It is common today for people to speak of a theory of everything,
and many physicists are on a quest for a single all-encompassing account of the physical universe.
But long before anyone ever spoke of a theory of everything, St. Thomas Aquinas already put
one forward – in a manner of speaking. His was not a physical theory of all physical things,
but a metaphysical theory of all things without qualification – whether physical or spiritual. So,
let’s take a look at his big picture, and catch a glimpse of why things exist at all.
In contemporary physics, a theory of everything is commonly understood
to be a general framework for the explanation of all phenomena in the physical universe,
and physicists generally grant that they have not yet arrived at a theory of everything.
The quest to do so is ongoing, and there are disagreements among physicists about whether
such a theory is possible, what such a theory would be, or how to proceed in getting there.
But even if someday physicists were to develop a theory of everything
in the physical universe, one could still ask the question: is that all? After all,
if there is more to reality than just physical things and phenomena--if
God and angels and spiritual souls exist and are real--then a theory of everything physical would
not be an adequate account of reality as a whole. What would be needed is rather a metaphysical
theory of everything – an account of reality that extends to all things both physical and spiritual.
Now, obviously, St. Thomas Aquinas believed that God, angels, and spiritual souls exist and are
real, and he had good reasons for doing so. We have discussed those reasons in other videos.
So, following the Scriptures and the Fathers of the Church, he elaborated such a
metaphysical theory of everything. The theory is intuitive, simple, and beautiful in its scope.
The simplest way to state it goes as follows: God is the beginning and the end of all things,
the alpha and the omega. That statement holds true whether the things in question are physical,
or spiritual--elements or angels--or human beings who are composed of spiritual soul and body. All
things other than God originate in God, they come from God, and in the last analysis they
exist ultimately for God--that is, they return to him in various ways. Reality as a whole is a kind
of divine circulatory system in which all things other than God flow from God and return to him.
Another way to say it is that God is the efficient cause and final cause of everything other than
himself. Let’s consider the first part of that claim. God is the efficient cause of
everything other than God. God is not an efficient cause in the sense we ordinarily use the term.
He is not a particular cause or one cause among others in the world. Rather, he is the cause
of the world – including all of the conditions and causes at work in the world. He is an efficient
cause in a higher and all-surpassing way. He is the creator of all things visible and invisible.
That is, God gives to everything other than himself their very existence--their power,
their activity, their life, their purpose, their place, and their course in the order of the world.
Over the course of centuries, scientific theories come and scientific theories go.
But no matter what scientific accounts of things are put forward – either yesterday, today,
or tomorrow – all of those accounts presuppose and take for granted certain things. They take
for granted the very existence of things, their action, and the causality of things in the world.
But St. Thomas’ metaphysical theory of everything explains the very things that scientists in every
age presuppose and take for granted. For on St. Thomas’ theory of everything, the very existence,
action, and causality of things comes from God or flows from God. God himself exists essentially
and is without need of explanation. For God is being itself subsisting without limitation.
But there is more to consider than God being the efficient cause of all things other than himself.
God is also the final cause of all things other than himself. Everything other than
God exists and acts for his sake, for his glory--that is, to put him on display. How so?
Things in the world, whether physical or spiritual, exist according to different
kinds or natures. Elements and minerals, plants and animals, humans and angels,
are all different kinds of things. But regardless of what kind of thing it is, each kind of thing
aims to be as much like God as is possible for it according to its nature. Obviously,
things aim to do so with more or less conscious intent depending on what kind of thing they are,
but all things aim to be like God in a manner proper to each of them.
The elements and minerals, for example, are a little bit like God just by existing.
Just to be at all is a perfection that resembles God just a little bit. The plants and animals,
however, are a bit more like God. For the plants and animals not only exist,
but are living as well. And to live is a perfection that resembles God a bit more.
Human beings and angels, however, aim to be like God in an altogether higher way. For in addition
to existing and living, humans and angels aim at knowing and loving. And the activities of
knowing and loving are more like God than simply existing or being alive. And to the extent that
human beings and angels know and love God, they are most like God of all creatures.
Because God himself knows and loves God, and God just enjoys being God.
But there is more. According to St. Thomas Aquinas, God is now giving being, and power,
and action, and life, and direction to the whole world of created things,
and he is doing so for a specific purpose. He is doing so in order to display for you and for me,
for created persons, his divine attributes - to display them at least to some extent.
The perfections of created things -- their being, their life, their knowing and their
loving -- display for us something of God’s being, God’s life, God’s knowledge and love, his power
and his awe-inspiring wisdom. That is the point of creation. The point is for God to show off to us.
The order and beauty of creation, including the multitude of all the angels all hierarchically
arranged, is basically the act of God showing off to us. He shows off to us in the world,
and through the world. Why? So that you and I might come to know God and love God more and more,
and enjoy him for all eternity. In this way, he is our final end, too--our happiness and our joy.
The purpose of life is to know God, St. Thomas says. What a simple but essential
truth to remember. The purpose of life is to know God. And that is why all things are.
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