Man knows the nature of bodies in the universal. For example, the statement - Peter ran to the shop, infers the words, Peter, ran, and shop are all words in the universal. For the universal is one said of many and the above statement may be made of many men called Peter, many acts of running and many shops. A defining characteristic of the universal is the universal is had without any individuating notes. For example, a tree has a place, height, shape, and colour as individuating notes of this singular tree existing in the concrete. But the universal tree does not have any individuating notes but accounts for all trees, each of which is singular and has individuating notes in the concrete. The universal is then not found in the concrete and singular, or material, but only in a manner that is immaterial. And what is immaterial is not physical, but spiritual. Man's intellect as a power to know in the universal is then a power that performs an act that is immaterial. And because there is due proportionality between the act and the power, the power is as immaterial as the act. The human intellect is then an immaterial or spiritual power.
But a power is a can do, which resides in a substance. For a can do, is an accident and an accident always resides in another from which it attains its being. For example, the quantity of a body is an accident that resides in the substance of the body. Similarly, any power to act is also caused by the prior existence of the substance. Therefore if the power is immaterial, the substance in which the power resides must also in some manner be immaterial. As the power is immaterial within a human body that is in the concrete and not immaterial. Man is then substantially physical and material, but in another manner substantially immaterial. The manner in which man is immaterial is according to substance and according to a substance that has an immaterial form. For a form is an act, and a substance with a form as the root cause of an immaterial power is then a form had of the substance. Man then has a substantial form as the root cause of man's immaterial powers. The substantial form of man is the immaterial soul, which is spiritual.
As the spiritual is not composed of physical parts, the spiritual soul continues to exist after death which is an act of separation of body and soul. The ongoing existence of the human soul then infers man continues to live, have knowledge and love after death. As the soul continues to exist after death, the soul has a life in accord with the nature of the soul and a state of the soul as determined by the ultimate end freely chosen by the soul when the man was alive.
If the man when alive chose to sin mortally, the man chose to act disconformed to the eternal law and love a created good above God, who is himself the good. By sinning mortally, the man has acted to subordinate all of his loves to the created good, loved above God. As all loves are subordinated to the ultimate created good willed in mortal sin, the man is unable to love God above all creatures, unless the man is moved again by God for the man to love God above all creatures again. When the man dies in mortal sin, the man continues to incorrigibly love a creature above the good, for God only acts to correct man's ultimate loves in this life as a grace (or gift) and not in the next. After death, as the will of the separated soul is always fixed towards loving above all other loves, that created good which is unnatural to love, the separated soul continues to love in a manner that is disconformed to the eternal law, who is God himself. The separated soul is then ordered away from God who is the good, as the ultimate love of man. But what is ordered away from the good, is ordered towards a lack of good, which is evil.
Yet when a man is ordered away from God as the ultimate good, and thereby to always act in an evil manner, the man suffers that which is unnatural as a punishment for sin. As the results of mortal sin in man, man in the next life is in an unnatural state, and what is unnatural is against the nature of man and against the nature of the good. What is against the nature of man always causes man to suffer, for the unnatural always acts against the nature of man, who naturally desires the good. The complete loss of the ultimate good as a consequence of mortal sin infers an immense suffering for those who die in a state of mortal sin. For a separated soul in mortal always has a disordered love away from the good. The separated soul always acts in an unnatural manner, and thereby acts contrary to the nature of man. But to always act contrary to the nature of man is to act against the good. And to act against the good is to act as to incur an evil. As the loss of love of the greatest good corresponds to the greatest evil, the separated soul in the state of mortal sin will suffer the greatest evil.
If a man dies without mortal sin, the man has naturally ordered his will towards God as the greatest good. But man can and does sin against nature whilst alive in a manner that is not mortally sinful, but only venially sinful, whereby man continues to love God as the greatest good, but loves a creature in a disordered manner in a particular moral act. If man acts to sin venially there is a debt of nature incurred which must be restored in accord with natural justice. For when a man sins, natural justice is breached and requires restitution. For example, a man breaks a neighbours windows, and natural justice demands the window be repaired. As men frequently breach natural justice (seven times a day), there is an accumulation of a natural debt made by men each time a man sins venially.
When a man dies without mortal sin and has his will ordered towards the good, man is then naturally ordered towards the good. The natural ordering towards the good enables the man's separated soul to avoid the penalty of suffering incurred by mortal sin. But because the good naturally requires the debt of sin be accounted for, a natural punishment ensues after death until the debt of venial sin is paid in full. As the debt is caused by man, the living part of man is naturally punished until the injustice is remitted. It is therefore within the nature of man, who has free will and has the ability to easily sin venially to suffer a natural punishment after death to account for venial sin.
Conclusion - Men can and do commit mortal and venial sin in this life. Consequently, due to the consequences of sin, men after death naturally suffer in accord with a deformity of disordered love within the will caused by sin. The suffering continues until the deformity in the will is totally removed. In a separated soul with mortal sin, the soul continues forever with an uncorrectable disordered ultimate love. For the separated soul in mortal sin naturally loves itself above God and no act within the separated soul can cause the ultimate love to change to re-order the soul's ultimate love to appetise God above creatures.
The separated soul who has committed venial sin(s), has the ultimate love of the will directed towards God. Such a soul is ordered in accord with the nature of man to have his loves subordinated to that of God. Yet the separated soul's will is not impeccable and has some disordered attachment to creatures that is not correctly ordered towards God as the good. Such a separated soul may have such disordered loves removed from the will which are accidental and subordinated to the love of God as the true ultimate good of the soul.
The sufferings of the separated soul in the next life are intense, for the soul no longer exists within the body but exists as nakedly exposed to reality. The separated soul is then subject to the direct action of the divine agent without any physical causes involved. As the soul is the formal cause of life of man, the soul is most sensitive to any cause contrary to the good of life. Therefore because the soul is the most sensitive part of man, the sufferings experienced by the soul are in proportion to the nature of punishment and the sensitivity of the soul. As God always acts conaturally within creation, the just punishment given to the soul is connatural to the debt of sin (which may be great), and the sensitivity of the soul. Therefore, from the manner in which God acts within creation, and the sensitivty of the soul it is probable, from reason alone, that the separated soul which has an attachment to sin, suffers much in the next life.
No comments:
Post a Comment