More on The Virtues: Stupidity and Intelligence Continued...

Here is a long quotation from Garrigou-Lagrange on the virtues. I shall make a list of all forty of the virtues we are to develop in our lives while on earth, or gain through merit via penance and mortification. From Reality-A Thomistic Synthesis....which I did quote before on this blog and have recommended.

The point of this selection has to do with the fact that in order to develop and make a habit of virtue, one must use one's intellect. Virtues do not emanate from the emotions. Virtue forms the emotions to be the servants of the intellect and will.

One chooses to be trained in the virtues, to allow God to bring one to understand virtue in a particular way, such as through suffering or study.

But, learn the virtues we must. Some saints have infused virtue, but for most humans, virtues must be cultivated in cooperation with grace.

However, infused virtue comes after the practice of acquired virtue, in somewhat the same way that infused contemplation follows acquired contemplation.

Those who do not grow in virtue fall back into stupidity.

Stupidity ignores the virtuous life.

Article Two: Classification Of Virtues
Some virtues are intellectual, some are moral, some are theological. The intellectual virtues [1049] are five: three in the speculative order, namely, first principles, science, and wisdom, and two in the practical order, prudence [1050] and art. [1051].
Moral virtues are perfections, either of the will or of the sense appetite. In dividing them St. Thomas is guided by the ancient moralists, Aristotle, St. Ambrose, and St. Augustine. All moral virtues are reduced to the four cardinal virtues: [1052] prudence, justice, fortitude, temperance. Prudence, though it is an intellectual virtue, is likewise a moral virtue, because it guides both the will and the sense appetite in finding the right means in attaining an end. Justice inclines the will to give everyone his due. Fortitude strengthens the irascible appetite against unreasonable fear. Temperance rules the concupiscible appetite.
The theological virtues [1053] elevate our higher faculties, intellect and will, proportioning them to our supernatural end, that is, to God's own inner life. [1054] Faith makes us adhere supernaturally to what God has revealed. Hope, resting on His grace, tends to possess Him. Charity makes us love Him, more than ourselves, more than all else, because His infinite goodness is in itself lovable, and because He, both as Creator and as Father, loved us first. The theological virtues, therefore, are essentially supernatural and infused, by reason of their formal objects, which without them are simply inaccessible.
By this same rule St. Thomas distinguishes the infused moral virtues from acquired moral virtues. [1055] This distinction, of capital importance yet too little known, must be emphasized. The acquired moral virtues do indeed incline us to what is in itself good, not merely to what is useful or delectable. They make man perfect as man. But they do not suffice to make man a God's child, who, guided by faith and Christian prudence, is to employ supernatural means for a supernatural end. Thus infused temperance, say, is specifically distinct from acquired temperance, as, to illustrate, a higher note on the key board is specifically distinct from the same note on a lower octave. Thus we distinguish Christian temperance from philosophic temperance, and evangelical poverty from the philosophic poverty of Crates. Acquired temperance, to continue with St. Thomas, [1056] differs from infused temperance in rule, object, and end. It observes the just medium in nourishment, so as not to harm health or occupation. Infused temperance observes a higher medium, so as to live like a child of God on his march to a life that is eternal and supernatural. It implies a more severe mortification, which chastises the body and reduces it to subjection, [1057] not merely to become a good citizen here below but rather a fellow citizen of the saints, a child in the family of God. [1058].
This same difference between infused and acquired is found likewise in prudence, justice, and fortitude. Yet we must note that acquired virtue facilitates the exercise of infused virtue, as, to illustrate, finger exercises facilitate the musician's art which resides in the musician's intellect.
As the acquired virtues in the will and sense appetite, justice, namely, and fortitude, and temperance, are inseparable from prudence, so the infused virtues are inseparable from charity. Faith and hope can indeed continue to exist without charity, but they no longer exist in a state of virtue, [1059] and their acts are no longer meritorious. And whereas all moral virtues, infused or acquired, must preserve a medium between excess and defect, the theological virtues have no medium properly speaking, because we can neither believe too much in God, nor hope too much in Him, nor love Him too much. [1060]

to be continued...

Be ye perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect.----Matt. 5:48 

Stupidity and Intelligence

Today, I have been musing on what makes people act in a stupid manner.

I know what intelligent actions involve-prayer, reflection, rational discourse, using the gifts of the Holy Spirit given in confirmation, getting advice from a spiritual director, reading, studying the Faith, doing penance.

Intelligence involves the entire person being focused on using the gifts at hand to learn the Faith and use it daily.

We are all made in the image and likeness of God, and the intellectual gift of thinking and decision making using will power-the will being one way we are like God, the other being our freedom and the third, which is the likeness, is grace.

I have written much on grace, so follow the tags, but using one's intellectual capacity to the fullest potential defines being human.

So, what makes people stupid and what does it mean to be stupid?

Second definition first-stupidity is dullness of mind, ignorance, and even obtuse, or stubbornness.

What makes people freely chose to be dull, ignorant and stubborn is, simply, sin.

Stupidity grows out of many sins, in fact, and here is an incomplete list:

lust
sloth
greed
anger
pride
gluttony
envy.....

I hope you recognize these as the seven deadly sins.

Lust consumes the imagination with false idolatry, thus making people dull of mind. Intemperance of thought, such as curiosity, and the chasing of emotional religious experience, are rooted in lust.

Sloth stops growth, makes one give up on holiness and ignores the virtue of studiosity.

Greed consumes one with false gods of money, things, status, power, making one into a beast instead of a thinking human being.

Anger brings about unforgiveness, rash judgements, prejudices, and intemperance, allowing the mind to dwell upon real or imagined hurts.

Pride creates an entire false world by which a person judges everything but themselves. Pride also dulls the mind, the soul, one's conscience.

Gluttony absolutely makes one stupid, as intemperance in food and drink slow down the thought processes and make a person dwell on satisfaction and comfort rather than study or reflection. Those who spend too much time on eating and drinking have little time or inclination for study.

Envy stops mental acuity by causing a person to dwell upon what others have and what others do. Envy causes shallow thinking and gossip, leading a person away from reflection and prayer.

I add fear to this list, as fear deadens the intellect. Fear makes a person fall back into the morass of negative emotions, protection, paranoia and self-preservation, all which stop intellectual growth.

Sin causes stupidity. Not facing and eliminating one's predominant fault causes stupidity. Refusing to follow the wisdom of the ages of Church guidance regarding holiness causes stupidity.

Wanting one's own way over and over and over is just plain stupid.

I incorporate the ideas of an old post to reveal how one can break out of stupidity. Humility is the answer.



Sunday, 22 July 2012

Perfection Series: Our Predominant Fault Two

Posted by Supertradmum

Newark Cathedral in England has some amazing stained glass. The Seven Deadly Sins plus one, 

show that the Medievals were being taught what we moderns have forgotten--that sin binds us to 

Satan and death.

Garrigou-Lagrange states that "it is of primary importance that we recognize our predominant 

fault and have no illusions about it. This is is so much the more necessary as our adversary, the 

enemy of our soul, knows it quite well and makes use of it to stir up trouble in and about us. In the 

citadel of our interior life, which is defended by the different virtues, the predominant fault is the weak spot, undefended by the theological and moral virtues." 

On this picture above,  Envy and Pride are depicted. 

Most of the characters have chains.


Many times we forget who is out to claim us for hell.

Lust and Sloth (who has beads) point to the need for deep, persistent prayer, as do all the other Deadly Sins. Garrigou-Lagrange writes that we must ask God, seek Him, for enlightenment as to one's predominant fault. We must ask him to remove the fault, help us to cooperate with Him is purification. We must be serious about our personal daily examinations of conscience.

What is really tricky is that the fault may seem like a virtue.

He gives us these questions to ask ourselves: "Toward what do my most ordinary preoccupations 

tend, in the morning when I awake, or when I am alone? Where do my thoughts and desires go spontaneously?"

For the sake of our souls, we must be brutally honest with ourselves.

Here is a great question from the Dominican: "What is generally the cause or source of my sadness and joy? What is the general motive of my action, the ordinary origin of my sins...a succession of sins or a state of resistance to grace, notably when this resistance persists for several days and leads me to omit my exercises of piety?" On the right, we see Violence and Gluttony. I would think that Gluttony is one of the most prevalent of the Deadly Sins in the West. That Violence is obvious in certain countries indicates certain people have this fundamental, predominant sin.

If we deny something which someone else points out, it is probably our dominant fault fighting to 

remain hidden to our consciousness. We need grace. We need God.

Satan watches us. He hears us speak. He knows our predominant fault and uses temptations to lead 

us to yet another sin. And, here is the big point, quoting St. John 8:34, made by Garrigou-Lagrange.

"Whosoever committeth sin 

is the servant of sin."

Also, quoting Thomas Aquinas, 

the author states "Every man 

judges of what is good according to his good or evil interior dispositions."


The good priest gives us the example of how the predominant fault becomes our greatest virtue. He shows the text revealing the anger and vengeance of St. John, who later in life, wrote the most beautiful passages on love. 

The "son of anger" became the 

poet and apostle of love. Wrath and Avarice on the right from Newark show contorted souls. Notice 

again the chains.

We have much work to do. Let us pray for good spiritual directors, holy wives and husbands, excellent companions in monasteries and convents, and holy friends to point out our worst flaw and to work on 

the remedy.

For the sake of our souls...to be continued.

What Is Dangerous

For years, pundits, priests and teachers have been explaining what things or people or ideas are dangerous to the Church's success in both evangelization and in maintaining Catholics.

Many things and ideas, like materialism, consumerism, and relativism have been pin-pointed as the greatest danger to the Church.

In my opinion, and this is merely opinion, I think the most dangerous single idea or problem for the Church is stupidity. That people refuse to learn the Faith and incorporate it into their daily lives causes the Church to weaken and even die in some areas.

Stupidity is caused mainly by two things. The first is the lack of study, (see post last week on the virtue of studiosity), and the second is sloth.

Sloth must be one of the most common evils among Catholics, both laity and clergy alike.

To not study the Faith, to ignore the overwhelming amount of information on the net and in books, CDs and DVDs cannot be explained away by a lack of time.

It is a lack of interest, or, simply, laziness.

I talk to people who watch hours of television per week, who talk to friends and text or spend time on Facebook, but never read the Scriptures or take time to pray.

This is dangerous and totally "fixable". In this last week before Christmas, examine how much time is wasted on temporal and ephemeral things, instead of on prayer and study.

Your soul may be in danger.

The Potato Mind vs. the Mind of Christ

I do not mind liberals having good arguments but if they refuse to read or study, I have no time for such laziness of mind. The sin of sloth is a deadly sin.  We forget that this sin applies to the mind as well as the body.

Slothfulness is not merely being a couch potato, but having a potato mind...........stuffed with starch and mush.

Number one rule in apologetics, is that those in conversation with you must be open to reading the REAL teaching of the Catholic Church and not what someone may think is Catholic. Bearing in mind that the majority of Catholic adults are lazy and would rather watch television than read the Bible daily or read what comes from this and the previous Popes, I can hardly start a conversation with GenX.

The Millennials read. Yes, they do. They may be getting all their information on line, but they read.

I have been, as my Protestant brothers and sisters say, edified by the number of Millennials who are trying to find out what the Church REALLY states on many subjects, rather than what the lame secular or even so-called Catholic media states.

Not all newspapers and periodicals deserve our attention.

I shall know when there is a revival of the Faith in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland when I no longer see The Tablet sold in the back of churches.

That day cannot happen too soon.

When I taught Argumentation and Logic, my first rule of thumb for the courses was to teach the students to find reliable sources of information.

Go to the Vatican website, EWTN, and the many blogs on the side of this one. Go to the original sources. Learn which are the reliable commentators

Truth must be sought with a mind open to putting on the mind of Christ.

Arrgghh...the stupidity in NYC

People in this world are killing babies in the womb, blowing each other up with bombs, doing drugs, and enslaving children while the mayor of New York is enforcing the law on soda sizes.

I mean, really............

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SUGARY_DRINKS_LAWSUIT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-01-23-06-18-52

On cops and robbers...oh, dear and bubbles...horrors

When we were kids, it was very common to play cowboys, or cowgirls and Indians, which now, of course, is politically incorrect. If we were "shot", we had to lay down and be quiet until we counted to ten and then get up and join the game again.

We had cowboy and cowgirl hats, holsters and play pistols, fringed vests, boots with logos...the whole enchilada.

Some kids played cops and robbers. We never hurt anyone, or anything, except the dandelions we landed on when "dead".

Am I violent? No. Are my brothers violent? No. Are my old playmates violent? No

People from that group are scientists, doctors, teachers, engineers and none of them have shot anyone.

Now, we have a school district in Maryland suspending boys for playing cops and robbers.

Good grief. Read this below. I grew up getting the Jack and Jill Magazine, an example of this is below. We were and are normal, well-adjusted adults.

But, we also have a sense of right and wrong....

http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2013/01/15/parents-furious-after-young-boys-suspended-after-playing-with-imaginary-weapon/

This is like a friend of mine who did not want her boy growing up with male stereotypical toys. So, the child had no cars or trucks.

One day, in his little chair, at about age two and one-half, he chewed his piece of toast into a car and started saying "zoom-zoom". She gave up and went back to common sense instead of ideologies in raising her kids.

Cops and robbers teach children good and evil. Americans are becoming ridiculous.

Here is the "gun" which caused another incident, here depicted.

http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/

Courageous Pennsylvania School Officials Nab 5-Year Old Terrorist

January 19, 2013 by Dan Mitchell

It appears that my contest between the United States and United Kingdom for the most inane government policy how has to be augmented by a new contest between Maryland and Pennsylvania.

Just yesterday, I mocked Maryland officials for suspending two little boys for the horrific crime of playing cops and robbers (and noted that this is not the first time such stupidity has been displayed by Maryland school officials).

Preferred Weapon of al Qaeda

Apparently, the pencil-neck bureaucrats in Pennsylvania are jealous that their neighbors are getting a lot of attention, so they’ve branded a five-year old girl as a terrorist threat for talking about her pink toy gun that shoots bubbles.

Yes, bubbles.

Here are some of the absurd details from a local news report.

Talking with a friend about a pink toy bubble gun got a five-year-old kindergarten girl in the Mount Carmel Area School District labeled as a terrorist threat, according to an attorney.The incident occurred Jan. 10 while the girl was waiting in line for a school bus, said Robin Ficker, the Maryland lawyer retained by the girl’s family. …Talking with a friend, the girl said something to the effect “I’m going to shoot you and I will shoot myself” in reference to the device that shoots out bubbles.