After a delightful dinner with friends, somebody brings out a tray of cookies. I help myself to one, and then to another. I am now full, but I still want to eat another. Why? How can this be possible? All men by nature desire happiness. But the happiness which we desire is not a certain … Continue reading Thomas Aquinas Explains why I can Always Eat Another Cookie
A friend recently gave me a Star Wars button with the the phrase “I find that answer vague and unconvincing.” While wearing it at school the other day, I realized that a large part of my job is communicating this to students, helping them see why it is the case, and what a sufficient answer … Continue reading Vague and Unconvincing
There is not much I can say about Joe Gargery of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations or about Mr. George of Bleak House. The goodness and simplicity of these men makes them shine out like stars on a cold winter’s night. Only, these stars give warmth. I will make only the conjecture that Dickens saw in these men, as … Continue reading The Great Men of Dickens
Here are two arguments why ideas are not themselves bodies. First, before God created, he knew all that he would make. If ideas are bodies, than bodies would have existed in God from eternity. Second, we can imagine a closet filled with clothing (shirts, pants, etc.). The closet does not know what is in it. … Continue reading Why Ideas are not Bodies
How do we know man is innately mathematical?
Continue reading “Mr. Spun’s Truly Terrible Awful Jokes: #32”
Father Ferapont does not need to eat bread; he can live off of mushrooms. Unlike the other monks of his monastery, he keeps the true fast. He is impervious to the desires of the flesh. In Brothers Karamazov, this monk represents the terrible danger of spiritual strength–a self-sufficiency which masquerades as holiness. Through Ferapont, Dostoevsky depicts … Continue reading Sanctification as Unity in Brothers Karamazov
