Thomistic Psychology

After thinking about it for a while, I've come up with a little bon mot toexplain the relationship between the appetites and reason in Thomistic Psychology.

Reason without desire

     seeks nothing;

Desire without reason

     finds nothing.

We always desire the good, i.e. God, but it takes the intellectual powers to direct our desires so that our actions lead us to God. And we have the tremendous ability to know truth with our intellect, but we must enliven our search for truth with our desire. The Christian is a person who truly is in touch with their emotions and desires, and who is simultaneously a person who knows how to use their emotions through reason. If we lead a solely emotional life, we will end up completely unsatisfied, since what we end up gaining is not truth, beauty, or goodness. If we lead a solely intellectual life, we will end up completely unsatisfied since, since we lack the drive to seek truth, beauty, or goodness. Our intellect, then, must harness the emotions, not suppress them, so that the whole human being may be directed towards God.

Thomas has a beautiful quote which I often think about, concerning the intellect, and love, which, for him is an "act of the appetitive faculty." (II-II, 27, 4.)

"Man approaches nearer to God through love than through his reason, because, in love, man does not act himself, but is in a manner of speaking drawn nearer by God himself."

(II-II, 26, 3 and 4)

As a last word, I posit one of Aquinas' most famous prayers, as a true example of the whole person being direct to God:

Grant me, O Lord my God,

a mind to know you,

a heart to seek you,

wisdom to find you,

conduct pleasing to you,

faithful perseverance in waiting for you,

and a hope of finally embracing you.

Amen.