Molding God In Our Image
"Giant face" by fionaandneil
By the goodness of God we mean nowadays almost exclusively His lovingness; and in this we may be right. And by Love, in this context, most of us mean kindness–the desire to see others than the self happy; not happy in this way or in that, but just happy. What would really satisfy us would be a God who said of anything we happened to like doing, ‘What does it matter so long as they are contented?’ We want, in fact, not so much a Father in Heaven as a grandfather in heaven–a senile benevolence who, as they say, ‘liked to see young people enjoying themselves’, and whose plan for the universe was simply that it might be truly said at the end of each day, ‘a good time was had by all’. – C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain
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Perhaps, as Socrates (I think) somewhere suggested, real happiness is the result of being good. If so, the pursuit of happiness is barking up the wrong tree.
Yes, it is Socrates!
In Plato’s Republic, Socrates described the key to happiness is to be a person who is a “seeker…of that study by which he might be able to learn and find out who will give him the capacity and the knowledge to distinguish the good and the bad life…” (618b-618c)
We know Christ Jesus through his life, death and resurrection has the keys to eternal happiness. He provides the everlasting peace that man seeks but cannot find without faith. Man desires God and to be good but does not want to go through the pain. But only through temporary suffering, letting go of one’s ego and by accepting the teachings of the Catholic Church can man become good and be the person in fullness, God intended him to be. “For in this way a human being becomes happiest.” (619a)
Jason – thank you. I thought so!
God bless!
Thank you Christopher for commenting. I am just starting to read Plato’s Republic at a slow pace; a difficult work but very engaging that brings me to a tremble of delight!