Evil is not a thing in itself. But like darkness or cold, it is a deprivation of a real thing like light or heat. But the absence of these goods can feel painfully real, a dark room fills us with fear, and cold air makes us shake. A defect in a mans character is like loosing something, say a tooth, it is painful and ugly. So to say, evil is the shadow of a created good. Money, food, power, knowledge, honor and patriotism are good things in themselves, but oh how often they are manipulated to serve harmful ends. The only way to enjoy these finite goods without corrupting them to our own dismay is to see them and use them for what they are in fact, finite goods, limited by nature, unable to quench the human spirit which was made for infinity. In other words, dont try to fit a square peg in an infinitely round whole. This personal realization frees us from the disillusionment of addiction, which is the worship of a created good (idolatry). These things we take in moderation, regulating our desires and reordering them to serve mans highest end and deepest desire, the infinite love of an everlasting God. He is the light which makes the created good look so good (beautiful). We must eventually move out from under the shadow of created goods into the Source of all light and goodness and beauty. Because evil is not real like a shadow or the cold, it can never satisfy us. And because created goods are finite, i.e. only last a while and go only so deep, ect. They can only wet our insatiable appetites for more. So that we will either become disillusioned in our vain attempt to fill ourselves with more and more of the created good, and so perverting their natural purposes and hurting ourselves-- falling in love with their shadows. Or we will have the sense to move on to that greater something which these are but mere symbols and shards, mirroring to us in their own way the ineffable, radiant beauty and goodness of an infinitely loving God. Because only something real, only something infinite, only God Himself can quench the human spirit. You have made us for yourself, oh Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you. -St. Augustine.
Posted on: Tue, 22 Jul 2014 21:11:49 +0000
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