Holiness is the Only Option for the Truly Free

When I was in school for my undergrad, I had to take a few philosophy courses where there was a great deal of talk about Aristotelian thought. Our professors showed us how helpful his works could be when we started talking about theological and spiritual matters.

Anyway, one of our specific discussions was on the question of freedom apart from choosing. Aristotle says that humans and animals possess a voluntariness that allows for choice, so we explored the possibility of free action without choice, which my professor called "spontaneous freedom."

Spontaneous freedom is an instance where you can perform an action of your own volition, but there is no choice. It always sounds strange to hear that, but the examples given were that of a driver avoiding someone in the road or a person who pulls a drowning child from the water. Both subjects decided to act, but there was no deliberation of what to do. There was no choice. Something written in man's very being guides us in these instances if there is not something very wrong preventing us.

Still, our lives are rarely so black and white. Our professor told us to think of Heaven. It's the place where you can only choose the Good. It's the only place where there is no choice, but where you have total freedom.

The reason?

In the perfection of Heaven, you cannot choose or be anything less than perfect, but you are totally in control.

You will be totally, wonderfully, perfectly you, with all the powers of your soul in the exact right ordering (All the passions will be subject to the will, etc.). Why would anything less be allowed? It if were, it wouldn't be Heaven.

If God is all Goodness, all Love, all Perfection, then abiding with Him must be perfection. It is so beyond our grasp, that I cannot even say that it is the best and be correct. There is no degree of goodness in Heaven. It's immeasurable. There just IS good—good in its fullness.

But what about on Earth? We encounter Heaven here too. We encounter it in the sacraments. We encounter it when Our Lord calls us on to love one another as ourselves.

Where there is true goodness and beauty, we may encounter this spontaneous freedom if we are open to it, and if we truly desire sainthood, we should stop thinking of anything less than the Good as an option.

Ask for the grace to pursue this mindset! The Lord will answer.