Chapter 163 — What sort of activity will belong to the risen

We go on to consider what sort of activity risen men will have. Each living being must have some activity that mainly engrosses its attention, and its life is said to consist in this occupation. Thus those who give their time to pleasure more than anything else are said to lead a life of pleasure; those who give their time to contemplation are said to lead a contemplative life; and those who devote their time to civil government are said to lead a political life. We have shown that risen men will have no occasion to use food or the reproductive functions, to which all bodily activity seems to be ordered. But, even if the exercise of bodily functions ceases, there remain spiritual activities, in which we have said that man’s ultimate end consists; and achieving this end befits the risen once they are freed from their condition of corruption and changeableness. Of course, man’s last end does not consist in spiritual acts of just any sort, but in the vision of God according to his essence, as was shown above. Now, God is eternal; hence the intellect joined to God must be joined with eternity. Accordingly, just as those who give their time to pleasure are said to lead a life of pleasure, so those who acquire the vision of God possess eternal life, as is indicated in John 17:3: This is eternal life, that they know thee the only true God.