Chapter XXIII. The passions in particular (q. 26—49)

Love is complacency in good. It 1s divided as follows: A. Elicited love, which follows either

1. intellective cognition, in the form of friendship (I love my neighbor for his sake), or in the form of concupiscence (I love for my own advantage); or

2. sense-cognition, either in the form of animal friendship (the hen protecting her brood), or in the form of animal concupiscence (the hungry dog seeking a bone).

B. Innate love, which antecedes all cognition and is identified with the natural inclination of each created being toward its own proper object (the love of a falling stone for its center). Modern authors express this innate natural love by such terms as attraction, affinity, coherence.

Sources of love. ‘The chief source, the object and motive, is sense-good, Two conditions are added: first, cognition, because the object moves only as it is known; secondly, similitude, since every living thing loves that which is like itself. Actual similitude causes the love of friendship, whereby two become one, either by nature or by cooperation. Potential similitude causes rather the love of concupiscence, as found, say, in the disciple toward his master, whose knowledge he desires for himself, whereas the master’s love is that of friendship: as examples, think of Plato loving Aristotle, of Christ loving Peter.

But if, so runs an objection, bricklayers hate one another, similitude is not the cause of love. Similitude, we answer, re-

PASSIONS IN PARTICULAR 331 mains by nature the source of love, while it may still, as an accidental impediment, be the source of dislike and hatred. Quarrels arise, not from similitude, but from pride.

The effects of love. St. Thomas notes six effects. 1. Union. This union is either affective, constituted by love itself, even though the object be absent, or real union, by the presence of the object loved. Affective love moves the lover to seek real union. Thus love for God moves men to desire the beatific vision.

2. Adherence, The lover tries to penetrate into the interior of the loved object, to know it, to find his delight in it.

3- Ecstasy. The lover is drawn outside himself, first by knowledge beyond his proper measure, secondly by affection, whereby he goes forth from himself. This is true even in the love of concupiscence, but much more in the love of friendship. Ecstasy in the saints is a normal effect of their burning love for God.

4. Zeal is an ardor against everything that is opposed to love. In the form of envy, it belongs to the love of concupiscence. In the form of zeal for God’s glory and the salvation of souls, it belongs to the love of friendship.

5. The lover's lesion. Richard of St. Victor seems to say that all intense love is violent. But the love of supreme good, even when intense, is not in itself violent, though it may, by concomitant passion, become violent and inflict a wound on the lover. Similar effects of love appear in “melting of the heart,” that the beloved can enter in; in fruition, if the beloved is present; in languor, if the beloved is absent; in fervor, an intense desire of possession.

6. General influence. Love, the root of all affections, penetrates and animates the lover’s entire life and activity.

Hatred (q. 29) is aversion from evil. It is opposed to love and takes on two forms: abomination (e.g., of cruelty), and enmity (willing evil to a foe). Hatred is born of love, since only something which we love can make its contrary hateful.

Desire (q. 30), often called concupiscence, is affection to- ward an absent good. Its opposite is flight. Can concupiscence be infinite? St. Thomas distinguishes. Natural concupiscence (e.g., for food or for sexual pleasure) can never be infinite actually, though it can be infinite potentially: “He who drinks of this water shall thirst again.” But unnatural concupiscence, which follows, not sense, but wrong reason, is altogether infinite, since reason has no bounds, and can seek infinite beatitude, not in the infinite God, but in finite things, for instance, in riches. Thus a man may desire to be rich without any limit. Reason apprehends the universal, hence man’s concupiscence, when disordered, is greater than concupiscence in brutes, because man, even in dealing with lower goods, seeks, as it were unconsciously, an infinite good. Such love often turns into hatred, because finite good cannot give infinite beatitude.

Delight (q. 31-34). Delectation is the rest which follows possession. When possession comes by the intellect, this rest and quiet is called joy. This rest in the possessed good is not cessation from all act, but is a state of complacency in the good attained. Delight is something positive, not merely cessation of pain, as was maintained by Epicurus, Kant, Schopenhauer, and other pessimists.

Plato says that delight is motion rather than rest. St. Thomas ' answers: Since motion is an uncompleted act, delight would not be the ultimate perfection. But experience shows that delight, especially intellectual delight, joy in truth at last attained, is the ultimate emotion. St. Thomas adds that Plato failed to distinguish the ultimate objective end, which is God, from the ultimate subjective end, which is the possession of God, a possession which is followed by supreme delight and joy. Here lies the golden middle way between Epicurus and Plato. Delight is not cessation of pain, nor motion toward good, but rest in the goal now attained.

Is intellectual delight greater than sense-delight? In itself, yes, because it is more noble, solid, and penetrating. But in

PASSIONS IN PARTICULAR 333 relation to man in his present state, sense-delight is greater, because it is more easily experienced, particularly in its corporeal effects, in its remedial power against pain and sadness. Hence men who cannot reach spiritual joy, which belongs to the virtuous, turn aside to corporeal delight.

Scholion. What is the source of those abnormal perversions which sometimes afflict men, such as delight in eating dust or charcoal, or in bestial and sodomistic intercourse? These corruptions of nature arise from one of two sources: a bodily disease or evil dispositions of soul.?

Causes of delight (q. 32). Six causes are assigned: 1. harmonious activity; 2. variety, change; 3. hope; 4. memory; 5. congenial association; 6. wonder and admiration. But these six sources are not exhaustive. Active love of neighbor is a never-ending source of joy. Service to fellow men reacts on our own legitimate self-love, teaches us to grow in overflowing charity, enables us to penetrate this teaching of Christ, quoted by St. Paul: It is better to give than to receive.

The effects of delight (q. 33): expansion of the heart; thirst (“he who drinks of this water will thirst again”); hindrance to the use of reason, if the delight is corporeal and vehement. But, in general, delight is the perfection of operation, as beauty is of youth.

Delights, good and evil (q. 34). Delight is good if its object is good and reasonable, otherwise it is evil. The highest kind of delight is delight in truth, especially delight in God possessed in eternal life. Man is judged good or evil by the objects that give him joy. He who rejoices in earthly things is earthly, he who rejoices in heavenly things is heavenly. He who rejoices in God is God’s son and God’s friend.

Sadness and pain (q. 35-39). Pain is a motion of the senseappetite, arising from the apprehension of present evil. It must not be confused with physical evil, which is a privation in the organism. Pain is something positive, a motion of the sense-appetite, opposed to delight. Sadness is a special kind of z Q.31, 2.7.

pain, as joy is a species of delight. Contemplation itself is faced with no contrary sadness, though it may be impeded by bodily weariness.

Speaking per se, the desire of delight is stronger than aversion from sadness, because good is willed for its own sake, but evil is shunned as a privation of good. All natural motion is more intense as it approaches the goal. But per accidens we shun sadness more than we desire delight, since sadness impedes every kind of delight. Similarly mental pain is in itself keener than bodily pain, just as spiritual delight is in itself higher than sense-delight. But quoad nos the contrary is true, because exterior pain is felt more keenly.

There are four species of sadness: (a) compassion, which is sadness for our neighbor’s evil; (b) envy, sadness at our neighbor’s good; (c) anxiety, which sinks the soul in present evil; (d) sloth, which weighs man down in the face of duty that seems to be too heavy. From sloth comes laxity, intellectual or spiritual.

Causes of sadness. We distinguish four causes: (a) loss; (b) concupiscence, whereby delay saddens us; (c) love, desiring a union not yet attained; (d) external power, that keeps us from our goal.

Effects of pain. Pain (a) lessens the power to learn; (b) weighs on the soul; (c) weakens operation or even impedes.

Remedies of sadness. Sadness is mitigated in many ways: by opposite joys, by weeping and mourning, by the compassion of friends, by sleep, by the contemplation of truth and future beatitude.

Sadness, good and evil. Though sadness is in itself a kind of evil, sadness over sin is good. Blessed are they who mourn. Such sadness acts like medicine. The greatest evil is not the sadness of punishment, but the sadness of guilt. From the concupiscible passions we now pass to the irascible passions.

Hope and despair (q. 40). Hope arises from a loved object, hard to attain. Its opposite is despair, which considers at-

PASSIONS IN PARTICULAR 335 tainment impossible. Hope, properly speaking, rests on man’s own power, whereas expectation looks to help from others. Hope is abundant in youth, and in the state of inebriety, in those who lack experience of difficulties, easily supposing they will obtain what they want. Descartes, in his youth, fondly hoped to re-create all philosophy!

Hope and love. Hope in relation to its object is caused by the love of concupiscence. But in relation to the person through whom that object is expected to be attained, it leads to love and friendship. ‘Thus the theological virtue of hope disposes us for charity, and it presupposes faith.

Hope aids operation, first because its object is good and though difficult to obtain, still possible; secondly because it evokes delight, which aids operation.

Fear (q. 41—44) is a motion of the appetite faced with evil that cannot easily be resisted. The species of fear are six: discouragement (fears the burdens of duty), shame, regret, hesitation, stupor, agony (there is no escape).

Fear of punishment differs from fear of guilt. Man can fear even fear, just as he can love love. Fear arises, not only from love, but also from experience of our own defects. Fear has many effects: shrinking, paleness, loss of voice, dryness of throat, hair standing on end, unconsciousness, even sudden gray hair. Fear uncontrolled leads to despair.

Audacity (q. 45) is a motion whereby the soul goes out to conquer a great evil, here and now imminent. Such victory is necessary to attain the purpose of hope. Animals which have a small heart, says Aristotle, are audacious, while those that have a large heart are timid, And lovers of wine are distinguished by audacity.

How does audacity differ from fortitude? The audacious are more prompt to begin than to sustain, because of perils they did not anticipate. Comparing the two acts of fortitude, to attack and to sustain, we find that the latter is more important and more difficult. The brave differ from the auda- cious in this: In beginning, they seem to be remiss, because they attack, not with passion, but with deliberation. But actually faced with danger, they resist better.

Anger (q. 46-48) is an appetite for vengeance, accompanied by heat around the heart. Anger has no passion contrary to itself, because it deals with evil difficult to avoid and already present. In this situation the soul either sinks down in sadness, or by anger conquers the evil. Anger is natural by the law of self-preservation. Mildness, on the contrary, is less natural, and is a virtue to be acquired. The physical disposition to anger is a choleric temperament.

Anger, though it is much less grave than hatred, is much more impetuous. Hatred wills evil to neighbor as his evil, but anger considers this evil as a right required by justice. The angry man, after accomplishing vengeance, feels mercy, but not so the man who hates.

The species of anger are two: bitterness and fury. Fury never rests till it has finished its task of punishment. The angry man, says Aristotle, is sharp, bitter, and difficult to deal with. ,

Causes of anger. The principal cause is contempt for our neighbor, arising from the thought of our own excellence. Hence men in high station are prone to anger, as are also rich men, orators, and poets. Sickly people are disposed to anger, since they are more easily saddened.

The effects of anger are four: delight in the hope of vengeance, rush of blood to the heart, disturbance of mind and body, taciturnity.

Thus we conclude the treatise on the passions. Passions are to be regulated by reason: “Under thee shall be thy appetite.” Passions, thus regulated, become virtues, in the form of temperance and fortitude. Acquired virtues are a participation in the light of reason, and infused virtues are a participation in the uncreated light of God. But if the passions, intended as servants and handmaids, act instead as masters and mistresses, they become vices and corruptions.

SIXTH PART

HABITS