Whether Pain and Sorrow Are Assuaged by the Contemplation of Truth?
Objection 1: It would seem that the contemplation of truth does not
assuage sorrow. For it is written (Eccles. 1:18): "He that addeth
knowledge addeth also sorrow" [Vulg.: 'labor']. But knowledge
pertains to the contemplation of truth. Therefore the contemplation
of truth does not assuage sorrow.
Obj. 2: Further, the contemplation of truth belongs to the
speculative intellect. But "the speculative intellect is not a
principle of movement"; as stated in _De Anima_ iii, 11. Therefore,
since joy and sorrow are movements of the soul, it seems that the
contemplation of truth does not help to assuage sorrow.
Obj. 3: Further, the remedy for an ailment should be applied to the
part which ails. But contemplation of truth is in the intellect.
Therefore it does not assuage bodily pain, which is in the senses.
_On the contrary,_ Augustine says (Soliloq. i, 12): "It seemed to me
that if the light of that truth were to dawn on our minds, either I
should not feel that pain, or at least that pain would seem nothing
to me."
_I answer that,_ As stated above (Q. 3, A. 5), the greatest of all
pleasures consists in the contemplation of truth. Now every pleasure
assuages pain as stated above (A. 1): hence the contemplation of
truth assuages pain or sorrow, and the more so, the more perfectly
one is a lover of wisdom. And therefore in the midst of tribulations
men rejoice in the contemplation of Divine things and of future
Happiness, according to James 1:2: "My brethren, count it all joy,
when you shall fall into divers temptations": and, what is more, even
in the midst of bodily tortures this joy is found; as the "martyr
Tiburtius, when he was walking barefoot on the burning coals, said:
Methinks, I walk on roses, in the name of Jesus Christ." [*Cf.
Dominican Breviary, August 11th, commemoration of St. Tiburtius.]
Reply Obj. 1: "He that addeth knowledge, addeth sorrow," either on
account of the difficulty and disappointment in the search for truth;
or because knowledge makes man acquainted with many things that are
contrary to his will. Accordingly, on the part of the things known,
knowledge causes sorrow: but on the part of the contemplation of
truth, it causes pleasure.
Reply Obj. 2: The speculative intellect does not move the mind on the
part of the thing contemplated: but on the part of contemplation
itself, which is man's good and naturally pleasant to him.
Reply Obj. 3: In the powers of the soul there is an overflow from the
higher to the lower powers: and accordingly, the pleasure of
contemplation, which is in the higher part, overflows so as to
mitigate even that pain which is in the senses.
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