The Final Cause

If you were to ask yourself what motivated you to perform a certain action, to find the cause that preceded the effect, you might come up with many different answers depending on the action you're analyzing. If you take that cause you find and ask what motivated it ... and so on, turning each cause into an effect and searching for an antecedent cause, you are likely to eventually arrive at a point where you can go no further. This might mean you have found a cause that has no motive behind it. This may be your ultimate motivator, something that requires no external motivation for it to exist - something Aristotle called the 'final cause'. Another way to think about the final cause is the answer that comes back when you ask yourself what the point of life is.

But what is the final cause? Or what should it be? Or is there more than one?

On a slightly different tack, what if, when you ask the questions, you find no answers? What if you fail to find a final cause that is satisfying? What if, in confusion, you shout to the Universe begging to know what the point of it all is ... and there is no answer? What if you find no purpose, objective, or motivating force that is or should be behind any or all actions? What if, staring into the void, you listen for an answer only to hear the question endlessly echoing back to you?

Or what if you find a final cause, but your motives and actions have no connection with it? What if, with every action you take, the question 'what's the point?' pounds in your soul?

A few years ago, I found myself staring into that abyss. I thought I knew what the final cause was, but I became seriously depressed because I couldn't see the connection between that final cause and my actions ... or the actions of others around me. So much of life seemed trivial and pointless, never approaching the ultimate goal or purpose of life. I felt lost in a sea of mindless grasping for things that would never satisfy the cravings of the human heart. And my own heart felt like lead.

Have you ever felt like that? Have you ever been seriously depressed? I had felt down before, but I never knew what depression was like until I experienced it. Though I've never visited the place, I was constantly tempted to compare that feeling to hell. For any of you out there who are struggling with depression or have struggled with it, you have my sympathy. It is a terrible thing to face.

As I struggled to understand my depression and tried to find a way out, I found a book by Leo Tolstoy called 'Confession' in which Tolstoy describes his mid-life spiritual crisis. He suffered from depression for years and ultimately determined that his life, as he was living it, was meaningless. I found in Tolstoy a kindred spirit and, although his experiences weren't exactly like mine, through his words I began to understand the meaning of my struggle and was able, from that beginning, to formulate a plan of escape.

Count Leo Tolstoy

I'd love to tell you all about it, but I think I'd better get to the final cause, which ultimately became part of my solution. You see, I thought I knew the purpose of my life, but I didn't have it quite right and I didn't have the language to express it. It took me a long time to get the right words, -- and I'm still not sure I have it quite right -- but I'll try to give you the punchline of what I've learned in recent years. Another critical part of my solution was when I obtained the power to change my actions and my motives to bring them directly in line with the final cause. But that's another story.

Aristotle thought that there was ONE final cause and it could be described by the Greek word Eudaimonia, commonly translated as happiness, but more completely: joy, fulfillment, progress, prosperity ... something like that. I think Aristotle was right. I don't have an English word that really captures what I think the final cause is, but the words above get at the central idea and growth is an important element of it. I also think C.S. Lewis was on to something when he said we were composed of three parts: 1) mind/intellect; 2) spirit/emotion; and 3) body. I believe that experiencing positive growth in any of these three areas leads to joy, both of which are potentially legitimate final causes. To achieve that growth requires nourishment. Some elements of nourishment may include: 1) truth; 2) beauty; 3) friendship; 4) love; 5) exercise; 6) good food; 7) posterity; and probably many others. These are some of the things that make life worth living because they help give it meaning.

Through my struggle, I've gained a great deal of confidence in the way I view life and the efforts I make in living it. I'm far from having all of the answers, but with God's help, I believe I'll find the answers I need. Perhaps this blog could be one of the mechanisms for helping me find those answers. If you're reading this, please tell me what you think of my final cause.

What's your final cause? Do you have more than one? What motivates you? What gets you going in the morning? What do you live for? And if it was necessary, what would you be willing to die for?