St Ignatius College - Ignatian Yearbook (San Francisco, CA)

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WHITHERWARD ll when a hundred years are gone by.', So it is with all of usg the thought that we cannot continue to enjoy the good We possess eternally is sufficient to render us dissatisfied and unhappy. How often does the thought it is too good to last cast its shadow over our happiest moments! We can now define the natural desire for happiness as the longing for that state or condition of soul in which all good is present, all evil absent, and there is also present the assurance that the state will continue forever. As we know of this desire, our next consideration must be whether or not it is possible to attain it. A little consideration will show us that every one of our sensuous appetitive faculties can be satisfied fully and completely. The desire for happiness also arises from a faculty, though it is of a higher order than the others. It is but reasonable to state that since there is satisfaction for our sensuous appetities, there must also be satisfaction for our rational appetite. If not, then we can only conclude that man's higher faculties are a mockery and man is really no higher in the hierarchy of being than the animal. It is sometimes said that many do not attain happinessg this is true, but the fact that some do not attain it does not prove that they cannot attain happiness. Hence we can pos- itively state that man can satisfy his desire for happiness. Our next consideration must be where man can find happiness. Will he attain it here or hereafter? Let us consider the present life first. Is there anything in this world capable of satisfying all our desires and thus making us perfectly happy? Wealth is sought by many, but wealth is not the end of our searchg it can only be considered a means to an end. Praise of our fellow-men for what we have done fails to satisfy our desiresg we want more than praise and the accompanying esteem. Furthermore these are not attainable by all of us and so cannot be man's last end. If we turn to sensual pleasures, we find they lower man to

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10 IGNATIAN purpose temporarily while on the way without having given up our original intention to reach the objective point. We are all seeking the good, even at times going to extremes to obtain it. No action can be performed by any rational per- son unless he sees that it will bring him a resultg this result is always a betterment, a good, else the impelling cause for action would be lacking. Sometimes our actions may be bad but the motive which urges us to perform them is the at- tainment of something which is an advantage over what we possess and consequently an apparent good. This good which we all desire is not only material but a higher one as well, for the material is incapable of satisfying the spir- itual. We desire bodily comfort and at the same time yearn for complete mental peace and satisfaction. We may have contentment for material desires, or even in the intellectual field, but contentment is not perfect happiness, it is a par- tial satisfaction resulting more from comparing what we have attained with what was before possessed and realizing that more is not to be obtained, yet signifying that the natural desire has not been completely met. In other words, we must have spiritual as well as material good. Added to this desire for all good, is a demand that there be absolutely no evil present to counteract the good. We are even dissatisfied if we can see some impending evil or some good which we have not attained. We require good and good alone, our happiness must be complete and per- fect, else we cannot be at rest. Besides the two things just mentioned, we must have a third before we are entirely satisfied. Herodotus tells us that Xerxes was happy and congratulated himself when he beheld his ships filling the waters of the Hellespont and his armies covering the sur- rounding shores. But soon he wept, and being questioned, answered: There came upon me, a sudden pity, when I considered the shortness of man's life, and considered that of all this host, so numerous as it is, not one will be alive

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12 IGNATIAN the level of the brute and tend to degrade him. They cannot be man's last end or give him happiness, for happiness can only be found in making himself more nearly perfect. The pursuit and acquisition of scientific knowledge cannot make man happy for his ability is limited and science is finite. Virtue and its practice cannot be man's last end, for virtue is but a means to perfection. All these taken together will not bring perfect happiness, for they are all finite and our happiness, to- be perfect, must endure forever. We can say then, that such happiness is not attainable in this life. Of course, as we have seen, some do reach and all can reach the condition called content. We feel that all of our desires cannot be satisfied and so endeavor to put them aside and make the best of what we have. It must be admitted that we can attain to an imperfect happiness in this life. This state can be and often is reached, but it is not all that is desired nor can it be said to be our last end. It is sometimes charged that man is unreasonable in this desire, that he ought to have moderation in his desires of happiness as in everything else and hence the happiness attainable here should be enough. The falsity of this is apparent. No one will contend that the sick man is un- reasonable in his desire for boundless health. In fact, if someone told us that he only Wanted a moderate amount of health, we would seriously doubt his sanity. If it is not unreasonable for a man to desire perfection in a material good, how can it be unreasonable for him to want perfect immaterial good? This desire is implanted in man, like the seeking after material good, it is part of his nature, an attri- bute ever present demanding satisfaction, never ceasing in its yearning until it attains fulfilment. Since perfect happiness cannot be found here, it must be found hereafter. In the future life we are sure of eternal duration at least. Having this much, We need now only look for an object in the possession of which we will be perfectly