The Dalai Lama once wrote that the object of human existence was to be happy.
This sounds extremely glib as happiness in the popular imagination is a feeling and in the words of the song 'the greatest gift that we possess'.
On the other hand, von Hugel wrote 'Religion has never made me happy; it's no use shutting your eyes to the fact that the deeper you go, the more alone you will find yourself' This small masterpiece by the late Fr Herbert Mc Cabe of the Dominican order steers a steady courss between these two extremes.
We feels instinctively that human beings are designed to enjoy themselves and to be happy and yet we are told that suffering is good for the soul.
But in the Catholic tradition the true object of human existence is the vision of God and nothing less than this will ever make us truly happy.
But Fr Mc Cabe explores much deeper issues.
Is Happiness a pleasure or a pain? You hardly know.
Certainly it is not a comfort for comfort spells seciurity and hapiness can take you out of yourself to a degree where all secutiry is left behind.
Behind a feeling of exultation, you can sense the flame of incandescent terror.
This short book is entirely original and will further enhance Mc Cabe's posthumous reputation.
About the Author: Herbert Mc Cabe was a Dominican Friar and theologian of outstanding originality who died in 2001.
He was deeply influential on philosophers such as Anthony Kenny and Alasdair Mac Intyre and poets and writers like Terry Eagleton and Seamus Heaney.
| Author | Herbert |
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