CHAPTER EIGHT

Saint Thomas Aquinas

Mans Ultimate Destiny
The Transcendental Man

Saint Thomas Aquinas

 He is the greatest Theologian of mankind. His two monumental works are: The Summa
Theologica, and Summa Contra Gentiles.
He followed fundamentally the teachings of his great predecessor, Aristotle, whom he
honored with the exclusive title, The Philosopher. However, he saw farther and beyond
the vision of Aristotle that relied only on the natural powers of human reason and
experience during his search for the truth.
Aquinas proclaimed the supremacy of reason (rationalism) in man, and maintained that
man can know the truth with certainty by the use of this reason, just like Aristotle. Yet he
stressed that there are some truths cannot be known by human reason and only the light
of revelation can be perceived. This two truths can never contradict each other, because
they have the same source, God, who is the TRUTH Itself.

Concept of God by Aristotle to illustrate: Man can know and validly prove Gods
existence by reasoning base on Aristotles conclusions of arguments to prove the
existence of God, thus, we can arrive at the knowledge of God as the Prime Mover, the
First Cause, the Perfect Good, the Final Cause and Good of all things. These
proofs of Gods existence is adopted by Aquinas in his Quique Viae (Five Ways) to also
prove the Gods existence. Yet Aquinas saw the limitations that the true nature of God

from the Bible and Christian Teaching as a Personal God, our loving Father, Redeemer
and Benefactor to whom we pray are never been revealed.
Philosophy of Happiness
Like Aristotle, Aquinas taught that man naturally longs for perfection and happiness
that can be realized on earth with full and optimal development of all of mans powers
rational, moral, social, emotional, and physical. Yet, Aquinas pointed out that the perfect
happiness which all men seek can be found in God alone.

The universal Man of Aristotle

The end product of the total development of man is the Whole Man or the Universal
Man of Aristotle. Yet to Aquinas, man has attained the highest possible perfection and
happiness on earth still longs for the Infinite and the Eternal. For all the goods that the
man gained like money, fame, power, health, and talents, all of these cannot make him
perfectly happy.
In the transcendental vision of St. Thomas Aquinas, and also according to Christian
teaching, man in his present state of existence on earth is moral finite, and imperfect; but
with the attainment of this supreme purpose and union with God, he is elevated to the
rank of the Devine. The Immortal, the perfect.
The transformation1 may be shown in the following schema.
Present State of Existence
Imperfect L
Finite L
Temporal L
Natural L
Human L

------------------------------------

Ultimate Destiny
Perfect
Infinite
Eternal
Supernatural
Divine

The Transforming Power of Love

By perfect imitation of THE GOOD by constantly being good and doing good,
according to Platos Theory we eventually identify ourselves as THE GOOD. Since

according to the revelation in the First Epistle 4:8, God is Love. Then by loving we are
likened to God who is Love, and if we love perfectly and constantly, we identify
ourselves with love (God).this transformation by love revealed the passage of St. Paul
By the power of Love, you are made the children
of God, and participants of his Divine Nature
Transformation and Transcendence
Of all creatures of God, man has the unique power to change himself and the things
around him for the better. Indeed in accordance with his natural argue to be perfect and
happy, he can improve and even perfect himself; and what is still more marvelous is that
he can even transcend himself. For when he dies he does not really cease to exist he
merely transcends his mortal bodily life, his limitations and imperfections in space and
time thanks to the immortality of the human soul, according to St. Thomas Aquinas.
In the case that man lives a righteous and virtuous life and man at death transcends his
mortal state by good deeds. For as the poet sings:
Only the actions of the just
Smell sweet and blossom in their dust
At death, the individual man survives in his species; for humanity does not die with
him.

Beyond The Universal Transcendental

In the light of the wisdom of St. Thomas Aquinas and Christian teaching we see that
man has a supernatural transcendental destiny. The aforedescribed man of Aquinas as
aptly called the Transcendental Man. He did not use the transcendental in speaking but
the idea is still there. Transcendent Humanism is mentioned in the encyclical Progressio
Populorum to signify the highest stage of mans perfection attainable through mans
union with the all-Perfect Being, God. Thus in said Encyclical we read:

In the design of God, every man is called upon to develop and fulfill himself, and
every life is a vocationBut the harmonious enrichment of nature of personal and
responsible effort is, ordered to a further perfection. By reason of his union with Christ
man attains to a new fulfillment of himself to a transcendent humanism which gives him
his greatest possible perfection.
Transcendental comes from the Latin word transcendere, which means to transcend, go
beyond, soar above, surpass.
Thus, the universal man of Aristotle who is perfect in his own right, is still imperfect
in comparison with the transcendental man of Aquinas.
Perfection by Participation
When we say that man becomes, Perfect we herein mean not perfect per-se, but
perfect by participation with the PERFECT. We speak of the transcendental man as
absolutely perfect but only insofar as he participates in the Absolutely Absolute
Perfection of God.
Aquinas answered saying that neither man by his natural powers alone nor a higher
being such as an angel can effectuate said elevation or transformation. Between the finite
creature and the infinite creature lies an infinite gap which can be bridged only by an
infinite power. Said infinitely Perfect Power is aptly called and identified with LOVE
because it unites and bespeaks of the nature of God who is LOVE.
Beyond Contradiction Union
The real existential beings such as man is a finite being and God is the infinite being.
The contradiction occur only in the field of discourse between two opposed things!
Between two realities such as between man and God there can never be a contradiction.
Hence, union between the two or the participation of one in other does not involve or
make a contradiction.
The Transcendental Golden Mean
Between Man and God
Translating the terms existential reality, the transcendental man existing finite man and
the Infinite God, as shown in the following progression:

Finite
transcendental
infinite
Thus, the transcendental man strikes the golden middle note in the harmony of the
finite and the infinite, man and God.

Man Love and Destiny

According to St. Thomas Aquinas man with his natural powers alone cannot attain a
supernatural destiny. To actually reach his supernatural destiny he should be elevated and
empowered by supernatural grace (LOVE).
St. Paul spoke which elevates human beings to the rank of the divine to become
children of God and heirs of the heavenly kingdom is:
By the Power of LOVE you are made children of God
And participants of the Divine Nature.