Apostles and at His Crucifixion. The Father Loves the Son perfectly and eternally, and the Son, because He is God too, does the same in return. The Love between them is so perfect, according to Augustine, that the Love between them is a unique and perfect person in itself. The Father is the Lover, the Son is the Loved, and the Spirit is the Love between the two. This is one of the few dynamics that I do not explore in depth with my high school students; it require a great deal of higher-level philosophy to event begin to explain. But what I do address the greater question: “How can this God be one if God is three persons? How can this not be polytheism?”

The Cathedral of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven and St. Nicholas. The Love Mary has for her Son is so profound that it draws her ever closer to the Cross and the suffering of Jesus. The Image and Likeness of God and the Universal Call to Holiness, perhaps, tells us that we should be the same (photo P. Smith).

            I start by reminding them that there is no perfect model to demonstrate the Trinity. The Trinity is not a Shamrock; sorry St. Patrick. The Trinity is not a triangle; sorry fifth grade religion teachers. The Trinity is not water (liquid, gas, solid)…sorry, but not sorry, anyone who has ever taught this. Heresies aside, I try to get students to consider what it means to be “One.” To be one is to be unified in thought and in will. Even the self can be divided if you are not focused on a single will. If I tell myself I want to be in better shape, and I should go for a run, I might also be telling myself that I want to sit and watch TV and eat nachos. I am, by definition, divided, not physically, but intellectually. I have two wills, and, usually, the nacho-will wins out. But if I can unite my body, spirit, and mind in a single will, then I am one. What is keeping us from doing the same with “the Other”? For God, He is His own “Other”, except the Wills of God’s self and God’s Other are so perfectly attuned, they unite in a single Will, though they are three distinct persons. Further, since the Son is the only one with a Body, God does not have to deal with the division or union of the material form to be “One” for there is only one body, that of Jesus Christ. The mind and the spirit of the three persons of God, as they are not material Truths, are perhaps more easily attuned and unified to each other. So think of this: if the three persons of God are so perfectly in tune with each other in body, mind, and spirit, then aren’t they, ontologically, one? Aren’t they so united in Will that they exist as a single God? This only leaves the question: if we are made in the image and likeness of God and if God is so perfectly attuned to God’s self, then shouldn’t our Vocation be to attune ourselves to “the Other” in the same way? If we want to live out the image and likeness in which we are made, shouldn’t we seek unified relationships with everyone in the world? The answer is “Yes”… the Universal Vocation to Holiness is to Love “the Other” and to be Loved by “the Other” the same way God does. But we must come to understand why this is beneficial to us, who exactly is “the Other”, and how can we actually come to do so. This is the focus of the next section of my class, and here is where the class begins to take root in the hearts of my students.