“For of all creatures that breathe and creep about on the earth, there is none so miserable as man,” Zeus says toward the end of “The Iliad.” The biblical character Job puts a finer and more eloquent point on the same subject, saying, “Man that is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble.”
What does it mean that these two esteemed sources share agreement on this issue?
Of course, it means we should listen to them. But their words also bring a kind of harmony, what I would call a note of truth.
Last week, President Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin for the purpose of solving one of the greatest miseries of our time: the bloodshed in Ukraine. Stopping this misery is necessary. Only a person of low character and humanitarian sentiment would reject the slaughter of innocent lives.
But what of the other wars? According to the Geneva Academy there are currently more than 45 armed conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa alone, and what enchanted hand exists that can pass over this monstrosity with the words, “Peace, be still”?
Aristotle said that all things are oriented toward their own good. This isn’t good in the biblical, Pauline sense, but rather a kind of fulfillment or perfection of a thing’s own being. Thus, fire tends toward heat, a seed toward the growth of a plant. From this viewpoint, we as humans are acting only naturally when we desire an end to the Ukraine War, for we are only desiring the preservation of our own species.
But is self-preservation the highest goal of mankind?
Over 1,600 years after Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas also wrote about this topic. According to him, man is driven by more than one goal, and the highest of these is his ultimate goal, what Aquinas called the Beatific Vision.
“The Dictionary of Scholastic Philosophy” defines beatitude as: “happiness, and especially perfect happiness; blessedness; the full and enduring possession of supreme (perfect) good.” Its definition of supernatural beatitude goes even deeper: “the perfect happiness belonging to nature elevated by sanctifying grace and the light of glory to the eternal vision of God.”
Of course, as can be gleaned from the second definition, the highest point of supernatural beatitude cannot be achieved this side of eternity, and will thus be experienced in the afterlife only by those who have truly lived a life devoted to God. But as the “Westminster Larger Catechism” points out, one doesn’t have to wait till death to begin enjoyment of such a divine relationship.
“What is the chief end of man?” question one asks.
“Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy him forever.”
In that word, “forever,” is implied, not only the afterlife, but also the here and now.
I watch the news, see and hear the hopes from national leaders as to the potential for peace in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and I, too, as a fellow human, a fellow Westerner, can’t help but be hopeful. But neither can I help thinking: is good merely the absence of evil? Isn’t it something more than this? If so, shouldn’t we be pursuing, not only the absence of strife, but also, the presence of good? At the very least, our ancient thinkers thought so.
Life in the West seems to be filled with so much pain and confusion lately, and it’s encouraging to think that some of this – at least in Russian conflict – could possibly come to an end. But we should not think that the mere negation of war will bring about the kind of peace that is the ultimate satisfaction to man.
“You have made us for yourself, oh Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you,” St. Augustine said. He was right about this, as were Homer, Job, Aristotle, Aquinas, and the Westminster Divines correct about their respective doctrines. Our nations are troubled with war because the spirit of man is at war with itself. But we can overcome this: all it takes is a turning back to the wisdom of the ages.
Along with his father, Allen Keller runs a lumber business in Stevenson, Alabama. He has a Ph.D. in Creative Writing from Florida State University and an MBA from University of Virginia. He can be reached for comment at [email protected].
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to [email protected].
Don't miss out! Subscribe to our newsletter and get our top stories every weekday morning.
