Is happiness in this life or in the vision of the God’s essence?

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In Summa theologiae Ia IIae, q. 3, a. 8, St. Thomas Aquinas asks, “Whether man’s happiness consists in the vision of the divine essence?”

His answer: For perfect happiness, the intellect needs to reach the very Essence of the First Cause (i.e. God). Thomas’ argument runs like this:

  • Happiness consists in attaining the final good.
  • The final good is the divine essence.
  • Therefore, for perfect happiness the intellect needs to reach the very essence of the First Cause.

Since we cannot attain the beatific vision in this life, we cannot truly know God. In this life, God remains penitus ignotus – absolutely unknown. However, this is only in reference to a univocal understanding of knowning. We do know God by analogy. In this life we know what God is like even though we don’t perceive His essence.

Our knowledge of God in this life is analogical.

It’s worth noting that even the hesychast tradition in the Orthodox Church denies that mystics can see the Divine Essence in this life. Rather, they “see” the “Divine Energies” in this life (whatever that means).

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Category: Thomas Aquinas
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