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Whether to live belongs to all natural things?
The act (free will decision) of an imperfect being (humans, animals, angels, spirits etc.) in potentiality (accidents or actions not attributed to God) is called movement. What determines whether something is alive is the act of movement within itself. In other words, if a living thing moves - it must act within itself to move and not by something else. For example, running water moves because something other than the water moves it in nature - this does not mean the water is alive literally, but alive by the quality or state of something similar to being alive when the motion of a current which moves through the water simulates life to the viewer’s perception. In the same way, it is God who gives all life the source or starting point for movement - their very breath, cause, purpose, and calculated end by way of His agency. Furthermore, there also exists living things that are alive in varying degrees. For instance; plants, which are alive to a lesser degree as compared to higher beings, are restricted to areas and environments which they themselves can move around in order to adapt with assistance from natural causes (such as wind, temperatures, and seismic events). Animals are more alive in a higher way as compared to the plant, for within themselves they initiate motion by their free choices (not to be compared to the concept of the First Mover which puts all other things into motion). However, they are not what we consider rational beings, for they do not possess the same intellect as humans or angels which are alive and living in a more higher way because of election by God. As for humans - the composite of spirit (the intellect which shall surpass the life of the body) wrapped in flesh, bone, cartilage, and hair - known as the body, which is subject to time (beginning and end), death and decay, was made in the image and likeness of God, and throughout the ages God has taken mankind by the hand to guide, protect, to counsel, and to also discipline, as we see through His Church, scripture, the sacraments, the prophets, those who were called to service for the sake of another, and the sacrifice of The Lamb who spilled His blood for the redemption of the world. This is sufficient evidence to indicate election, in that the composite being known as human is closer to God in ways different from the angels, and higher than the plants or animals, in that men and women shall cohabitate, and the father shall be like His true Father in heaven as a minister to His family, and that the mother shall be like our true Mother in Heaven who bore God Himself within Her own flesh so as to bring salvation to everyone. Additionally, man is known to be closer to God than the animal - who roams the environment for food and engages in lower intellectual activities as compared to the human - so in this way, it could be said that the human is more alive to a higher degree than the animal. Now, what we bear witness to in the Moderni age, is BEAST like MAN, and MAN like BEAST - when we see dogs being dressed up as people for the emotional nourishment and encouragement of their human owners, receiving inheritances in legal wills, and being more well provided for than other humans who are suffering and in need. To go even further, by way of sexuality, activity, dignity, and time or effort - we see humans entering into inappropriate relationships with animals, whether sexual or emotional, and replacing the love that should be for others (people who were made in the image of God) with that of the animal. By way of activity, we see movements springing up to advocate for the abolishment of meat and production of food on a grand scale, even at a detriment to others who face food shortages and hunger. By way of dignity, we see more attention and respect given to the pet than the child, and more attention and care given to the dog than the niece or nephew. Through time and effort, we see the pursuit of pet to owner relationships by way of trips, walks, errands, and lifestyles based around the pet, so far as people begin to label themselves as “dog mom” or “dog dad” as if their pet were like real human children, and the passing up of charity such as hospital or prison visits, providing for the needs of others who are in bad situations, or giving general kindness to everyday people they encounter for the sake of their pet. Even the ancient pagan philosophers warned of the moral ramifications in treating animals better than people around them. These are clues to the spiritual state of humanity which turns from the providence and protection of God to pursue inflated vanities and hopeless pursuits of self and reinforced by temptations of the devil and evil spiritual influence. In conclusion, the elements and weather events are not alive within themselves, and moving water is not alive in that it shall move by way of a current, because none of them initiate movement within themselves like things that are alive to a higher degree in comparison such as plants, animals, people, angels, and spirits who use their impulses, desires, needs, rationality, and intellect to guide their decisions. Whether life is an operation? As was mentioned before, the intellect of the rational creature recognizes the essence of something as its proper object by way of sense, thus gaining proper knowledge of what something is. From there, the free will is used by way of that knowledge achieved by sense (identifying the essence of something) to achieve accidents (actions carried out by creatures not attributed to God). When the senses identify the essence of an object, such as a chair being a true chair, and a knife being a blade for cutting, we apply a proper name to it to properly identify it. Even in this, we can take those same names and apply them to meanings of other things which are not exactly the same thing by essence. For example, the body of a man is a man. But if I told you the “body” of a rifle company were moving into our sector, then you as a Soldier would understand to take up defensive positions so as to brace yourself for a large assault. You would also understand that I was not talking about a single man as in the prior example. In the same way, it can be said of life and things that are living - as names are given to it by way of external appearances and movements attributed to outside factors (such as a current moving water and someone calling that water “living”) and self-movements attributed to the true conscious self of living in a state of freewill and decision making (the woman comes to the realization of her interests and passions and decides to change her life in order to pursue them). Furthermore, to truly be alive is what exists in nature to things that are truly living, such as plants, the animals, humans, angels, and spirits. Among these, some are considered more or less alive in varying degrees by way of movement and intellect. Thus we say a cactus is more alive than a fallen tree branch, and that a firefighter or rescue team shall rescue a baby boy from a burning building before a cat, and that God loved the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, but despised the children of the disobedient angels (The Watchers) who cohabitated with women. Whether life is properly attributed to God? Life is in God to the highest degree compared to everything else that is perceived as “living” to another creature or being - even the creature or being itself. For the creature or being, although able to make free will choices by way of the intellect and movements innate within itself through self-prompting, still must attribute its existence and very life to the initial agency of God, who solely by Himself is pure act (the One who is in Himself by thought, intellect, knowledge, ideas and actions - an Essential Being without potentiality which are created things). For He is the perfection of all things, and not of the same order or genus of the creature or created, thus where what is “living” is found to be perfect more than all other things which is known to be “living” in a higher degree by way of what something can do freely without the initiation, prompting, influence, movement, or command of another factor outside of itself, God is alive more so than everything else in the highest degree in the most perfect way, because God is truly in Himself, void of any admixture, potential influence, outside factor or control - hence the beginning statement “Life is in God to the highest degree…” used to accurately describe how life is most properly attributed to God. The order of movement and what is moved shows us that the end (efficient cause) for what is living is directed by the form of the creature itself and a higher agency beyond its experience (God guiding people and causes to their calculated end). God acts through the form of His creatures inherent to their likeness; for example, the movement of a plant is growth and eventually decay. Additionally, the virtue God instills upon His creatures is from His agency (the Principal Agent) and not from the creature, and in this way God is with us always and guides our actions. For example, the good works of an Apostle healing the legs of a crippled man - for the man who is the Apostle cannot do something like this by his own power, but only by the power of God working and flowing through Him. The man who is the Apostle made his body a proper dwelling place for the Holy Spirit by way of virtue, thus rendering God to rest His spirit upon the Apostle and use him for the good works God chooses to engage in. To be alive and living is proper in God, and is the maximum to all things that are perceived/considered to be living - from life of the lowest degree such as prokaryotic cells that move according to their inherent nature to fulfill their life cycles to a higher degree of animals who use their sense by way of their form to execute their movements in order to achieve self-preserving/sustaining actions such as hunting and sleeping, and carry out their end by their inherent nature which is natural to them, even though they lack rational intelligence in comparison to humans and purely spiritual beings. Beyond this, there is to be found the rational intellect (the soul or spirit) existing in humans who are made in the likeness and image of the Living God, but are wrapped in flesh and organs, which we call a composite being (mixture of spirit and material matter). To go even further, there are purely spiritual beings such as the angels who were created before mankind and who were made eternal with a higher intellect of knowing things, such as the existence of God who dwells in the spirit. Angels also use their rational thoughts innate in them to guide their actions in order to serve God and to love Him, as well as carrying out His will in obedience. By these facts alone, it is apparent that the rational creature who uses his intellect to guide his movements and actions are said to be living in a higher way than things that are living to a lesser degree, including the fact that as the act of living is carried out in them, their movements and decisions are less dependent upon the movement and guidance of external agents which guides them to their calculated end. Finally, the intellect moves itself to various things, but not all things, which some is guided by nature, innate first principles given to it which the creature cannot deny - for if it were to deny its first principles of its being and existence, then the creature wouldn’t be able to live as it was meant to be (thus invoking self-hatred and destruction of itself). If one who is living uses the act of their understanding in accordance with its own very nature, this one is said to be living to the highest degree. This is best found in God, and as was mentioned earlier, is the maximum of all perfections, especially life and what it means to be alive. Therefore, life is most perfectly attributed to God and is proper to Him in the highest degree. Whether all things are life in God? It can be said that the living things God created are in Him in multiple ways. One, their bodies, intellect, thoughts, and spirit are held together by His divine power and authority - for He wills it that His creatures take a form (the body) and to carry out what is inherit to that form’s nature as He ordained it when He set forth the natural order of things from His ideas into material matter for His creation to interact with. For when the form of the body acts in accordance with its nature set out before it by God, in unison with the spirit (intellect) given to the man so as to know God and engage in rational decision making and actions (void of the deficiency and contagion that is sin) so as to be pleasing in the sight of the Creator; in this example, human beings carry out what is both natural and what God intended for them - so as to enter into relationship and knowledge of Him by way of which comes natural to them according to their likeness (walking with God in the flesh before the spirit returns home to where it belongs). Second, becoming the proper idea of what God made of His children, and bringing it to the fullness of what it should be in accordance with the life giving idea of them which originated from the One who formed them, and carrying out that idea so as to achieve the calculated end for which it exists. In this, it is said that what is proper in idea to God and what the creature becomes by way of that idea is one in God and not separate from the Divine Essence. This perfection or beatitude is truly life itself in God, and not simply a measure of movement so as to go from one state of being to another so as to go on a journey, for to be in God truly is to live in the highest degree.
I am blessed to be a Third Order Lay Dominican. However, the ideas expressed in this post are my own and do not represent the endorsement of or position of the Order of Preachers as a whole.
Commentary regarding Saint Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae derived from: ST part (I), Q. 1-26 from newadvent.org with permission. Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
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mr. scott lowry, op
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