It is about thinking well, knowing the truth, and moving towards it. I reach the truth when I know things as they really are. Realism, the only true philosophy, affirms that we are open to things, we know them, and we know reality.
True common sense always gives us the truth. It guides us well. It is essential to be very sensible. Everything that contradicts common sense is false and rejectable. It is never a good way of thinking to be inhuman or not simple.
In today’s world, it is urgent to go beyond technological knowledge and empirical-metric sciences and open ourselves to truly, in-depth thinking, taking an interest in the highest, supreme wisdom, immensely superior to other knowledge.
Many proposals, and many voices reach man. Some are doctrines in accordance with truth and virtue; others, are false or not good ideologies. Error is often disguised as truth, and what is not really good pretends to be so. The wolf is disguised as a lamb. Error is often mixed with truth.
This is well illustrated by the history of philosophy. Indeed, in it, there are diametrically diverse philosophers. Some propose to lead an excellent life, and others do the opposite. Some are light, others darkness, some elevate, and others sink. There are philosophers of such different worth as the materialist Marx and the ardent St. Bonaventure; the philosopher of the absurd, Sartre, and the sun of St. Thomas Aquinas; the skeptic Pyrrho and the universal genius St. Albert the Great; the hedonist Epicurus and the great St. Augustine; etc. Some, like Kant, have deserved that their philosophy be considered the death of reason.
In fact, for a thinker to stand out in the history of philosophy, it is enough that his thought has had a very negative influence on the world, regardless of his intelligence and his actions.
How can we make the right choice, then, among such a variety of thinkers? There is no doubt that the best guide for philosophical studies is Saint Thomas Aquinas, the wisest of the wise and the one who has made the greatest synthesis of Catholic thought.
Only the spirit is of interest. Above all, God. Then, angels and man. Wisdom, the most perfect knowledge, consists above all in knowing God; and, only then, in knowing everything else insofar as it is related to God. Matter, as well as the body, can be of interest as an instrument of sanctification.
Only that which is knowledge of the truth is fully scientific knowledge. Philosophy, like theology, is also true science. Neither the sciences nor philosophy can contradict faith, because faith is truth. There is harmony between common sense, reason, science, philosophy, faith, theology and mysticism.
Christ, because he is God, is infinitely wise. Man can participate in the wisdom of Christ. Only the works of God are wonderful. They are much higher than merely human works. Grace does not create or destroy nature, but perfects and heals it, and presupposes it. Faith is a gift from God that elevates our understanding. Faith is seeing things from the eyes of God. Just as God is much wiser than man, faith is much wiser than reason.
Love surpasses natural intellectual light. Whereas mysticism surpasses theology, because it penetrates the depths of God with a very great love.
For those who have the greatest of ideals – wanting to possess Christ; wanting to be a saint and an apostle and a pious soul and a good professional; wanting to be a man of fire – there are many currents of thought that is too little for them, because they are irreconcilable with the fire of their heart, which always wants to grow more and more. He cares little for what does not serve to sanctify himself, to love. The eyes of the lover of God must remain sky blue, bright, pure, without any mixture of intellectual dross. Only this deserves to fit into this nest! He cares little for what does not have enough truth, goodness and beauty to be able to combine well with the greatest ideals. He is aware that his heart is for burning. This is his great desire!
For such a believer, it is simply Christ who counts. Christ is his everything. Christ is his love. Christ is his life. Christ is the love of his life. He only wants to love. In Christ is his happiness, his joy, his song, his enthusiasm, the youth of his soul. He aims high, he wants everything: he wants God, infinite treasure, compared to whom everything is nothing. He who has God lacks nothing. Only God is enough.
Christ, God-Man, is most holy. The greatest wisdom is wise conduct. That is, to imitate Christ, to be another Christ, to be Christ himself, to model life according to the Catholic faith, to be holy, to do the divine will, to love. The path of wisdom is the path of Christ, the path of holiness, of virtue, of joy and of happiness.
Only love matters. For those who feel loved by the tenderness of God’s paternal love, and who love God fully, every moment is full of meaning and is extremely fulfilling. And this is true both when one hears the Holy Mass and when one is terribly attacked by a bloodthirsty tiger. Because happiness is in loving God and being loved. Furthermore, everything is for the good of those who love God. Existing is wonderful!
In short, in the words of Balmes: “The understanding subjected to the truth; the will subjected to morality; “The passions are subject to the understanding and the will, and everything is enlightened, directed, elevated by religion: this is the complete man, the man par excellence. In him reason gives light, imagination paints, the heart vivifies, religion divinizes.”
