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The Catholic Church has being trying to combat the problems created by the Post Modern World since the 1800s through what is called Personalism. The post modern world, the one created by Mankind's belief that science had explained away God, has led to many of the problems which we now face and even take for granted. Now morality is completly focussed on an individual. People normally using their own gut feelings to tell them what is right and wrong, without any connection to an outside source. Life became subjective and thereby selfish. The Church however countered these problems by going back to the teaching of Thomas Aquinas, who said" Man is an Individuated substance of a Rational nature, who has been endow by the Creator with Reason." When we do not use this reason we become less then we were intended to be. The Church said that we arrive at the truth by sharing our knowledge, as each of us is not God, we need other people's ideas to get to God. We have freedom of Choice but that freedom needs to be strengthened so that we can better reflect God in our Moral lives.
The Church defined the Human being as having four defining qualities. We live in a world of time and space, a world of Imminance, the one science can explain, however we also live in a transcendant world. A world that is constanlty changing and becoming. Here we have the attributes of reason but also one that demands we look to God and the eternal.
We are individual beings, but at the same time live in a social world. We cannot be indivuals without relationships. It is those around us that make us who we are.
These qualites need to be balanced for us to be living healthy active life. The greatest possesion that we have is our life.
That healthy balance is maintained by transcendant experiances, Mass, Prayer and study, dreams and ideals, and by earthly experiances, work, charity and activity. We live in a world inhabited by others and happiness comes through love of the other. Especially if that other is poor, vunerable, and marginalised because in them we see Christ.
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