Man's Last End
1. The End Man Seeks
1. Alone among earthly creatures, man is master of his acts. The distinctively human characteristic is the exercise of free will. Hence free will acts are human acts. A free will act is any thought, word, deed, desire, or omission which comes from a man acting with full knowledge of what he is doing, who is free to act or to refrain from action, and who gives the full assent of his will to the act. Only such an act is a human act in full perfection. Other acts performed by a man, but inadvertently, or without full knowledge, freedom, and choice, are indeed acts of a man, but they are not human acts. Since human acts are free will acts, and since free will acts are acts chosen and performed in view of an end or purpose or goal, it is evident that human acts are acts for an end, that is, acts done for the purpose of attaining an end. The common phrase for such acts is, "acts to an end," the word to meaning towards or in view of.
2. Now, it is true that all acts of every being are acts to an end. Every agent (doer, actor, performer) acts to an end. There is purpose in every activity. But only man, among earthly creatures, chooses or moves himself to an end by exercising free will.
3. That which gives a thing its essential character is said to specify the thing. Now, what gives human acts their essential character is the fact that they are freely chosen for a purpose-an end to be attained. That which specifies any single human act is the end or purpose it seeks to achieve. Hence we say that a human act is specified by its end.
4. There is one ultimate end and purpose to be attained by human beings, and to this end all human acts tend.
5. The ultimate end towards which man tends in all his human acts is his crowning good, his ultimate and perfect fulfillment. This is a single end; man cannot possibly tend to several last ends.
6. Back of all his free will acts is man's drive towards supreme and universal good, wholly complete, perfectly satisfying. Even in his sinful acts, a man is seeking good, that is, satisfaction, although he is perversely seeking it in the wrong place. All individual choices, all separate human acts, are as steps (real or apparent) towards the supreme good, just as every step in every stairway is a step upwards. Whatever man freely wills, he wills to the last end.
7. All human beings have the same nature, that is, the same human essence equipped for normal human operations. Therefore all men have the same last end, the same ultimate goal. This last end is complete and enduring satisfaction or fulfillment; such fulfillment is called beatitude or happiness. But all men do not agree about the precise things in which their fulfillment and consequent happiness are to be found. Some think to attain the end by becoming rich, some by enjoying pleasures, some by exercising power, some by being praised and honored, and so on. It is as though all men were determinately set to reach a certain city, but were not all in agreement about the right road they must take to get there. In this case, surely, prudence suggests that the men of soundest and most studious judgment should be permitted to indicate the way.
8. All men seek fulfillment or satisfaction, that is, all seek beatitude or happiness. This is the subjective last end of man; it is to be in man as in its subject; for the subject of anything is that reality in which the thing resides or takes place. Now, the objective last end of man is the object which, when possessed, will give him happiness. The objective last end of man, the object he seeks to attain so that he may have perfect satisfaction in it, is the infinite good. The infinite good is God. Man seeks God in all his human acts inasmuch as in all these acts he seeks what will please, and satisfy, and fill up needs and desires, and crown his human quest with enduring joy. In this, man differs from all other earthly substances, minerals, plants, animals. For, while all these things are the products of divine goodness and exist to reflect and manifest that goodness, they do not seek to attain the infinite good subjectively; only man does that. Hence man does not have the active concurrence of earthly creatures in his own ultimate quest of God and eternal happiness.
2. Where Happiness is Found
1. Man's happiness is not to be found in wealth, whether this be natural wealth which serves his normal needs (such as food, clothing, housing), or artificial wealth which can provide the items of natural wealth, that is, money. Wealth of any kind is a means for acquiring something else; it is a thing that serves; it does not fulfill. Hence it cannot be the true last end of man and the object that will render him enduringly and completely happy.
2. Nor can man's full happiness consist in honors bestowed because of some excellence in him. Any excellence in a man is in him by reason of some good already possessed; it means that he already has some degree of happiness. Honors come to him because of this happiness, and therefore honors cannot themselves be the constituting elements of perfect happiness.
3. Nor can man's happiness be found in fame and glory. These, like honors bestowed, presuppose some degree of happiness already attained, and this they publicize and praise. Fame and glory are consequent upon an imperfect happiness, and are, in some sense, the product of it. They cannot, therefore, be the essential elements of perfect happiness.
4. Man's perfect happiness cannot consist in the possession of power, for power is not a complete end, but a means; power is valuable according to the use to which it may be put. In a word, power looks on to something further; it cannot itself be the ultimate goal.
5. Man's ultimate happiness does not consist in goods of the body- life, health, strength, beauty, agility, etc.-for these goods preserve the body and its perfections. Merely to preserve life cannot be the end of life. Goods of the body are to be used by reason (intellect and will) somewhat as a ship is used by its master; the master does not use the ship merely to preserve the ship, but to carry profitable cargoes to desired ports. Thus it appears that the goods of the body are means, not complete ends. Besides, man is a rational being as well as a bodily being; he can never be completely fulfilled and satisfied by bodily goods.
6. Pleasures, whether bodily or intellectual, cannot bring a man ultimate happiness. We have just seen that bodily things cannot be man's perfect fulfillment. And mental enjoyments presuppose the end already attained; enjoyment follows upon possession of some good or end; what is consequent upon the end cannot itself be the end.
7. The goods of the soul-its essence, faculties, acts, habits, perfections-cannot constitute man's ultimate end. Happiness is for the soul, and to be attained by the soul. The objective ultimate happiness is something outside the soul, which the soul seeks to bring into itself and possess subjectively. Hence this ultimate end is not the soul itself, nor the goods belonging to the soul.
8. Indeed, no created good can give man perfect happiness. Only the essential, universal, and boundless good can bring man complete and unfading fulfillment. No created good is universal, essential, and boundless; only the uncreated good can be the ultimate end of man. And this uncreated good is God.
3. What Happiness Is
1. Ultimate subjective happiness is the state of fulfillment and satisfaction in a person who has obtained the end for which he is made. Ultimate objective happiness is the reality which, when possessed, will render the possessor subjectively happy by completely fulfilling and satisfying his entire nature. God is man's objective happiness. Possession of God in the beatific vision is man's ultimate subjective happiness.
2. Man's subjective happiness is a state and an operation. As a state, it is the permanent possession of fulfillment. As an operation, it is an act by which man lays hold of, and possesses, the object which renders him happy.
3. As an operation, man's ultimate subjective happiness is an operation of the intellective faculties, not of the senses. The senses cannot behold God in the beatific vision. Yet, as St. Augustine says, after the general resurrection, when souls and their bodies have been reunited, the happiness of the soul will overflow into the senses and make their operation perfect.
4. Man's ultimate subjective happiness, as an operation, is an act of intellect rather than an act of will. St. John (17:3) says, "This is eternal life, to know thee. . . ." Yet the delight or enjoyment consequent upon the attainment of happiness belongs to the will. The intellect possesses the object which gives happiness; the will rests delighted in its possession.
5. The intellect is speculative inasmuch as it knows and contemplates truth; it is practical inasmuch as it knows how to go after and possess good. Man's ultimate happiness is possessed in heaven; it is no longer sought after. Hence the act of ultimate happiness is an act of the speculative intellect.
6. The knowledge which a man acquires during earthly life, such as scientific and philosophical knowledge, will be, in heaven, an accidental item in his perfect happiness, but not an essential element of that happiness.
7. In heaven a man will have some happiness from contemplating the angels, but his pure and perfect happiness must come from contemplating God in the beatific vision. Man's intellect, which possesses the vision with the aid of the light of glory, is made for truth, and God alone is essential truth. God alone is the boundless fulfillment of the human intellect, as he is of the entire human nature.
8. Only in the beatific vision will the human intellect find its perfect object. Possessing this object, the intellect will have nothing further to desire or to seek.
4. Requisites for Happiness
1. The perfect happiness which man will have by the operation of the speculative intellect as it beholds God in the beatific vision, will be accompanied by rest and enjoyment of the will; in this consists the joy and delight of heaven.
2. In the act of happiness, the operation of the intellect ranks above the delight of the will, for the will's fruition or enjoyment depends upon the intellect's beholding of God in vision.
3. During earthly life man is a wayfarer, a traveler on the road, one whose journey is not yet completed; he is a viator. In heaven, the journey is over, and man beholds God; he is a comprehensor. This name does not indicate that man actually comprehends God in the full sense of the word comprehend; for, as we saw early in our studies, to comprehend means to know all that is knowable about an object known, and such knowledge can be found only in the infinite mind of God. Man in heaven is a comprehensor in the sense that he has now a direct and intuitive knowledge of the divine essence itself. The happiness of man in heaven involves three things: vision or direct and intuitive knowledge of God, man's last end; comprehension or the present possession of God, the last end; and fruition or delight of the will in the last end possessed.
4. Happiness cannot be perfectly attained without Tightness or rectitude in the will, for this sets the will in proper alignment with the supreme good, and makes the will love what it loves in perfect subordination to God. In such subordination consists the perfection of the human will, and without this perfection man cannot be perfectly happy.
5. Man's ultimate happiness is essentially an operation of the intellect which is a faculty of the soul. Therefore the body is not essential to man's ultimate happiness. But there is a connatural tendency in each soul to in-form its own body, and if this tendency is defeated, there is a certain imperfection in the soul.
6. In the present life, a well-disposed body is required for earthly happiness. And, while the body, as we have seen, is not essential to the soul's happiness in heaven, it will be supplied to the soul at the general resurrection. Then the body itself will attain full perfection, and will contribute as an accidental factor to the happiness of the complete man in glory.
7. External goods, such as food, drink, and property, which are required in due measure for earthly happiness, will not be required at all in heaven. When souls and bodies are reunited at the general resurrection, human bodies will be spiritualized and will no longer have material or animal needs.
8. In heaven, the fellowship of friends is not essential to man's happiness, for God is all-sufficing. Yet doubtless friends will be loved and their fellowship will be enjoyed in God.
5. The Attainment of Happiness
1. Man is manifestly made for happiness or fulfillment. His mind or intellect grasps the notion of universal good; his will tends to it. And the all-good God who made man has not given him deceiving gifts of mind and will. Happiness must be attainable.
2. In heaven, the objective happiness of man is God, and hence the happiness of heaven is objectively one. But subjectively one man can be happier than another in heaven, for one man may have a greater capacity (because of greater charity and a consequently larger endowment of the light of glory) for the happiness of heaven. Capacities will vary, but all capacities will be completely filled up.
3. In the present earthly life man may attain a degree of happiness, but cannot have perfect happiness. On earth limitations and drawbacks are associated with happiness. Only God possessed in beatific vision can make man perfectly happy, and this vision cannot be had in earthly life.
4. Once perfect happiness has been attained, it cannot be lost. For perfect happiness fills up man's capacity and all his appetites for good; there is no tendency left in man which might lead him astray and cause him to reject his happy state.
5. Man's natural powers can bring him happiness, but not perfect happiness, for man's nature tends to what it cannot itself achieve; it tends to, needs, and desires the supernatural. Man's true end is supernatural, and is to be attained only by the aid of grace in this life, and the elevating and enlightening light of glory in heaven.
6. Only God can confer upon the soul in heaven the supernatural gift and grace called the light of glory which raises and illumines the intellect to enable it to behold God in his divine essence as the beatific vision. No angel or other creature can serve as intermediary in the bestowal of this gift of the light of glory; it is bestowed directly and immediately (that is, without intermediary) by God himself.
7. From a man who spends a period of responsible life on earth, good works are required for the attaining of heaven. The will must choose the good it wishes to attain, and the will expresses its choice by its acts. To attain heaven, the will must choose and exercise works of virtue. Each meritorious work represents a step towards the supreme good.
8. All men have a connatural and inescapable desire for their own fulfillment, for their crowning good and what it will give them; that is, all men necessarily crave happiness, complete and unending. Although all men do not have the right notion of what true happiness is, and of how it is to be attained, all men, without exception, crave it.