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Objection 1: It would seem that pain does not deprive one of the
power to learn. For it is written (Is. 26:9): "When Thou
shalt do Thy judgments on the earth, the inhabitants of the world
shall learn justice": and further on (verse 16): "In the
tribulation of murmuring Thy instruction was with them." But the
judgments of God and tribulation cause sorrow in men's hearts.
Therefore pain or sorrow, far from destroying, increases the power of
learning.
Objection 2: Further, it is written (Is. 28:9): "Whom
shall He teach knowledge? And whom shall He make to understand the
hearing? Them that are weaned from the milk, that are drawn away from
the breasts," i.e. from pleasures. But pain and sorrow are most
destructive of pleasure; since sorrow hinders all pleasure, as stated
in Ethic. vii, 14: and (Ecclus. 11:29) it is stated that
"the affliction of an hour maketh one forget great delights."
Therefore pain, instead of taking away, increases the faculty of
learning.
Objection 3: Further, inward sorrow surpasses outward pain, as
stated above (Question 35, Article 7). But man can learn while
sorrowful. Much more, therefore, can he learn while in bodily pain.
On the contrary, Augustine says (Soliloq. i, 12): "Although
during those days I was tormented with a violent tooth-ache, I was
not able to turn over in my mind other things than those I had already
learnt; and as to learning anything, I was quite unequal to it,
because it required undivided attention."
I answer that, Since all the powers of the soul are rooted in the one
essence of the soul, it must needs happen, when the intention of the
soul is strongly drawn towards the action of one power, that it is
withdrawn from the action of another power: because the soul, being
one, can only have one intention. The result is that if one thing
draws upon itself the entire intention of the soul, or a great portion
thereof, anything else requiring considerable attention is incompatible
therewith.
Now it is evident that sensible pain above all draws the soul's
attention to itself; because it is natural for each thing to tend
wholly to repel whatever is contrary to it, as may be observed even in
natural things. It is likewise evident that in order to learn anything
new, we require study and effort with a strong intention, as is
clearly stated in Prov. 2:4,5: "If thou shalt seek wisdom as
money, and shall dig for her as for a treasure, then shalt thou
understand learning". Consequently if the pain be acute, man is
prevented at the time from learning anything: indeed it can be so
acute, that, as long as it lasts, a man is unable to give his
attention even to that which he knew already. However a difference is
to be observed according to the difference of love that a man has for
learning or for considering: because the greater his love, the more
will he retain the intention of his mind so as to prevent it from
turning entirely to the pain.
Reply to Objection 1: Moderate sorrow, that does not cause the
mind to wander, can conduce to the acquisition of learning especially
in regard to those things by which a man hopes to be freed from sorrow.
And thus, "in the tribulation of murmuring," men are more apt to be
taught by God.
Reply to Objection 2: Both pleasure and pain, in so far as they
draw upon themselves the soul's intention, hinder the reason from the
act of consideration, wherefore it is stated in Ethic. vii, 11
that "in the moment of sexual pleasure, a man cannot understand
anything." Nevertheless pain attracts the soul's intention more than
pleasure does: thus we observe in natural things that the action of a
natural body is more intense in regard to its contrary; for instance,
hot water is more accessible to the action of cold, and in consequence
freezes harder. If therefore pain or sorrow be moderate, it can
conduce accidentally to the facility of learning, in so far as it takes
away an excess of pleasure. But, of itself, it is a hindrance; and
if it be intense, it prevents it altogether.
Reply to Objection 3: External pain arises from hurt done to the
body, so that it involves bodily transmutation more than inward sorrow
does: and yet the latter is greater in regard to the formal element of
pain, which belongs to the soul. Consequently bodily pain is a
greater hindrance to contemplation which requires complete repose, than
inward sorrow is. Nevertheless if inward sorrow be very intense, it
attracts the intention, so that man is unable to learn anything for the
first time: wherefore on account of sorrow Gregory interrupted his
commentary on Ezechiel (Hom. xxii in Ezechiel).
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