00:00
this is what I'll attempt to do in the talk and what I hope that you will
continue to do afterwards and I'm convinced that the helpfulness
of Thomas's account in the in the sphere is also a sign of its truth
the structure of the talk is going to be funnel shaped fitting with the Y part
and then ending with a narrow end that's hard to clean there will be four parts
and in each part I'll begin by presenting Thomas's principles and then
follow some proposals for how we might translate that into action
part one is going to look at what kind of a thing an emotion is in general
part two is going to look at some of the
distinctions that Thomas draws among the 11 basic emotions that he recognizes
part three we'll look at how emotions can be disordered and then part four
we'll look at how disorder and emotions can be reduced to the influence of the

00:01
intellect and the little before jumping into the funnel I'd like
to make a disclaimer regarding my claim that this talk is a to Mystic take
my comments are indeed drawn from Thomas's accounts of the emotions as
opposed to Pixar's moving inside out which only identifies five emotions
and also as opposed to Saint bonaventure's account which denies that
the emotions will be the subject of virtue
nonetheless I'm giving a tonistic take rather than Thomas's take
since there are a few aspects of the talk in addition to the recruitery that
Thomas wouldn't recognize as his home so first I'll be arranging Thomas's
comments differently than he did in order to Cobble together what I think
Thomas would have said if he had asked asked the question that
I'm going to ask namely what can we do to facilitate the

00:02
reordering of disordered emotions the second thing that I don't think
Thomas would recognize is the phrase emotional Tunes
I hope that the surface meeting of tumultuous emotions is clear these are
the emotions that disturb us because they create commotion in us that isn't
necessarily desired there are two ways that emotions can be
tumultuous and I intend to use the phrase to refer to them both
emotions are tumultuous in one way when they're disordered that is when they're
disproportionate to the way things are in another way certain emotions are
tumultuous by their very nature anger and fear for example arise in us
when we're facing some evil that's difficult to overcome they incline us to move
anger to move forward and fear inclines us to flee
so throughout the talk I'll showcase these these two peculiarly tumultuous

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emotions in my examples and choosing two because I would be all
over the place if I tried to deal with all 11. and I'm choosing these two
because they're a tumultuous character makes them very easy to recognize in our
own experience also because anger and fear jointly
depict some of the breadth of our emotional experience
according to The Cutting Edge 13th century biology
the bodily expressions of fear and anger are opposites fear
is expressed in the contraction and the cooling of the humors around the heart
and anger is expressed by the expansion and the heating or the boiling of the
blood around the heart also on my account uh am I reading a
Thomas's account anger and and two kinds of fear namely anxiety and shame
collectively concern our attention to evil in the past the present and the

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future State shame focuses us on what will come because of past events
anger focuses on a present evil and then anxiety on the future evil
here ends the disclaimers and the introduction and here Begins the final
part one what an emotion is in general Thomas's definition of emotion is you
the inclination of the appetite in response to the apprehension of
something as good or bad I'll look at the four elements of this
definition but out of order just to be a little tumultuous
first we'll look at the power of apprehension
second the object that we apprehend which is the I'm calling it something as
good or bad third the power of appetite and then
fourth and the expression of this appetite which I'm calling an inclination

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apprehension by means of our powers of apprehension
we engage Reality by receiving it is to say by becoming aware of reality
as ordered our awareness of reality includes an
awareness of the physical appearances of things and also an awareness of the
meaningfulness of God Thomas would put it this way we're capable of both sensory
apprehension and intellectual apprehension where do these show up in ordinary
experience imagine Jack six-year-old kid standing alive at Starbucks
with his parents while the sensory level Jack is aware of
the smell of coffee and caramel the sound of a milk frother and the sight of
one of those little green spill sticks on the floor
on an intellectual level Jack is aware that when his parents don't have coffee

00:06
they're not as fun to be around that the milk frother sounds like it's
broken but it's not and that the little green spill stick
shouldn't be on the floor this is to say on the intellectual level
Jack can apprehend not only how things are and have been related but also why
they're related how they might be related and how they
note that Jack's awareness isn't such that he first smells cures and sees and
then afterwards thinks his awareness of the sensory and
intelligible features of things rather is integrated
you'd be a very weird kid if it weren't the next part of the definition of
emotion is the object of apprehension being something that we perceive as good
or bad according to Thomas we don't apprehend
just a unified something comprised of sensory and intellectual
engine is filtered so to speak by our judgments and our memories of what is

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good and evil for us this is to say in ordinary experience we
never have pure apprehension completely divorced from our concern about what it
is what isn't good Pleasant useful or Noble let's go back to Jack
suppose that Jack aspires to be a medieval Knight
in his book anything is good if it involves armor swords and loud noises
when Jack sees the green spill stick he immediately regards it as good because
it's resemblance to a sword is unmistakable or at least to someone who is always
thinking about sorts but suppose Jack's younger sister Jill
is also standing in line two sees spill stick
but because Jill recently received a shot which was Pleasant because the
spill stick also looks like a needle Jill regards a spill stick as

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do Jack and Jill see the same object in my respect yes
materially speaking they see the same bit of matter
Thomas call this stable dimension of what is apprehended the material object
material here doesn't mean physical but rather the thing that I'm aware of apart
from my evaluation of that thing in another respect however Jack and Jill
don't see the same object Jack and Jill's apprehension is
radically tailored to their own memories and judgments
they perceive the material object through the lens of those memories and
judgments Thomas call these lenses the formal object
the material and formal objects taken together is called the intentional object

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s there will be a quiz for our purposes in this talk there are
three things to note about the intentional object
first everything that we apprehend is an intentional object we never apprehend
the material object apart from the lenses of our experience and judgments
this is just a feature of human apprehension we can't take off the lenses
these lenses are necessary and a good part of our apprehension
they allow us to perceive things instantaneously
as something with which we are already involved
the lenses prevent us from assuming a merely speculative disengaged and
observing posture second every intentional object is unique and unrepeatable
intentional objects can be similar either across time or between persons
but they always differ in so far as each active apprehension potentially adds
another layer to the lens the third intentional objects are what

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set our appetite in motion they they so to speak browse
our appetite into activity and this brings us to the next part of the definition
according to Thomas appetite is an inherent tendency to move toward what
reapprehend is good and away from what opposes that good
there are four things that Thomas says about appetite that I'd like to note
first appetite is a passive power it's to say it's brought into action
only by the apprehension of an object of an intentional object
somewhat like our sense of smell our appetite is dormant so to speak until it
is awakened by the awareness of slightly burnt coffee needs
in our example as long as Jack doesn't see the sword
he won't be inclined to pick it up and play with it

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it's not so much out of sight out of mind as out of apprehension out of appetite
that will catch on because it doesn't mean
second Thomas speaks about appetite as active in so far as what is activated it
inclines us to move toward what appears to be good and away from what I posted
that could appetite is active because it's a principle of our movement
when Jack does see the sword his appetite inclines him to make
and make little sword noises third Thomas doesn't believe that we
need to separate appetites to draw us toward good things and to drive us away
from Bad Things following Saint Augustine Thomas regards
evil as nothing other than the privation of good
as such our appetite for good is sufficient to repulse us from the
absence of that good it's the same inherent orientation
toward good that inclines Jack toward the green sword and away from the

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watchful eyes of his parents who if they saw him would certainly tell him to put
the dirty sword back on the ground and a brief aside here
contemporary Neuroscience classifies responses as yum yuck and meh
young and yuck clearly correlate to good and bad but how would Thomas explain
that [Music] close that aside fourth while Thomas doesn't pause at
separate appetites for good and bad he does believe that we have separate
appetites for the good and bad sensory features of things on the one hand and
the good and bad intelligible features of things on the other hand
roughly speaking the sense appetite is our inherent tendency toward what the
sense is and sense memory presents as good and the intellectual appetite where

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the will is our inherent tendency toward what the intellect presents as good
rather than thinking of these appetites as inclining us towards different good
things it's more appropriate to think of the sense appetite as being inclined to
a more limited class of what we call good since appetite inclines us to what is
pleasant and to what's useful for getting these Pleasant things while the
intellectual appetite inclines us to what is good in any way whether it's
Pleasant useful or Noble Although our ordinary experience is
almost always the combined work of both appetites and the exceptions to be the
very very young and the very very drunk we might say that it's Jill's sense
appetite that inclines her away from my current senses present to her body as uh
present to her as harmful to her body and we might say that it's Jack's
intellectual appetite that implies him toward what his intellect presents to

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him as fun probably a mix of both Pleasant and devils
the fourth and final part of the definition of emotion is inclination
Thomas distinguishes between appetite itself and its movements
appetite is the power to Incline us toward the apparent good and away from
apparent evil and an emotion is the exercise of that power
let's just say the actual experience of being inclined
let's make this a little less mysterious with an example and some distinctions
the example Jill has the power to do the splits on the floor at Starbucks
this is a real capacity that exists in her and not a mere logical possibility
but this power real though it is is different from its exercise
from her actually doing the splits and some distinctions there are three

00:15
in case you're as into counting as I obviously can
first an inclination isn't a decision or choice
an inclination differs from a decision in that an inclination is not directly
under our control while a decision is so by definition
an inclination moreover isn't a sufficient movement to lead to action
their decision is the inclination to do the splits only
leads to actually doing the splits if Jill decides to do the splits or does an
exercise for power to resist that inclination
second an inclination isn't an external Jill would be recommended for doing the
splits but not for merely being inclined to do that
third Thomas distinguishes between three
kinds of inclinations depending on where they originate

00:16
Thomas called the inclination that begins in the body and then expresses
itself in the soul a passion of the body we would probably call these feelings
by illustration if Jack Still is very very hot chocolate on his hand while
pretending to offer the hot chocolate chocolate to the king
he would first feel pain in his body and then afterward would feel sad in it
about it Thomas calls an inclination that begins
in the sense appetite and that expresses itself in the body of passion passion
soul he calls the bodily expression of a passion a corporeal transmutation
an example of this earlier when Jack first saw the hot chocolate in
the name on it his heart rate quickened as an expression of his desire

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finally an inclination that begins in the intellectual appetite the will is
called an affection of the will affections don't always overflow into
the son's appetite because the intentional object of an
affection isn't always more than a merely sensible good or evil
but affections can overflow into the sense appetite
because even our most abstract intentional objects are represented in
our imagination in images and these images sometimes have spicy sensory context
suppose for example moments before ordering his hot chocolate Jack realizes
that he could ask the Barista not to put a skill stick into his drink
and that this would be a chivalrous act on on his part in order to Shield Jill
from something she fears so when he thinks about this act of

00:18
chivalry chivalry even though the act itself isn't a sensible good
what he imagines is detailed enough to elicit an overflow into his sense
appetite and his nightly six-year-old body
trembles at the thought of this triple this act
and just to complicate things even more I following many contemporary chemists
and using the word emotion to refer collectively to
the inclinations number two and three that's to say passions of the soul and
affections of the will for various reasons Thomas didn't bother
with a collection we have completed a definition [Music]
here are three quick practical applications that I think are worth considering
first strive to become aware of the intentional objects that elicit your

00:19
emotions if the only aspect of an emotion that
you're aware of is the Sensation that it gives you or else what it drives you to
do you're missing out on one of the most important aspects of what an emotion is
namely a way of being related to objects second recognize
both intellectually and experientially the difference between
between emotions we feel the decisions we make
and the actions that follow were usually follow from them
third recognize intellectually and experientially the difference between an
affection and its overflow into the sun's appetite and body
just because Jack and Jill's parents Jane John Doe
just because they no longer experience an overflow

00:20
when they look at each other doesn't mean the affection is gone
plenty of room for bad Hallmark of cards here
part two some distinctions that Thomas draws among the emotions
Thomas recognizes 11 basic emotions he most often calls them passions but in
several places he implies and these can also be affections
in describing how the emotions differ he divides them initially into two groups
consider for a moment what you would do if you were told to name 11 emotions and
sort them to two groups a few of us would even get to 11.
most of us would probably soar them into nice and not so nice emotions
and then a few Elite Among Us would probably say good intentional object

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versus bad intentional object not Thomas though
Thomas following his teacher Albert the Great
and the ancient Greeks sorted the 11 emotions into the concupiscible emotions
whose objects are either loved or hated in themselves
or the irratable or Champion emotions these objects are either useful or not
useful for attaining what we love or hate in themselves
let's take up the concupisible emotion when we're apprehending something that
on its own is either Pleasant or Noble or unpleasant or ignorant
suppose to pass the time and to entertain the kids John decides to
interview his wife Jane who happily plays along

00:22
Jane in general how do you feel about coffee I love it
and how do you feel about the coffee that's being brewed right over there I
want it and how will you feel when you're finally drinking that coffee in a cup
with your name on it I'll enjoy it very interesting now Jane in general how
do you feel about stinky garbage okay I hate it
and how would you feel if someone started walking toward you with stinky
garbage in a cup with your name on it I'd feel a version
and how would you feel if the stinky garbage cuffs came so close to you that
you could no longer smell the nice coffee sad
in general I think Thomas would love this interview

00:23
he would also want to add to clarifying remarks
first he would draw our attention to the pattern common to the emotions that
arise in response to goods and evils in each case we have first an impetative
response to the thing in general second an competitive response to the
thing as potentially present that's to say as moving toward us
desire inversion and then third we have an competitive response to the thing as
actually present or as resting upon us or in US
and that is Pleasure and Pain or joy and sorrow
second Thomas would want to distinguish between the two ways that we rest with a
present good or evil the sense appetite experiences Pleasure and Pain with the
intellectual appetite experiences these things but also joy and sorrow

00:24
the difference says Thomas is when we experience joy we not only have
something that is good but we are aware of it
and this increased awareness leads to an increased response to the thing
onto the irascible emotions the erasable emotions arise when
concupiscible goods are difficult to acquire or when concupisible Evils are
difficult to avoid back to the Starbucks line
suppose that while John and Jane both love coffee John drinks it occasionally
and Jane is addicted suppose that when the doe Family First
approached the store they realized that the weight could be upwards of 40
minutes for John coffee which he loves now
appears difficult to acquire because of the long line
for Jane a headache which she hates now appears difficult to avoid again because

00:25
of the long line John has the ability to focus his
attention either on the coffee or on the difficult line
seems to me that he focuses on the coughing he'll experience hope
just an inclination to approach the good if he focuses on the difficulty of the
line he might experience despair which is an inclination to give up approaching
the good Jane similarly has the ability to focus
her attention either on the headache or on the line
if she focuses on the line she'll experience daring and inclination to
face the difficulty if she focuses on the headache she'll
experience fear and inclination to flee from the difficulty
let's zero in for a moment on two particular expressions of fear which
Thomas calls species the intentional object of fear is always
a future evil which is possible but difficult to avoid

00:26
we can focus on different aspects of that future evil though and this
variation in Focus can make a difference in our repetitive response
if Jane focuses on the unknowability of the future headache she experiences
anxiety if Jane focuses on how John will blame
her for her past acts that gave her a caffeine addiction she experiences shame
shame is interesting because it looks both forward at the bad reputation that
she'll acquire and also backward at the bad acts of the narrative that
the fifth and final for basketball emotion together stands out from others
in several days suppose that there's only eight people
left in the line ahead of the doe Phantom and as Jane wrestles with shame
and anxiety John notices a group of five teenagers cut to the front of the line

00:27
suddenly John forgets about the coffee about Jane and about everything
other than Injustice and revenge he sees only a present evil and
Injustice and in response is inclined to restore Justice by inflicting vengeance
upon the offenders Thomas collaborates anger is unique and that it requires
judgments presumably if the judgments go something like this
I have been wronged by so-and-so so and so should be punished
the punishment should be such and such thing not bad Thomas even remarks that
people who are too drunk to make judgments don't get angry
you wonder what was happening at the University of Paris in the 13th century

00:28
and where was Thomas Thomas would also say anger isn't nearly
a set of judgments but rather a response to those judgments
to say anger is a desire to inflict evil
a punishment on another under the aspect of doing good namely restoring Justice
and the bodily expression of anger as we all know is the boiling of the blood
around the heart what about a practical takeaway
I'll restrict myself just to one since all of the emotions arise only
because we love something strive to become aware of what you want
part three how the emotions can be disordered
in this part I'll begin with an account of what disorder in the Motions is in

00:29
general and will then note three ways this disorder can express itself
according to Thomas an emotion is disordered if it expresses something
contrary to or not following from right judgments
there are a few things we should note about this first
an emotion is well ordered only if it is ordered to or by right judgment
and emotion isn't well ordered just because it follows any old judgment
the daily Act of justifying our responses by supplying judgments that
shows them to be good shows this assumption to be wrong
second an emotion that isn't ordered to or by right judgment is called
disordered and not necessarily sinful on Thomas's account something is sinful
only if it is both disordered and voluntary
emotions he says are voluntary either if they are commanded by the will

00:30
or if they're not shocked by the way Thomas has a lot to say about whether
and how particular emotions are sinful but I'm going to focus on only
identifying disorder at the very least because it's more practical to do so
the way to heal a broken leg is the same whether you broke it on purpose or not
so with the intention of being practical we'll move on to three ways that
disorder shows up in the emotions what my emotions can be disordered is by
responding to things as more or less than what they really are
consider John and the line cutters suppose John rightly judges that an
injustice has been done and that punishment is due his anger could still be
disproportionate either by Desiring a punishment
disproportionate to the nature of the crime like making the kids pay for
everyone's drinks denied them in the line

00:31
or else it could be disproportionate by Desiring in a manner disproportionate to
the offense have to say John could desire to hear the kids apologize to everyone
even more than he desires being with his wife and his kid
his kid it's easy to identify disproportionate emotions in our
experience but it's not so easy to identify the cause of this disproportion
thankfully Thomas has done the hard work for us
we know that an emotion is determined by its intentional object
so in order to identify where a disproportionate emotion comes from we
only need to consider what powers are involved in the formation of intentional
objects one of these Powers is called the cogitative power
the task of the cogitated power is to give us an Indian evaluation of the

00:32
goodness or Badness of a present image it's immediate and that it doesn't
survey or calculate anything it has only one trick it Finds Its similarities
in John's case the cogitative sense does something like this
in response to hit the present image of the teenagers cutting the line
is cogitative power searches through his
memories for an image similar to that in some way
it finds an image of when John was born in line for Santa and older kids cut
and John didn't get to see Santa the cogitative power regards the present image
not only because it's similar in its sensory content it applies to that
present image the same competitive value that the other hat namely this is a

00:33
grave Injustice after this comparison the present image
gets stored in the sense memory with that old but also on our new competitive
value as a spoiler alert the intellect can
intervene to push back on the cogitative powers Association of similar
competitive value to similar images but if this doesn't happen then the
quantitative power will continue to reuse that old provisional memory and
perhaps this new one as a pattern for new emotional responses
a second way that emotions can be disordered is by arising independently
from judgments of reason Thomas calls these kinds of emotions
antecedents because they go before the judgment
these differ from consequent emotions which follow the Judgment of reason
antecedent judgments are disordered because they prevent or make difficult

00:34
judgments of reason how they prevent Tranquility of the Mind
Thomas says presumably by diverting our attention away from deliberation and
toward whatever thing the emotion is climbing us to do
since we can't pay attention to two things at the same time antecedent
emotions have the effect of diverting us from reason
this is disordered even if the antecedent emotion happens to Incline us
to the same action that we might eventually judge should be good to illustrate
let's suppose that as the doe family approaches the front of the line Jill
begins screaming for a cake pop Jane is trying to study the menu to
decide what would be best for Jill to have but the screaming is hard to ignore
even if the cake pop really is the best option it would still be better for Jill

00:35
to desire the cake pop because Jade decides that it's good
this is better than for her to desire it without any consideration for what's
good the ultimate problems we can't deceiving
emotions isn't so much that they arise temporarily before a judgment but that
they arise independently from their judges
suppose for example that after dozens of
trips to Starbucks Jill comes to realize that every time her mother chooses
something for her it's so good good enough that she can jump up and down
with the light over time Jill might even begin to jump
up and down in anticipation of what her mother will choose
in this case the emotion is temporarily antecedent to the Judgment of Reason by
James but it's causally dependent on Jane's judgments in the past

00:36
a third and final way that disorder can manifest itself in our emotional life is
by an absence of emotions that ought to be presented
let's return to John at the moment when he spots the five line cutters
suppose that John has read Thomas's account that the emotions very superficially
and he has wrongly concluded that all emotions detract us from making good
judgments he rightly judges that an injustice has
been admitted that it would be good for the kids to suffer some consequence for
their crime and that the most reasonable way for this to happen is for John to
tell them to go to the back of the line after a few moments of hesitation during
which time John wonders whether the kids might retaliate and where he might end
up looking like a powerless good of Two Shoes John eventually says
using kids you caught the line and it's not fair go back like everyone else

00:37
this doesn't sound disordered I made it doesn't sound disorder but from Thomas's
perspective it's not as ordered as it could be
imagine the same scenario but with consequent anger
summoned that's to say or allowed to arise in order to assist the execution
of John's good judgments with the assistance of anger John will
probably skip all his second guessing and will speak his line with a fervor
that's appropriate to his good judgment he might not choose different words but
the meaning will come through differently who do you think you are get
to the back of the line and show some good respect
from Thomas's perspective the emotion that follows a good judgment is good for
two reasons first it gives us the energy to execute
our good judgment and second because it allows the whole of our human nature and
not only our intellect and will to participate in that good act

00:38
my image of this is the Fred Flintstone car I imagine those who haven't seen
this or if there's a toy that's much like it I imagine that the intellect is
riding shotguns and it's navigating the will has its hands on the wheel and its
feet on the brake and possibly on the gas and the emotions are in the back
seat and with our feet kind of going to the bottom of the car they're helping to
propel the car they can be overridden by the will but
it's best if the emotions assist with the will and the intellect collectively
is determined to be good what about a practical application
it's worthwhile distinguishing intellectually between the different
expressions of disorder and the emotions because doing this helps us to
distinguish them in our experience and that's worthwhile because the
difference questions of disorder might call for different remedies

00:39
this is where we will turn our attention last
part four how disordered emotions can be healed
Thomas doesn't have any Works devoted to the topic of
and he never uses the word healing in relation to the emotional life
so in the final part of my talk I'm going to try to draw on the principles
presented thus far to propose what I think Thomas would have meant by the
phrase healing of disordered emotions if he had music
and also a look at what practical measures Thomas would have recommended
for bringing this healing about if someone had asked
my way of purpose though I'd like to note four things that we shouldn't take
the phrase healing of disordered emotions to me
first it doesn't mean merely the healing of our understanding of the emotions
it's a good thing to address our ignorance and our errors

00:40
about what emotions are and this might even be necessary for the
healing of our experience but John and James knowing how they opt
to respond emotionally in the Starbucks line doesn't mean that there are
the third second the healing of the emotions doesn't mean merely ceasing to
act on disordered Passions this is indeed a step toward healing and
a necessary one that but it's only a step being inclined to body slam a line
cutter is still disordering even if you don't actually do it
third the phrase doesn't mean merely preventing the occasions that elicit the
disorder of motion this is mere symptom management
hiding the spill sticks from Jill will prevent her fear from manifesting itself
and this might be a necessary short-term solution but it won't heal Jill in the

00:41
long term since it only prevents the expression of
disorder and does nothing about the disorders underlying cause
fourth the phrase also doesn't mean merely managing the bodily
manifestations of disordered emotions by doing other bodily things like drinking
wine to stop fearful trembling or taking a bath to reduce the heaviness of the
sorrow those are Thomas's suggest s acting on these suggestions would
reduce the symptoms of emotional disorder once they've Arisen but as
above it leaves untouched the disorders cause
what the phrase healing of disordered emotions does mean
is the restoration of the proper order among our powers of apprehension and
architects that is among our senses intellect will and sense appetite
the sign that these powers are related in proper order is that each of them can

00:42
freely do all is able to do in conjunction with the others and without
impeding the activity of the others this means that the intellect making use
of the senses Reveals All the truths that it perceives
it means that the will directs the intellect to focus on one truth or
another so that the will can both Delight in and choose what appears not
only to be good but to be best and the sense appetite imitates in its
own way the Motions of the will on my reading there are three main
practices that Thomas indirectly recommends to us to help restore our
powers to this proper order the domestic principle Behind these
three practices is the same the principle is that the emotions are
rational by participation this means roughly that the emotions are

00:43
a bit like four-year-old Jill on one hand they make a mess of things
if they're left to themselves and not given any direction
on the other hand they'll Rebel if their own agency is completely denied
and on the third hand they'll do very well
if occasional Tantrums are tolerated but not indulged and if they're given clear
persistent and age-appropriate direction practically speaking
we can restore order in the emotions by consciously and consistently directing
our attention to reality as we know it to be and not merely as we imagine it
we accomplish this in particular through three things and probably in this order

00:44
first fast second contemplate third Pursuit wisdom in short become a Dominican
just kidding but it does help give us a quick look at each practice
and why it helps number one fast from paying attention
to what occasions disordered emotions suppose Jane is diabetic
and she has a sweet tooth suppose that every time she fixes her
attention on a mocha cookie crumble Frappuccino her emotions scream you must
have that it's the greatest thing ever it's the only thing living for
to happen here Jane needs to stay away from Frappuccinos
perhaps not physically stay away from them
sometimes the Frappuccinos surround you but definitely she needs to stay away
from them with her attention this as I said earlier is a temporary

00:45
but a necessary stuff it's temporary because merely avoiding
the occasion of disordered emotions doesn't address the root of the disorder
which is the intentional object it's necessary though because unless
Jane is given some relief from the experience of the disordered emotion she
won't have the ability to attend thoughtfully to the reordering of the
intentional object this temporary and necessary step is also hard
it's hard because our emotions have a kind of inertia about them
such that we need to redirect our attention not seven times but 70 times
seven times most of us over the age of four have
learned that in order not to be overcome
by the difficulty we need to decide from the outset to persevere Come What May
we wait for the emotional inspiration to persevere will be waiting much longer

00:46
than 40 minutes will probably leave us just practice number two
devote yourself to contemplation that is to rest in your attention on the
greatest in the context of seeking to restore
order to our emotions fasting is the initial step
we have to First Direct our attention away from what leads to disorder
but since it's impossible to pay attention to nothing
accepted perhaps after 1 pm class we need also to direct our attention
toward something I propose that contemplating or resting
our attention on a higher truth is an intermediate sky in the end of emotions
let's go back to Jane for a demonstration suppose she's decided whenever she is
tempted to rest her attention on the milka cookie Provo Frappuccino

00:47
to consciously direct her attention to how God the Father gazes upon her with
love if she can rest her attention there she'll experience relief not only from
tumultuous emotions but she'll also experience Joy
that is to say the Delight that comes from being in the presence of what is
good and knowing it in order that you not question like
Orthodoxy and my Tom is on I'd like to clarify what I mean by calling collation
into contemplation is an intermediate step in the process of healing
because it's a prerequisite for the final step of reordering the intentional
object at the same time however contemplation is an ultimate goal for us in the
activity of Being Human in the ordinary course of Life moments
of rest are intermittent because our attention is only intermittently fixed

00:48
on any one thing but these moments of contemplation of
restful joyful intending even while we wait in line at Starbucks
these are our foretaste of what we will enjoy forever uninterrupted in heaven
the dynamism of the emotions reflects this in their own way all of the emotions
Thomas says resolve ultimately into either sorrow or joy
into either resting with the absence of arresting in its president
practice number three pursue wisdom for Thomas wisdom doesn't mean knowing
all things or even knowing the greatest things
wisdom means rather knowing how all things are ultimately connected to the
greatest of things in other words the person who is wise

00:49
can see God in all things in all faiths in God
this sounds lofty and how it relates to the process of the reordering of the
emotions is far from obvious as you come to expect though I'll appeal
to Jane for a demonstration and will then give some clarification remarks
when we last Saw Jane she had succeeded in turning her attention away from the
thought of a Frappuccino and toward the thought of a loving father
within the Repose of contemplation Jane was able to reflect on the various
truths involved in her Frappuccino encounters
she recognizes that while all of these truths are true some of the truths are
higher or more important than others true that Frappuccinos are delicious and
that hard-working bonds deserve treats but it's more true or more important in

00:50
this case that Frappuccinos are like poison for diabetics
Jane knows that the higher truth with her intellect but up to this point the
higher truth hasn't shown up in Her Imagination when she thinks about the
Frappuccino she decides therefore each time her
attention wanders toward a frappuccino to think this is a sweet thing that is
poison to me and while she does this she will imagine
some of the details of her last diabetic campus this is the pursuit of wisdom in
action Jane isn't denying any of the truths
involved but she's trying to bring into the foreground of Her Imagination the
truth that she knows to be more important than all the others
the list of belaboring this point here is an analogy for my own experience not
involving Starbucks When I Was An undergraduate

00:51
someone did me the great disservice of pointing out that the metrical pattern
of Saint Thomas's hymn Tonto Ergo was the same as the tune of Oh My Darling
[Music] that stuck in my imagination announced it came first
and I had to consciously try to unstick it for here's what I did
I decided that whenever Oh My Darling came up
I would think of what the Eucharist is and then deliberately imagine one of my
favorite chant settings which seems to embody and sound the

00:52
meaning of sacrificial love far more than open dark heart Jesse attitude
by way of conclusion I'd like to return to a question that I
alluded to much earlier in the talk St Thomas doesn't have any Works devoted
to the topic of healing why not I'm going to step out of my area of
expertise and make some cultural observations that I think are relevant
to answering this question I'm doing this not to be Cavalier but
because the question can't be answered philosophically
and because the flourishing of philosophy in any age depends on the
existence of a culture that's open to wisdom
or at least isn't inherently opposed to it why didn't Thomas write about healing
in heart because Thomas's culture culture was materially poor person-centered

00:53
and almost obsessed with the objective meaning of things
our culture and contrast is materially decadent
system centered and obsessed with finding subjective meaning
Thomas's account of the emotions takes for granted that the way to resolve
disordered symptoms is to resolve the cause of the disorder
material decadence challenges this conviction since it makes commonplace
the temporary relief of symptoms without addressing the cause
Tom says account of the emotions takes for granted that all actions are actions
of human beings and that our emotions accordingly
primarily manifest our relationship with persons
a culture in which systems Avatar is an anonymity dominates
erodes our sense of personal agency and obscures the possibility of a

00:54
person-centered response to our tumultuous emotions
Thomas's accounted the emotions lastly takes for granted that well-ordered
emotions are desirable not only in themselves but because
well-ordered emotions are one aspect of a well-ordered life
a culture that reduces meaning to your personal passion
what's the suspicion on the claim that certain trees are objectively higher and
as such should be looked to and constantly
in short seems to me that Thomas didn't answer any questions about healing
because most people in his day didn't have them

00:55
but we do have them we should ask them [Applause]
so that concludes a talk and I guess we'll probably have a short question and
answer session after if you wish to stay around and then you're also wishes
um and I guess if you have other time commands I know there's somebody else
thank you all for coming thank you what is healing what's that
um the restoration of order where it's lacking
and frankly sorry what were the terms that you said for for a motion he said
it was uh oh yeah so he uses um he says that Passion of the body is
the thing that we would probably call A Feeling
a passion of the soul is a movement or an inclusion of the sense appetite and
then Thomas uses the phrase actually affection of the intellect but
contemporary tongues tend to call it affection of the will and this is

00:56
technical jargon but um all of passions or affections not all
affections or Passions emotion doesn't really come into frequent use until
um I think uh 17th century France so there really isn't a Latin equivalent of
them um one comment though is that even though
healing isn't spoken of what what it's all over the Summa Oliver I just been
able concern is virtue so that that's another way of putting
inside was Thomas not concerned about healing well he was concerned about
growth and virtue and a happy effect of that is that you get healed emotionally
so it's not that that he wasn't aware of the effects of
proper order in every aspect of our nature that's just that

00:57
the the focus of the language of the Middle Ages is different
really interesting was how um Thomas will talk about the material
object versus the formal object how we whenever we have an intentional
object you can't depart from the lenses of past judgments or other judgments and
I guess I wanted I wanted to ask about okay quite a clarification there um
we can distance ourselves from particular past lenses okay you can do that that
was the one of the ways of trying to restore proper order was I can direct my
attention to the truth that oh sugar is poison for diabetics
and in so doing I can direct my attention away from that lens of
sugar is great right however what we can't depart from is we
can't have no lens whatsoever they're always customers there always

00:58
has to be England's yes and that's okay I want to say that the beautiful design
of human nature that reflects Itself by the way even in don't have Santa
like um so say we always have some some feature of our
our apprehension it's like it's always it's inherently connected up with our
estimation of what is what's good and what's bad in animals
Thomas calls this this capacity to look at something and evaluate it
on the basis of something else as good or bad and tell us about the estimative
sense and what the estimative sense is it's directed by in in the animals I'd
say it's Instinct it's hardwired we also have that but we have another
way of directing our estimate a sense which is which you call casually
empowered same thing but it's a different different name because we have

00:59
not only Instinct still in us but we have the ability to direct the
constitute of power through our intellectual Direction um
did I just squash your comment or oh no I wanted to ask the question of Beverly
helps um doesn't that kind of just positive after a second does that kind
of deeply connect with emotions and like
psychology as the boys trying to okay in the past or something while you're yeah
so it's it's kind of it's usually healing past memories and emotions that
come up about something else so on early early memories this is not
St Thomas but this Reflections on um well Thomas's account the memory
coaching power it seems that how do we how do we how do we control
sense of what's good parents yeah um Conrad bars has uh

01:00
to say about what is what is given to a child Child by a child's mother
gazing in love very very small impact first sense of what's of good
in other words you need to start out with something you don't you don't start
out with with pre-premoted memories you need a first memory
and some respects our first memories you've got to have one that's good
that's probably you know and then one that's bad and who
knows what that first bad memory is but it's like you need to start a kid
you're you're hardwired to be attracted to good calls by evil
um but even on the level of the emotions that needs something to get attraction
initially those very very early memories end up being kind of like the lodestone
or the you know the point of departure point of comparison for everything else

01:01
so in some ways you can say everything that we experience is either like Mom
okay like that experience of being loved or it's like the cat scratching me
what did that wear that were our first sense of evil um
uh and just to give a brief nod to Pixar which I kind of
mothers actually a lot that's loaded into that that convenience there's
um and the first Pixar I haven't seen the second one but inside out
has the notion of core memories um and I think uh
what what could be meant by that is memories that are the basis of our
um uh I don't know the value we give to every other image there's certain
memories that are just that are that are Katrina power keeps coming back to you
because the basis of comparison puzzle that and if you still have messages

01:02
it's all good um I wanted to ask how that understanding of the intentional
object differs or is similar to I just want to hear with a lot of post-modern
accounts of like things are only known by the stories we make of them or like
we objects the things we know or that are the truth of things is only the only
truth we have access to is truth through your particular lines your particular
lines and so this seems it seems to be like an argument against being able to
know objective modern deconstructionist at least in you
know theory in literature event but I'll say uh so it seems to me that um
instructionalism tries to strip off those lenses as
cultural lenses that's one significant difference of things that kind of the

01:03
the stories through which we either receive meaning or that in fact create
meaning they largely cultural lenses for Thomas it's pretty clear the lenses are
they're our own experience which is a mix of both a very radically you know
personal thing and also cultural brand you know so there's I think a little bit
more of the messiness of life is present in
Thomas's account and then I I also think that um in the formal object as
one aspect of the intentional object that's something that is with us from
the very beginning in seconds you know it's not it's not that we first
perceive it and then we make it meaningfully meaningful by situation
is that these experiences are somehow just somehow Things Are
just presentations of the base of the basis or Badness of things

01:04
and things we can understand those those lenses only by doing a fair bit of
it's a reflection only under the grounds of the holy
spirit it's nothing I like to say is don't spend all your time reflecting on
your intentional objects that and don't think that you have to be
the one to pull up out of your memory on what needs to be healed or not um Holy
Spirit Well will bring to the surface whatever it needs to be it needs to be
healed so that's an aspect can I share just a little a little something
oh it's a good question is like okay so deconstructionless philosophy is like
you do it all yourself don't let anyone else impose on you like you know it's
the definition of Hell someone else imposing it it's a bad Catholic thought
but where is like on this we can actually we could beat our our conceptions of
virtue just by being around other people you see what virtue action looks like

01:05
and just you know sharing with people you get richer and richer that just
makes so much sense you actually need others so even psychology at least you
need a counselor go talk to someone get get through this don't just do it in
your own head so we need someone else so that's really different and I just just
to amplify that like you were saying like we we need others and the parents
and mother there was a there's a child of in Europe and France I think
loss in the wilderness so had no parents in the first couple years when they
found him couldn't even take in sounds human beings can't function without
so it's you know that that philosophy just telegraphy
there's also in contemporary um well our paired down to one particular
area there's a suspicion of anything other than sort of pure data

01:06
okay maybe one one conviction of what I'm putting on the broad umbrella of
deconstructionism is to say well really there's just stuff
and then meaning is something that that's put onto it
and that is absolutely opposite um Thomas's account
and photography believes that's the meaningfulness is written into our very
our very nature I mean and even into the nature of of non-rational animals
there's something meaningful and something is only meaningful
um if it's somehow related to what's good so deconstruction element says
there is nothing that is good or bad it's only a projection of your
your story whatever it is maybe maybe it is a symptom of Highly
what you're describing at the end of your talk of

01:07
focusing too much on the causes of disorder
because if all I can see are the four judgments of what's actually a good
misestimations of what is really the good I can then turn to despair you can
say yeah there's no real me that is able to be discerned um one
one feature well I think one of the reasons why despair seems like it is just
blanketing our culture is often that we attend to so frequently to the symptoms
of disorder that we just give up hope of it being healed at the root
so accepting the treatment of whatever you're saying the treatment of the
symptoms of disorder that doesn't sound like it ought to lead
to despair but if no one actually addresses the cause
and just keeps giving you a Band-Aid an Advil another surgery and all this

01:08
keeps it you know only if they only acknowledge that so types of never
acknowledged that is a very very quiet despair it's
hard it's hard to even put your finger around it when it comes to disability
right they were a lot they would be very disappearing about being disabled and
but as I'm speaking to because we happen
to be Housewives currently I would say a disability is virtuous so the
there is a virtue to be right so it is and that's how I look at it
whereas someone else they look at the disability as possibility

01:09
I can't do the XYZ but the winds in which you look at the situation
creates a virtue of the disability yeah a physical disability or really any sort
of disability can be um an occasion for incredible growth and
virtue so it's not that the presence of some form of you know disability is um
maybe business way to say it's not just a symptom of of something it can also be
a cause of a greater order and a greater
order the disability is actually creates a pathway to order yes and our faith
actually is the medicine that helps create that pathway

01:10
because if I didn't have my faith I believe
that I would be a greater disorder yes Bridget yes yeah [Music] yeah
um I think earliest you mentioned like fantasy than um like emotions
um I know what St Thomas talked about like like before like the fall and like
about recording or whatever reason would
be like more in control like governments like would we really even like to see
these kinds of like fantasy like uh emotions like innocence
um and this is getting um we'll say a little bit out of my my sandbox
um I feed our friend will pledge into the philosophical sandbox

01:11
but Thomas comments on the passions of Christ what emotions I feel
did Jesus experience and there's there he says well Jesus had no
antecedent passions it was never the case but his passion did not
obey support help to execute all of his judgments
and this is one of one of the places where you can say hey virtuous anger
there we go you gotta be careful because those of us who tend to get angry will
always Point yeah yeah but the cleansing of the temple but uh um but in you know
Christ is his human nature is perfectly ordered
unless you have well his passions respond completely to the judgment

01:12
you know his judgment um as well um and this is yeah rather than saying what
we're at in the name like we we see what perfect human nature is in
I think is it the same specifically field that's the first impression before
you until I think reflect on what's happening I'm not familiar with photography
what was that yeah the moral theologians will make a distinction nobody
want something when you have a passion like before your intellect is able to
reflect on that oh okay like you know they're kind of like a reflex right um
I I could just say what Thomas said I don't know about
whatever ethiology but Thomas says consequent emotions um

01:13
first off we all have and there I said where the residue of our past sins
um and if we have repented repented from those past sins
then when those consequent emotions when those antecedent emotions resurface
he says you know if we if we repent about these we have you said with our will
no I regret that and I no longer align myself with that
I move I move from that whatever judgment would be reflected in you know
in that to another um he says those are not voluntary so
they come up because we have previously gone you know previously acted judged in
such a way that led to that nobody says they're not voluntary and so
now that there are some responsibility because you have a sense but we have a
moment once they come up um to where we could reaffirm them with our will

01:14
be responsible or we can so there's there are several layers of
which our agency in the past stages here current agencies
and also um so St Thomas was against this dollar size
it's virtuous to suppress your immigrations yes that is yes and he even
mentioned there's a part that I looked at just before
18 Pages a little much I'll break it down to 17. I had something on the story
there um Thomas mentioned the Stokes in several places but
how the stoics didn't acknowledge that the emotions were
were virtuous in the sense that the whole of man

01:15
supposed to be involved in good acts so he his Thomas's ways of cheering the
emotions of the well-workers wants children and property so you know
but that's virtuous it would not be a man yes he didn't yes I thought it was
interesting yes yeah we're not just into until yeah there's um I know you didn't
ask about a teacher from Hildebrand is that but there's if you're all
attracts to this notion of socialism upon Hildebrand has a work called online
so it's called the heart Melbourne is not a tonist but he addresses
the problem with stoicism pretty well saying that we can we can become
hyper focused on our intellectivity or sometimes with Hyper focused on

01:16
efficiency purity and that hyper Focus he calls it a hypertrophy
can lead to an atrophy say an atrophy of the affection of the
expression infections and that would be a stoic ideal
I can see it modern psychology and political psychologists
analyzing and it kind of it feels very cold so yeah yeah
and I noticed some of those people like they're actually into Stone Systems and
stuff too yes yes Hildebrandt calls it exists those who
are hypertrophy of the intellect caught in a research spell
like they're they're stuck in a mode of Ops of observing all the time
and if you're stuck in a mode of observing it means that

01:17
you're actually not engaged with your your subject here
sad clinical psychologist out of kind of being stuck at a research
spell to vote about and observing but actually fail to ever really see
the person the people right well I'm going to find
everyone over to Newton Center we're having food praise and worship over
there and uh thank you once again thank you