Teleology

We live in an age where status (fame), wealth, and power are thought to be the high-watermark of what a meaningful life looks like. However, this view on life is categorically wrong. There is no substance to any of these objectives for the very fact they can all be gone in an instant. They add nothing to what it means to be human, and more importantly they provide little direction on how you should live your life (if anything, the exact opposite). In and of themselves there is nothing wrong with status or wealth or power, however the moment we centre our life around these things we have moved away from our true human nature, instead they should be merely by-products of a life lived to its fullest human existence.  In other words, you were born for a purpose, and if you have a purpose you have a goal, or an end-point, in which you hope to achieve it. This ancient philosophical idea is called Teleology, and for a long time in our human history it provided the basic understanding of why we are here and what we are aiming for. In our materialistic age, where our spiritual natures are being crushed, not to mention the artificial age we have arrived at, it is now time that Teleology becomes front and centre again in our minds, embraced, and educated.   

“So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.  I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish?” (Ecclesiastes 2:17-19)

I’ve lived a directionless life. Which is another way of saying I’ve lived a meaningless life, drifting from one day to the next, another month, another year. I’ve always worked, and felt inclined to try and better myself through reading and study, but both were done with no real purpose, no ultimate goal I wanted to achieve. Actually, that’s not entirely true, I did make an ultimatum once when I was 28 to become the “greatest writer ever” even though I had not written a word – I decided to be a writer after reading Henry Miller (who had also decided to be a writer before writing a single word). For 2 years all I did was read, and read and read, most of the time I had 3 or 4 books on the go – it became my obsession. And then I wrote a book. It was not picked up by any agent (I counted the 7 rejection slips as a badge … F. Scott Fitzgerald had 27 rejection slips, so in my mind I was at least on the same playing field as other literary giants). This was the age before internet self-publishing and self-promotion, so I could label my rejections as “they just don’t get it”. Regardless of my rejections, after one completed book (filed in the desk draw), I decided I was a real writer so I quit my job and wrote another book, which was laborious and an abject failure compared to my first book. My passion for writing began to wane (more so when my financial situation started to become a reality). I moved back into the corporate world and kicked writing along the road for another couple years turning my attention to film-script writing with a friend, but with no success, that eventually peated out too. I was in my mid-thirties and had allowed my life to fully flourish into meaningless. I had no career goals, I was struggling through depression from the loss of my brother, I had found my Christian faith again (before my brother’s death), but that was a self-constructed religiosity; a house built on sand. I drifted into family life and failed at that. More depression and despair and acedia followed, to the point where these dark moods were my normal clothes I’d put on every day as I battle through a working life that was meaningless, though it did fund a life that was also mute and soulless – providing me with a decent enough level of status and wealth.

“Contemplation is the highest expression of man’s intellectual and spiritual life.” (Thomas Merton)

The art of contemplation is a lost art that needs urgently reviving, that said, I have always contemplated things: past actions, past words, past errors, mistakes, sins, failures, mainly contemplating the past, though occasionally thoughts of the future would come in. One day in my mid-forties, I decided that everything I had done to this point in my life had not been working – I was a complete failure having achieved nothing to note. I had read somewhere that life moves in seven-year cycles (at the time I was too lazy to confirm if this was correct or not, but it sounded probably about right). I made a deal with the universe to be somewhere completely different in seven years’ time, I had no clue what that looked like, whether I had to study something or take a step backwards in my career, whether it would be a radical change in my working life, or something that would enhance it. Regardless, I had made a solid commitment to step onto an uncharted track and see what would come along, what life would present, and trust in God to decern the things I should pursue (e.g. Theology) and what not to pursue. After seven years I have definitely landed in a different space; I have a clear goal and purpose. My life has meaning. I know this all seems a bit evasive in terms of what exactly changed, however the purpose of this article is to provide insight into one the biggest revelations I have arrived at on my seven-year journey; namely, understanding the concept of Teleology – the ultimate goal to what life is about, what it means to be fully human.  

Design, Purpose, Finality

Make no mistake, this is a Christian doctrine, or at least the version I’m proposing is, and for a long time it was the lens that the Western world was viewed through – particularly in the sciences such as biology and astronomy, along with philosophy, and of course theology. However, by the twentieth century, after Darwin and philosophers like Hulme and Nietzsche, and not to mention the birth of Freudian psychology, the very notion that teleology could find a place in the any of the sciences was frowned upon (the “against” arguments would be strengthened later by people such as Stephen Jay Gould and Richard Dawkins). That said, its origins began long before Christianity with the Greek philosopher, Aristotle (who built on Plato’s philosophies), but these were then later refined by Saint Thomas Aquinas, who saw the teleological picture completed with God. Put simply, teleology is concerned with the end or “final causes” of things. The Catholic Encyclopaedia defines it as a doctrine where there is

“design, purpose, or finality in the world, that the effects are in some manner intentional, and that no complete account of the universe is possible without reference to final causes.”

The key things being stated here is that the design and purpose of the cosmos is intentional, and that by understanding this (in relation to the “final causes” i.e. the full potential of things) we have a much clearer understanding of the cosmos and our relationship to it.

“If you knew Time as well as I do,” said the Hatter, “you wouldn’t talk about wasting it.” (Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)

In 1802 the British theologian and naturalist William Paley, published his book Natural Theology, or Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity collected from the Appearances of Nature. In this book he outlined his famous “Watchmaker argument” which highlighted for Paley the evidence of God:

“In crossing a heath, suppose I pitched my foot against a stone, and were asked how the stone came to be there; I might possibly answer, that, for anything I knew to the contrary, it had lain there forever: nor would it perhaps be very easy to show the absurdity of this answer. But suppose I had found a watch upon the ground, and it should be inquired how the watch happened to be in that place; I should hardly think of the answer I had before given, that for anything I knew, the watch might have always been there. ... There must have existed, at some time, and at some place or other, an artificer or artificers, who formed [the watch] for the purpose which we find it actually to answer; who comprehended its construction, and designed its use... . Every indication of contrivance, every manifestation of design, which existed in the watch, exists in the works of nature; with the difference, on the side of nature, of being greater or more, and that in a degree which exceeds all computation.”

Now, there have been various arguments against the watchmaker analogy (Dawkins, The Blind Watch Makeris one such argument), and the point here is not so much an argument for Intelligent Design (though there is that), more so to highlight that for teleology, which is easily decerned in man-made objects i.e. they are made for purpose – the clock is made to keep time, just as a hammer is made for hitting a nail, however the argument, and where biologists (such as Dawkins) get really teleologically adverse, is the question: can the principles of teleology be applied to the nature? In other words, is nature (and all of the cosmos) created for an end purpose? If it is, this is agreeing that every intrinsic effect and cause is motioning towards something. For both Aristotle and Aquinas this “something” is a higher good. For Aristotle this higher good was a Supra Good (or Divine Good for Aquinas i.e. God), where things have a motioning purpose from potential to actualisation, arriving at (ideally) perfect Good; or simply:  

Potentiality (Good) + motion = Actualisation (perfect Good)

This means that everything has “potential” to realise it’s full Being, for example an acorn seed has unpacked “potential” – it can grow into a sapling, then into a small tree, and finally its full potential (it’s Being / perfected Goodness) a large oak tree.  Likewise, humans have their “potential” Good (Being) at conception, motioning towards foetus, baby, toddler, child, teenager, adult, arriving at (hopefully) their full actualised potential (perfect Good). For Aquinas this fully actualised Goodness can only be achieved in eternity after death. So essentially our Goodness is pre-determined, both oak tree and human baby would not motion towards flight like a bird, as this is not part of our embedded Goodness (Being).   

It is at this point that it’s important to not that for both Aristotle and Aquinas both “Being” and “Goodness” are the same thing. God (all Being / Goodness) created things into Being and “it was very Good” (Genesis 1:31).This is also key to understanding how man is created in “God’s Image”; God is all Good, we have the “potential” Goodness (as God’s image) embedded in us where we motion towards perfected actualised Goodness. A key thing for Aquinas’ teleological view is God’s divine Goodness (Being) is within all creation, so for Aquinas his summary of teleology is as follows:

“The nature necessity inherent in things that are determined to one effect is impressed on them by the Divine power which directs them to their end, just as the necessity which directs the arrow to the target is impressed on it by the archer, and does not come from the arrow itself. There is a difference, however, that what creatures receive from God is their nature, whereas the direction imparted by man to natural things beyond what is natural to them is a kind of violence. Hence, as the forced necessity of the arrow shows the direction intended by the archer, so the natural determinism of creatures is a sign of the government of Divine Providence” (Summa Theologica I:103:1 ad 3um)

The Teleological End-Game

But what is this “end”, this actualised perfect Goodness that man is heading towards? As stated above, for Aquinas it is life after death where we will find beatitude (happiness) with God. This end though is dependent on us fulfilling our “potential” i.e. realising our actualised perfected Goodness. However, fulfilling one’s potential is reliant on other factors, for the oak tree the amount of water and sunlight it receives plays a part in whether it reaches its full goodness. Likewise for human beings, our physical nature needs to be nourished and sheltered, though because we are also spiritual creatures the choices we make will play a large part on reaching our perfected Goodness. The more choices we make that motion us away from our natural nature of Goodness, the less we realise our full human potential. Keep in mind that God is all Being / Goodness, so effectively this motioning towards the good is motioning towards God. In other words, not motioning towards the Good is participating in anti-good i.e. evil (for Aquinas, evil is not something created, it only exists as a mutation of Good, as all Being is Good.) Aquinas noted that these choices that are acting towards the Good are found in the virtues - the four humanistic virtues defined by Aristotle of Prudence, Justice, Courage, and Temperance, and the three Christian virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity. All these virtues look outwards beyond the self to the other, they are designed to put others first and help lift them up to their full potential, and in doing so they direct ourselves towards the Good, helping us reach our full potential. This is the fulfillment of the “new law” that Christ gave – to “love one another, as I have loved you”.

One thing in all of this that requires further understanding is what exactly is our beatitude (happiness) with God? Ironically the answer to this falls in line with why most scientists and philosophers cannot embrace the doctrine of the teleology “… to know or discover the function of an organ or mechanism we would have to discover what the Creator had in mind” (Mark Perlman, The Modern Philosophical Resurrection of Teleology) in other words the answer cannot be as “unresolved” in a circular argument finishing with “because, you know, God”. But this IS the answer… the final teleological end-game is to know our Creator, to know Him fully, completely, to know “what the Creator had in mind”.

We live in a material world, where things can be measured and analysed and discussed and studied, judged, evaluated, every question has an answer and every idea can be explored. For some people, the notion that God can not fit neatly into any such buckets, be that measured or studied or evaluated, is beyond thinkable – so he is reduced to the limit of their intellectual capabilities, something to be scoffed at, a beaded old-man in the clouds. But the creature cannot be greater than the creator. It was Descartes who said God was:

“…immeasurable, incomprehensible, infinite … God is a cause whose power surpasses the limits of human understanding” 

Saint Augustine would also say, “Even when he reveals himself, God remains a mystery beyond words. If you understood him, it would not be God.”

His immensity, His perfected Being / Goodness, is too great for our mortal minds to comprehend. He cannot fit within our understanding of things, created things found in the limits of time and space, and so our full actualisation (perfected Goodness) can only be reached in eternity, outside of time and space – this is our telos, our end goal, to fully understand our creator, a creator who is the fount of Goodness / Truth / Beauty and not only understand, but to be united as one with Him – to be like Him – Fully Loved.

The Weight of Glory

CS Lewis wrote a famous essay titled The Weight of Glory, in it he argued that we are all Divine beings, that there is “no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal” and when viewing the world through this lens we will view people very differently:

“The load, or weight, or burden of my neighbour’s glory should be laid on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken. It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations.”

This is teleological thinking. Lewis is implying that the transformation we will undertake through the process of physical death with be metamorphic, it will be the caterpillar to the butterfly, the divine chrysalis – and yet, as Lewis indicates, this was always our destiny to become God-like creatures, that if you actually saw someone who had reached their full teleological destiny physically in front of you, you would fall to your knees in fear and praise. This is what we will become – and in doing so, our beatitude (happiness) – will be fully knowing God.

This full understanding of God is not attainable in the human space / time continuum – we can motion towards it through virtuous living, in worship, in prayer, in ritual, in acting out the teachings of Jesus, who is the icon of God, the God-made-man that provides us access to God’s grace, and without this grace our knowledge of God is also not attainable. This is why Jesus said “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6). Without the Grace found in the Cross we have no access to fully knowing God, meaning we have no opportunity to reach our full human potential.

The beautiful thing about the philosophy of teleology is we don’t need to wait to arrive at our destination, instead we get to motion towards, to participate in, this desired perfection state now:  

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” (John 15:5 -11)

The best part about teleological thinking is it can be applied over our lives, our relationships, our careers, as we motion towards the Good through virtuous living, thinking Prudently, acting Courageously, limiting our cravings and desires (Temperance), applying Justice in our actions and thoughts, all infused with Hope, Faith, and Charity (Love) – this way of living brings us to the Kingdom steps. By embracing the teleological framework you have a clear understanding of where you are heading in this life – and that by the Cross, death has been defeated and transformed into something so beautiful we cannot begin to fathom it, and in doing so it allows us to arrive at our eternal destination, perfected, divinely in love. 

To Simply Summarise   

I have done my best to outline the philosophy of teleology above, however some people may find a visual outline beneficial to help in their understanding, so I have created a simple diagram that represents all of the key elements of teleology. It is important to note that God reigns outside of time and space – this is eternity, however God is still embedded into all of creation through his Goodness (Being), so essentially in the diagram God is represented as the whole page: