The Sins Opposed to Wisdom

The Sins Opposed to Wisdom.—Just as blindness and dullness-that is, the want of all or of sufficient perceptiveness in spiritual things—are opposed to the Gift of Understanding (see 912), so stupidity and foolishness—that is, the want of all or of sufficient good judgment about spiritual things—are opposed to the Gift of Wisdom.

Foolishness is defined as “a slowness and darkness of mind that is due to some moral defect, and that makes it difficult for one to judge rightly about the Last End of things and the Chief Good.”

(a) Foolishness is slow and darksome, and thus the contrary of Wisdom, which is alert and discerning.

(b) It is a defect of judgment, and so differs from the sins of blindness and dullness of heart.

(c) It is an error of judgment about the chief concern of life and the things of greatest value, and thus it is different from the innocent simplicity of many good persons, whose judgment is not sound in affairs of this world.

(d) It is brought on by moral fault, and is therefore not to be identified with invincible ignorance, which is a physical imperfection caused by nature, as in the weak-minded and the insane.

Just as true Wisdom seems foolishness to the world, so does true foolishness seem wisdom to the world (I Cor., iii. 18 sqq.). There is a counterfeit wisdom, which places its last end in some created good, and which is therefore foolishness before God. St. James (iii. 15) describes false wisdom as “earthly, sensual, devilish”; and these words express very well three chief classes of worldly wisdom. (a) Some of the worldly-wise aim above all things at amassing and increasing wealth or other external possessions (earthly wisdom). (b) Others seek chiefly pleasure, health, comfort, or other bodily goods (animal wisdom). (c) Others imitating Lucifer, who is king over all the sons of pride (Job, xli. 25), devote their whole lives solely to the pursuit of inordinate excellence of some kind—that is, of selfish domination or honors or glory, etc. (devilish wisdom).

The foolishness we are now considering is sinful, for it is a voluntary choice of evil, a violation of commandments, and the ruination of man. In scripture the term “fool” is applied to the wicked, the impious, the objects of divine anger (Ps. xiii. 1), and hence it was that our Lord declared severe penalty against those who call another a fool (Matt., v. 22).

(a) Foolishness is a voluntary choice of evil, for it consists in a turning away from spiritual things or an entire absorption in the things of this world, with the result that one becomes unfitted to judge aright concerning the values of human existence: “The animal man does not perceive the things of the Spirit of God” (I Cor., ii. 14). But the fact that his taste is perverted, and that he has no relish for the spiritual, is due to his own deliberate rejection of good and the cultivation of evil.

(b) Foolishness is a violation of commandments about the knowledge and employment of truth (see 914 sqq.): “See how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise” (Eph., v. 15, 16).

(c) Foolishness leads to perdition, for, being defective in its judgment, it barters away the future for present satisfaction and sells its birthright for a mess of pottage: “The prosperity of fools destroys them” (Prov., i. 32); “Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be required of thee” (Luke, xii. 20).

The causes of the sin of foolishness, as was said above (see 1623), are the wrong and sinful views taken of life, which make men judge all things by the standards of gain or pleasure or power, rather than by the standard of the First Cause, in comparison with whom all these lower goods are but trivial. But, among all the vices that lead mankind astray from Wisdom, the preeminence is held by lust, for its attraction is greater and its hold on the soul more complete. As chastity especially disposes for heavenly contemplation and Wisdom (see 912) by the refinement and elevation and spirituality it gives the mind, so does sensuality especially indispose for these goods by the coarseness and degradation and materialism that follow in its wake.

FOOLISHNESS is opposed to Wisdom, which is called false Wisdom by St. Gregory, book 13 of the Morals, chapter 14, cited by St. Bonaventure, book 3 of the Pharetra, chapter 32; by Paul it is called: the wisdom of this world, 1 Corinthians 1; and by Gregory, book 31, chapter 20, it is called: Foolishness before God, before whom is the right judgment of things.

THIS, however, consists in a perverse judgment, which postpones divine things to fleeting ones, as St. Augustine says, book 2 on free choice, chapter 16, and On the quantity of the soul, chapter 19, and book 10 on the city of God, chapter 28; and this is called to be wise in a bad sense, and to be foolish, by St. Bernard, the book on the degrees of humility, degree 1; and on the verse: Behold us, etc., he calls it the accursed wisdom, which supplants, and earthly, animal, diabolical, as the Holy Doctor notes, loc. cit. Pharetra, whom see.

IN THE SAME way it is called such by St. James, chapter 3, as the Holy Doctor excellently expounds, on the gift of Wisdom, chapter 1. It is indeed called diabolical, because it deceives so as to destroy. See St. Thomas, question 46, article 2.

JUST as Wisdom gives savor, sweetness, and taste in divine things; so foolishness in fleeting things. Of this, the second book of Wisdom, where those young men cried out: Come, let us enjoy good things, etc. Let us leave everywhere signs of our joy, as the Holy Doctor expounds, sermon 2 within the octave of the Nativity.

From this it is deduced that foolishness is a sin of the same species as that object which is preferred before God. See also St. Thomas, articles 2 and 3.