What is Happiness? Exploring Aristotle and Aquinas on Desire and Virtue

Defining Happiness

• 💡 Happiness is defined as achieving what you desire, reaching your desires in a specific way.
• 🎯 If you are still hungering for something you lack, you are not perfectly happy, as you are still missing something.

The Impact of Sin on Desire

• 🧠 Aquinas explains that after sin, human beings experience disorder, with their minds rebelling against God.
• ⚠️ This rebellion leads to the lower parts of a person rebelling against their mind, resulting in disordered desires.
• 😔 The experience of knowing the right thing but struggling internally about whether to do it is painful and makes one unhappy, indicating a will divided against itself.

Freedom Through Grace and Virtue

• ✨ Experiencing God's grace can free individuals from disordered desires, leading to a unified heart and a sense of freedom.
• ✅ Following divine law, coupled with a genuine desire to do so, brings freedom, joy, and beauty, contrasting with previous unhappiness.
• 🌳 Secular individuals can also experience similar internal peace and self-mastery through the acquisition of natural virtues like temperance and self-control.

Human vs. Supernatural Good

• ⚖️ Aquinas distinguishes between human good and supernatural good; one can achieve humanly good things without divine grace.
• 🛠️ Examples of human good include building a business, feeding a family, acquiring natural justice and temperance, and being courageous or a good friend.
• 🚀 However, without grace, one cannot order themselves toward God as an adopted son or daughter, nor can they live a supernatural life heading towards heaven.