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A Commentary on Catholic Catechism Articles
Paragraph 27
On Truth And Happiness
- God is truth.
- God is happiness.
- Man desires both of these.
St Thomas Aquinas dives deep into these three statements in his Summa Theologica…and he explains them more fully than we could ever hope to here. But what’s most interesting how they combined truth and happiness in the statement, and how they might seem to contradict each other.
Truth is something absolute in this life and in the next. But the acceptance of truth might seem to hinder our quest for happiness…at least in our time here on earth. The truth that drug abuse damages our mind, body, and soul (taking us further from happiness) doesn’t jive with the feeling we get when we pop a few vicodin or smoke marihuana. Indeed, these things make us happy…they seem to anyway.
But then again, a quick look at those who have abused drugs for extended periods of time reveals the drugs’ true nature. The euphoria we feel when taking drugs is short lived…it eventually becomes a dependence.
Even the effect of pot, which is not physically addictive, changes over time with frequent use. The belly laughing that occurs for new users disappears and they build a tolerance. Instead of having fun, intermediate users just kind of space out…they fool their brains into thinking it’s fun.
Eventually, long time pot smokers graduate to a point where they’re able to fully function while high. I had one user tell me that he’s able to focus better on his art while under the influence. He thought he was sharpening his brain, when in fact he was dulling it. It wasn’t that he was honing in on something, he was blocking everything else out…because his mind was losing its capacity to consider all things.
Every user will claim that they can have fun without the drug. But you rarely (if ever) see them do it. As a matter of fact, they don’t have fun with the drug either. Again, they just fool themselves into thinking they’re happy.
Thus, we see the seductive nature of something that seems to bring happiness, but is opposed to the truth. And this is the real battle of Catholics. To see past our physical passions and our modern definition of happiness. Behind that, we find truth and the real happiness that God intended for us. Generally, they both bring pain.