g'day my name is Matt Fred
this is ascension presents today I want
to talk about the true the good and the
beautiful we will need for the true the
good in the beautiful because the true
the good and the beautiful our God God
doesn't have truth he is it
he doesn't have beauty he is beauty
he doesn't have goodness he is goodness
this is what Aquinas means by divine
simplicity there is no distinction
between his being in essence his
substance and accidents his essence is
existence now that's massively
complicated and I'm not going to get
into it right now but suffice it to say
all of us long for truth goodness and
beauty whether we believe in God or not
think about it we desire truth even if
the truth is bad a policeman comes to
your door at 2:00 in the morning he says
I've got some bad news you don't say or
if it's bad I don't want to know it go
away go away you say we'll come in
because you want to know the truth even
if it's going to hurt we want things
that are beautiful now I don't think
beauty is solely in the eye of the
beholder I think its objective if you
think Beyonce's music is more beautiful
than the Italian composer Puccini you're
objectively wrong and you you might be
an idiot right Beauty is objective this
is why we have scenic routes right we
all kind of agree what is beautiful and
Aquinas has you know different things to
say on what makes something beautiful
and we all want what's good if I say
there's a restaurant down the road it's
really lousy do you want to go you'd
like no I don't want to go but if you
said it was a good restaurant well
what's the name of it I'd love to check
it out we desire what is true what is
good and what is beautiful that said I
believe and I think Aristotle would
agree well I would agree with Aristotle
with it we can accustom ourselves to
things they're less true less good less
beautiful or even false bad and ugly
okay because we all want happiness this
is something Aristotle talks about the
Nicomachean ethics all of us desire
happiness but we don't necessarily agree
about that which makes us happy okay so
we never choose anything that we think
is bad for us you've never done it
either
you've never chosen something that you
thought was bad for you and if you set
yourself bets
not true I've done something that was
dangerous or or not necessarily good for
me okay but you did that in order to
attain a better good we always do that
you can't act in a way that's bad for
you I mean you can act in a way that's
bad for you but you can't knowingly act
in a way that will be bad for you so to
give an example if you look at
pornography you don't say this is really
bad for me and that's why I'm looking at
it no instead you say well this will be
exciting this will make me happy this
all this will give me some relief and
that's why you do it you seek a good
it's an apparent good it's not actually
a actual good
it's an apparent good but we always seek
the good so this is my point even though
we've been made for the true good and
beautiful we can end up habituating
ourselves to things that are not true
not good and not beautiful and then the
true good and the beautiful actually
don't appeal to us the way that they
ought to an example with diet if you've
been raised from a young age on Doritos
and coca-cola and and McDonald's
hamburgers and not much else
then the chances that fruits and
vegetables will appeal to you not likely
the chances that you'll enjoy an orange
juice the way you ought to over a
coca-cola
not likely you've accustomed to yourself
to things that aren't good for you and
then the things that aren't good for you
you don't believe them to be goods
anymore same thing can be true with the
spiritual life in the intellectual life
we can accustom ourselves to the drab
and the stupid and the dreary the boring
the ugly so that the things that then
ought to move us don't
so make your life more true good and
beautiful what might that look like well
why don't you stop watching Netflix why
don't I stop watching Netflix instead
why don't we read something beautiful
let me give a couple of suggestions
talking if you don't think Tolkien is a
beautiful writer you're the problem not
talking it's sort of like if you go to
Mass that's celebrated well and you
don't find it beautiful or interesting
it you find it boring say it's because
you're boring the problem isn't with the
mass the problem isn't with Tolkien the
problem isn't with Puccini or Bach's
music the problems with you because
you've accustom yourself to ugly things
stop doing it I woke up the other
morning for
in the morning I woke up open up the
laptop and I started watching a Netflix
thing path of least resistance right who
wants to read one of those things what
are they called books I started watching
this video and halfway through it
occurred to me that it was really quite
an ugly movie and some something of a
sexual scenes began to happen I thought
no thank you and I turned it off and I
went into the kitchen and I began to
read Flannery O'Connor's short stories
now if you haven't read Flannery
O'Connor's short stories
to paraphrase dr. Peter Kreeft do not
die without reading her okay now if
you're not a big reader this is a this
is a bonus view because their short
stories anyway a good man is hard to
find is a collection of some of their
short stories be sure to check that out
you also might read HG Wells he's he's
written some beautiful short stories
like The Time Machine the point is if
Lord of the Rings or The Brothers
Karamazov which I've never finished but
you know dusty asked if these things
appear too big well read some smaller
things but begin to habituate yourself
to what's actually sophisticated and
lovely like if you only listen to ugly
techno stuff stop listening to that
music start listening to beautiful music
the two things I've suggested in this
podcast would be Giacomo Puccini and
your hands Sebastian Bach I think two of
the most beautiful composers and I love
listening to them you might not like
listening to them in the beginning but
you should and you will if you begin to
listen to them more and stop listening
to junk I feel like I need to keep
making my point because I'm sure I'm
offending people here's a point do you
remember that old series 24 with Jack
Bauer I remember my wife and I got so
addicted to it because it's so
stimulating and you know it always
leaves you on a cliffhanger well I had
watched two or three of these seasons
you know
well one weekend my wife left with the
kids to go somewhere and I thought well
I've got some free time why don't I sit
down and watch The Lord of the Rings
trilogy not read the book watch the
trilogy I got about two minutes in I
thought this is so boring and I stopped
it this is what I'm talking about
I forget the books I couldn't even watch
the movie because I become so accustomed
to the fast pace cliffhanger stimulating
24 so a couple of suggestions for you
begin to read books turn off Netflix
stop numbing out on YouTube it's not
doing anything good
you don't even listen to podcasts or
watch videos like this it's ironic I
know that I'm coming to you through
YouTube maybe stop watching it go listen
to something beautiful stop listening to
beautiful music and stop listening to
ugly music and finally start to become
comfortable with silence
believe me I'm preaching to me as much
as I'm preaching to you I said this in a
recent video you don't like you for the
same reason I don't like me that we are
we have this sort of internal battle
going on within us and we find it
difficult to be alone with ourselves but
over time we can become at peace with
God and therefore at peace with
ourselves and it's a lot more easy to do
that so when you go on a drive don't
play music maybe don't listen to a
podcast be with yourself spend some time
in holy adoration write Eucharistic
Adoration be alone with yourself
don't listen to things or watch TV as
you go to bed at night be alone with
yourself don't you know subject your
poor children to having to watch things
and listen to things as they go to bed
at night allow them to be with
themselves to be comfortable with
silence now quiet is different than
silence I think that most often quiet is
a prerequisite for silence not always
but that silence is something different
it's it's not an absence it's a fullness
it allows us to be in communion with God
and our self and that communion with our
self is what we call the interior life
and this is something that bad
false and ugly things begin to suffocate
so begin to habituate yourself with the
truth of good in the beautiful and let
us know below in the comment section how
you plan on doing that if you have a
question for me just write hashtag ask
Matt Fred and I'll respond to it in an
upcoming episode if you want to follow
me on Instagram or Twitter you can
follow me at Matt Fred thanks so much