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Now, I want to move into Fr. Chad Ripperger's book which I have been reading and sharing bits on for this post. Fr. Ripperger's use of Aquinas is beyond the scope of this blog, but I want to write two posts connected to Aquinas and the abolition of natural law, directing attention to insanity as a result of sin, and finishing up with a post on the natural law and one's predominant fault.
"We can say that every vice has the ability to take one out of contract with reality. Every vice, therefore, is accompanied by a concomitant defect in the cognitative power. It appears that when the vice wanes, so does the habituation of the cognitative power. Hence, with each vice in the sensitive appetites, there is a concomitant per accidens mental illness in the passive intellect. But, that does not mean that the person has a concomitant per se mental illness since judgment and volition, if not completely compromised, are able to overrule the operations of the cogitative power and reformulate the image properly."
In other words, repeated sin denies natural law in the person and if one goes against nature over and over, one can lose the sense of reality.
Regarding a mentally ill person, Ripperger notes that, "The more he overcomes the vice, the more the bad habits of the cogitative power will be corrupted and the more he will see reality clearly."
One can see this in those who are narcissists. These people have chosen over and over to put themselves at the center of their worlds, a mindset which is completely out of touch with reality. No human being can be the selfish center of an ego-centric world and be sane, as that is not natural to man, who is made to love and serve God.
I do not want to get into the discussion of the unconscious and consciousness of human being, but Ripperger does, referring to Aquinas regarding actions done by men without the attention of the intellect. Unconscious acts do exist in the Thomistic perspective, states Ripperger, but not in the same way Freud and others define or describe these.
Grace can also give unconscious inclinations and activities. But, for the person who refuses to think, reflect upon and use grace, and consistently choose evil, reality begins to slip away, as the person's end, the person's being are being violated by sin.
The faculties of the soul as defined in Aquinas help one understand human actions on the subconscious and conscious levels more than modern psychology, which denies the soul.
Natural law, therefore, can be abolished by habits which are repeated choices of evil. As a person goes against himself, he becomes warped in his sense of reality. Indeed, gross sin causes insanity.
Without grace, anyone can fall into repeated sin, and with grace one can break the habits of sin. Suffering brings sin to the fore and allows a person time and reasons for examination of lifestyles.
Sadly, we now live in a world where sin is so prevalent that insanity reigns.
to be continued....