Let us not ask if we have a flawed moral will, let us ask how we should correct it. Every person is guaranteed a flawed will, by the effect of original sin. The human soul has both individual and communal aspects, and the virtue or sin that one has, is shared by all. 36
Even today, every person when created by God is without
flaw.37 Every person must also take on a burden of original sin, as he enters the realm of creation. Spiritual advancement was intended to operate within the sinless world of Adam and Eve, 35 Virtually no one is completely selfish, and such evaluation is ultimately made by God. The problem with selfishness is that a person bound to self cannot make participation in God. Atheism and anti-theism are forms of selfishness, that reject God, who is the very goal of life. Ultimately God will make communion with all goodness (general judgment), evil and those owning it wil be left behind. This will be the final formation of Hell.
36 Does every existing person suffer from the effects of original sin? Well, yes and no. An angel (person = moral being), who has attained union with God (called salvation in Protestant theology, or called divine union in Catholic theology), suffers no present evil, but his attainment of divine union has been delayed by original (and subsequent) sin.
37 God can only create that which is sinless. God does not create sin, but he does distribute the effects of our sin according to his good judgment.
Sin can only be effected within creation; if God existed within the realm of creation (which he does as Jesus Christ), he would remediate sin into his own virtue, which is exactly what Jesus Christ offers to all who are willing to give up their sin.
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but with the onset of sin, we are to conquer sin and then to make spiritual advancement to divine perfection.
The proper form of any action gives proper consideration
to self, others and God. A selfish action gives undue consideration to self, at the expense of others and God. In example, the virtue of humility may be corrupted into arrogance by giving undue consideration to self. From this we see that there does not exist in the soul both the corrupted virtue of humility and the vice of arrogance. There exists only the damaged virtue of humility, now predominated by self.
Corrupted virtue and sin are lacking in the fullness of their original design. Arrogance is respect which is lacking its proper component of ‘others’ and ‘God’, and is now weighted toward self, and therefore does not go beyond our own small self existence.38
We do not really purge arrogance from our will, we rebuild humility. The vice of arrogance does not really exist, only the damaged virtue of humility. The moral effort required seems 38 God sustains in existence all of creation, including body, soul, virtues, and anything else we can think of, and more. Catholic theology has Christ everywhere…in Heaven, Hell, Purgatory, not just aware of everything, but in everything…in an apple, an atom, an angle…inside our head, our will, our ideas. This principle is called divine omnipresence, and the Christ who creates is part of every creation. The free, online 1912 Catholic Encyclopedia gives a good explanation under the heading “God, attributes of”:
“…God is real y present everywhere in creation, not merely in virtue of operation, but in virtue of essence. In other words, God Himself, or the Divine nature, is in immediate contact with, or immanent in, every creature — conserving it in being and enabling it to act.”
This idea was written of by Doctor of the Church, St. Thomas Aquinas, (Summa Theologica, first part, question 8, article 1); he went so far as to say God has a non-moral presence even in demons, (they were created as angels with the attribute of being, and as devils they retain this non-moral attribute of being), if not they would cease to exist.
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like we are purging a vice, but this is actually the effort required to avoid selfishness in an act, and replace it with virtue.
Another example might be the virtue of prudence, which
when corrupted toward self, becomes hoarding or greed.
Properly formed virtues help us in participating in Christ; vices (damaged virtues), limit or prevent this participation.
A good act has all of its components and considerations in place and in proportion. God, others, and our own person, and even other things are all justly attended to, just as God intended.
Just as a virtue may be corrupted (made incomplete), by
disregarding God or others, the effect of sin in our world is likewise incompleteness. This incompleteness is not just words, but has real and terrible effects. War, poverty, even illness and catastrophe are all the effects of sin. Selfishness causes sin, sin causes evil, evil causes harm.
Sin is often effected as proactive evil, but it has its beginning as deficiency. As created by Christ, every thing comes from him whole and perfect, even to this day. As anything enters into the realm of creation, it must take on a burden of original and subsequent sin.39
39 Sin is the cause of every disorder. All sin (willed moral disorder) is assignable to some person or persons. Every fatality is directly or indirectly traceable to sin. 1Cor 5:5 speaks of a man’s sin being assigned to his own body, thus sparing his soul. This technique (used by God, who does not create sin, but does assign it) is also very commonly used on a mass scale. Fatal disease, war and catastrophe has its origins in sin, not God, yet it is commonly assigned to the innocent (via the principle of spiritual commonality), or to its sponsor (principle of spiritual individuality), or amongst many sinners. Sin has both communal and individual attributes. The book of revelation lists the many varieties of disorder caused by sin, and their assignment on a world wide scale.
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A textbook example which really lays out sin for
examination, its causes, effects, and interchangeability occurs in 1Chronicles chapter 21. King David takes a census of Israel, which is an offense against God. The people of Israel belong to God (not David). When David counts them, he is implying that they are his to count. God offers him the choice of punishments: famine, war or plague. David chooses plague which kills 70,000. In this example, the core sin of selfishness has its evil effect in our physical world.
In a related case, in 1Cor 5:5 a man suffers his own sin in his body rather than his virtues or soul, so that he may still attain salvation. Here the suffering is not taken on voluntarily; nevertheless the effect is the same. The book of Revelation speaks of this involuntary reformative suffering on a world wide scale. To take on suffering voluntarily like Jesus, would produce a better quality of virtue.
Even today, every thing created by Christ is perfect; as a creation enters into the realm of creation it takes on a share of the corruption of original sin.40 This corruption or selfishness is not created by Christ, but it is assigned by Christ.
The divide between mortal and venial sin is the traditional division between allowable and non-allowable action as a member of the body of Christ. A person acting in a state of 40 It is a Catholic understanding that principalities, thrones, dominions and the like (Col 1:16), are tasked by the Trinity with creating and governing nature, under Gods authority. In Ephesians 6:12 we learn that, like the angels some of these heavenly powers became corrupted. Christ allows these rouge powers to exist and to continue to act. Their action damages virtues within creation, this is the ongoing legacy of original sin.
St. Henry Suso observed the former angel of speech, now as the devil controlling blasphemy. No one is required to use blasphemy, but now the idea of good speech is corrupted within the realm of creation. This is an example of the effects of original sin.
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mortal sin, by definition acts apart from God and within the confines of self and self interest.41
The soul has the characteristic of habit. The soul and its actions are not easily moved out of its habits. Recall that the soul is the totality of spirit, and the operating principle of a person. To learn to ride a bike, teaches the non moral portions of the soul, and once this habit is learned it is not easily forgotten.
Now turning to the moral activities of the soul, the soul’s tendency to remain in its selfish state is termed
‘concupiscence.’ If we are accustomed to make mediocre acts of virtue and vice, we do not easily move into the acts of a serial murderer or a saint. If we act with little or no moral effort, we are more likely to seek stimulation rather than fulfillment.
There are also many examples of the saints who made the
moral effort required to attain their highest fulfillment which is divine union with Christ. Before these saints made a reform of will, they made a reformation of intellect. The will guides the virtues, but the intellect guides the will. They first decided to rearrange their values, then they made the specific acts of will.
The will is a blind faculty which relies on the intellect to reveal identify goodness and guide the will, which in turn guides the virtues. Selfishness affects the intellect, which may see no higher purpose than self interest, or community interest. If by grace, the intellect clearly defines a fulfillment above itself in God, then the will and virtues are more likely to move out of themselves to this divine fulfillment.
41 Perhaps billions of people are elevated from a state of mortal sin, to a state of sanctifying grace (salvation), at the last instant, likely by human prayer. A person’s prayer has more effect than an atomic bomb…and in a more positive realm.
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Those making continual acts of selfishness, will find selfishness to be their norm. Those making spiritual advancement will arrive at the point where virtue is attractive, and selfishness and sin is repulsive 42
Extraordinary circumstances may lead to a leaping or accelerated digression into sin, or progression into virtue, but for most of us, our spiritual journey occurs in small steps.
There is no rule that we must progress slowly and the key to quicker spiritual advancement is to identify the greatest good, then make it our life goal, with everything else being secondary. If we see to our spiritual advancement, God will see to the rest.
Selfishness may cause a sin of omission. Failure to perform ones duty when demanded is a result of selfishness of soul (inordinate affection towards self, rather than God).
Unresolved selfishness causes sin of thought. In example, impure thoughts arise from selfishness in one’s soul. One gauge of selfishness is the examination of one’s idle thoughts.
As one advances in soul, such selfish thoughts occur less frequently and are more easily brought under control.