Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Experience and Reason

Home
General Christian
Virtue Helps Overcome the Challenge of Happiness – Kingdom of God

Virtue Helps Overcome the Challenge of Happiness – Kingdom of God

Last updated on: October 25, 2021 at 11:33 am by Chris A. Longobardo

Virtue Helps Overcome the Challenge of Happiness – Kingdom of God 2021-10-25T11:33:12-05:00 Chris A. Longobardo

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

My highest happiness is understanding and helping others. I enjoy self care, and I know what good self care is, but I would choose helping others if I was going to get paid to do something for the rest of my life. I self medicated for a long time trying to enhance my life, but I was ignorant of the consequences of what I was doing. Even though some parts of my life were enhanced, I wasn’t truly happy. I still was not tapping into the source of everlasting happiness, or an attitude in agreement with the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven.

You may call me a dreamer, or neurotic, but truly I am a contemplative person. I am actually quiet in real life. My head is not lost in the clouds. I am also sensitive and sad sometimes.

Understanding, as a gift of the Holy Spirit is given to the mind for grasping revealed truths easily and profoundly. As amazing as that gift is, and I’m thankful for it, while being sensitive and contemplative, it leaves me open to a lot of intense feelings sometimes.

There is a biological connection to the brain when it is on drugs, and euphoria, or bliss.

Scientific research has revealed this to us. There is no denying I have a brain even though I cannot see it. I see because of my brain and my eyes. I was not happy when I was self medicating because I didn’t know God truly. Even though my thinking was smoothed out, and enhanced, it wasn’t spiritual. I cannot get to heaven unless I adopt faith in God in Spirit and truth.

It is the truth part of that equation that is not present when a person is relying on drugs to achieve what can be achieved “naturally” if one adopts charity, or the love of God, and also does good works alongside their faith.

Belief in the Way, the Truth, and adopting the charity of God is required for my salvation.

The infused supernatural virtue by which a person loves God above all things for his own sake, and loves others for God’s sake is a gift of baptism; but happiness can also be achieved naturally by loving one person more than any other person, for their sake, and having that love reciprocated to you. The person I love can be myself. I can reciprocate love to myself through my body and interacting with things, but I believe that will be a lonely existence eventually. There is no belief there, there is only force (like forcing myself to take pills). I won’t get to heaven, in the way Christ teaches us how to get there, unless I agree with the Spirit of God and the truth of God’s existence. Pills go into my body, but they don’t go into my soul, also known as the essence of me.

There is no confusing the fact that I am mortal and I will die, and so will my loved ones, so faith as a supernatural gift is required to have heavenly happiness and eternal life in that reality. Eternal life will make no sense when the body and the soul separate because of death. There is no eternal life without the soul. My soul is not a memory either. The soul has to be real and spiritual for this heaven to make sense.

My ignorance of the consequences of my actions, for so long, is incredible.

I know things now that I could not know before because I am living up to my Christian potential, or at least I am in part. Sin and ignorance causes a double darkness to inhabit the mind. This is visual in a picture of the brain on drugs. The sin part of that is doing that to myself on purpose because I wanted to harm myself. I wanted to kill my brain cells on purpose. I didn’t want to feel. Habitual drug use is a sin because it causes harm to the human body. My body’s a temple of the Holy Spirit. My intent was to harm it. That is not good. That intent was a sin. Ignorance would be there anyway, because ignorance is part of human nature.

I “snapped out of it” on Christmas 2016. My intellect and will were involved. I relied on my past experience of quitting tobacco over and over again since childhood. I hated being addicted to nicotine.

Human virtue is required to overcome the challenges to happiness I am describing.

There should be no confusion over what God does (grace) and what humans do (sin and virtue). One is divine and the other is natural. However, I believe in actual sin, which means I can sin after baptism and need to repent to be “saved again”. It sounds silly because of the love of video games, but grave matters are serious. I also believe if I have a disease that can be treated by a medical doctor, I should seek treatment if necessary. Actual holiness, and blessed happiness for eternity because of God is also real.

My will is required for me to admit I have a problem. Then I have to go to the place where the people can help me. Then I have to do the action that will help me be cured. The steps I am describing are part of the virtue of fortitude and prudence.

There was no reaching me without the knowledge of human virtue (the potential of the perfect human being) and the knowledge of supernatural grace (the life in Christ).

I guess this is what it means for me to be created in the image and likeness of God. Christ Jesus is God. He shared our human nature in all things but sin.

I wouldn’t learn the virtues of temperance and justice until later. Fortitude helps me be mentally strong, have courage, and face my fear. I needed prudence to know what is good, and where to find it, and the best way to avoid evil and self harm.

These virtues are natural, as they will lead a human being to health in mind and body. They are supernatural when they help lead my soul to heaven. Happiness can be found in human nature, and in the world. There are plenty of people, places, and things to enjoy in this world; but they are a tiny taste of what is to come to us eternally in heaven, through, with, and in faith in Christ.

Previous Post

October 1, 2021

God and Money - Labor is the Feeling of Work

Next Post

October 9, 2021 God loves me in spite of my faults and sins - My Personal Relationship with Jesus

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Emotional intelligence Faith Fasting God and Money Grace and virtue Imitation of Christ Justice and Warfare Music ministry Prudence and wisdom Religion and Virtue Trinity

Select a Month May 2022 March 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz