Aquinas: So Mike what are you interested in?

Michael: I would like to know what it takes to be happy. I have heard of your Beatific Vision but it just doesn’t seem to make sense to me. What is it all about?

Aquinas: Well I don’t know where to begin. Do you believe in God?

Michael: Sure!

Aquinas: Do you believe that you have some end?

Michael: Well if by that you mean what will happen to me….I know that I will die.

Aquinas: No that is not what I mean. Do you believe that you act toward some end? That you were meant to become something or fulfill some end?

Michael: Well, like I said I know I will die. I don’t know of any other end.

Aquinas: What I am saying is that every action is toward some end.

Michael: Duh! What other possibility is there.

Aquinas: Well some think that it is possible to act in infinitely. That a person can act even though there is no end to the act. But this is not possible.

Michael: Why not? It seems that any action can be infinite, which means that any action may not be striving toward an end.

Aquinas: I see where you are coming from. But try and follow my reasoning. If an agent acts it must act toward an end "since it is not possible to pass through an infinite medium, the agent would never begin to act, because nothing moves toward what it can not reach. Therefore every agent [or person] acts for an end." (Aquinas, 6)

Michael: I suppose so. So what you are saying that it would not make sense for a person to strive towards something which can never be achieved. It would be an action in futility. I think I understand. So if we can not act infinitely then we must act toward some end.

Aquinas: Very Good.

Michael: No Problem. I have a great teacher who will certainly give me an A for this paper. (end of shameless plug =)

Aquinas: Ok. Now following that every agent acts for an end the end is a good. Good in the sense that it is a good for the agent.

Michael: That seems to make sense except that many people act in a way that is not good for them.

Aquinas: True…but I am not talking about that right now. What I am saying is that every agent acts to fulfill its appetite and "since good is the object of every appetite …all action and movement is for a good." [Aquinas, 7]

Michael: Ok that makes sense.

Aquinas: Now to address your problem about actions that don’t lead to the good. As you know there are degrees of being and degrees of goodness.

Michael: Yes. I have learned such things.

Aquinas: Ok. Since everything has a Telos [or end] then there are degrees of reaching that Telos. This is what is meant by degrees of being.

Michael: So everything has an end. As it gets closer to that end it is achieving a higher degree of being. It is like an acorn that will grow into a tree.

Aquinas: Good. Now the same thing goes for the degree of goodness a being has. Do you understand?

Michael: NO! A being should either have a good or not.

Aquinas: Well that is an understandable belief. Maybe if I say it this way it will help. The degree of goodness that a being has is how successful it is in actualizing its being.

Michael: That is all fine and dandy but what if you don’t know what your Telos is.

Aquinas: Well your Telos is your happiness, which is attained through the Beatific Vision of God.

Michael: You have lost me. Just what is this vision you are talking about? And how do you know that is our end.

Aquinas: Well there are different degrees of happiness. The more base the appetite the lesser the degree of happiness. It is the Good of the Soul that leads to true happiness. It is the lesser appetites that lead us away from the Good of the Soul.

Michael: Well what different types of appetites are there?

Aquinas: Well there are External Goods. These are goods that give a person a sense of worth..i.e., Honor, Glory, Wealth, and etc. Then there are the Goods of the Body. These are the Goods that help the body such as health and strength. Then there are appetites of the Sensitive Soul. These are the appetites that lead to pleasure seeking such as excessive sex and drink. Then there are the Goods of the Intellectual Soul, which are split into two different forms. One is action and the other is virtue. And the last Good is the Beatific Vision of God.

Michael: I see.

Aquinas: Do you?

Michael: Yes. But I still have no idea of what the Beatific Vision is.

Aquinas: Well….the Beatific Vision is this: Seeing God in his own Essence.

Michael: Oh…that clears things up entirely.

Aquinas: Well I am happy it does.

Michael: You are not familiar with sarcasm are you?

Aquinas: What do you mean?

Michael: Nothing. But I am still confused as to what this vision is. How do we know when we have it.

Aquinas: Well you can not have it in this world.

Michael: Ok….but we are supposed to work toward it throughout our lives right?

Aquinas: That is correct. We must strive toward our end, which is the beatific vision of God. This end is the last end and is the goal of our actions. Anything that causes us to stray from this end is evil.

Michael: But why is the Beatific Vision happiness?

Aquinas: Because every action we take should lead us to this end. Every other action or Good is done in order to fulfill another end. Since the Beatific Vision is the last end it is what will give us happiness.

Michael: Why does it give us happiness?

Aquinas: Because it is our Telos. Once we reach our end we achieve happiness.

Michael: We attain happiness once we have seen the essence of God. But we can’t see that in this world so we will not be happy until we are dead?

Aquinas: In a sense. As long as you have been trying to actualize you’re Telos.

Michael: So I was right when I said that my end was death.

Aquinas: Shut Up!