Natural Law vs. Laws of Nature: Becoming More Human

I once had an argument with a teaching colleague about homosexuality. He told me, “I don’t understand why the Church claims that homosexuality is against Natural Law. You find homosexuality all over the place in nature.” My response was two-fold. One, you really don’t find homosexuality in nature. What you find in nature is what I (tongue-in-cheek) call “trysexuality.” Some animals will try anything. Secondly, the term “natural” when talking about moral law is not the same thing as the Law of the Jungle. In fact, it is quite the opposite of what my colleague implied. The natural moral law is the part of morality that keeps us from becoming merely animals. It is the part of the moral law that helps us to become more human.

What’s the Difference?

What exactly does it mean to say that natural law helps us to become more human? How exactly are humans unique?

• Humans and animals do share many characteristics because we share a physical nature – humans and animals both have senses, appetites, memory, power solving abilities, and other physical faculties.
• However, humans also have a spiritual nature, through which we have the faculties of the intellect and the will (more on these later).
• There are creatures that have purely spiritual natures. These spiritual creatures are the angels, archangels, principalities, thrones, powers, virtues, cherubim, seraphim, etc.
• Human beings are the only creatures who have a nature that is both physical and spiritual
• Therefore, we are fully human when we nurture both the physical and the spiritual aspects of our natures.

The Human Conundrum

Because of free will and our dual nature, human beings are the only creatures who have the ability to be less than their nature. If we forsake our physical bodies and focus only on the spiritual, we damage human dignity by despising the physical dimension of our nature. On the other hand, if we forsake our spirits and embrace only our bodies, we become like animals, pursuing only pleasure. Furthermore, we use others and our own bodies as commodities in our search for pleasure.

Natural Law Leads Us to Become More Human

One of the purposes of the natural moral law is to guide us to maximize the expression of our human nature by expressing both of these aspects of human life in balance. How do we do this? Our intellect and our will empower us to balance our physical desires so that we don’t neglect our spiritual and they also empower us to add a spiritual dimension to our physical striving.

The Intellect: the Power of Truth

The intellect is the ability to know the truth – what reality is really like in its totality. To pierce our daily experience with our intellect means to seek understanding and meaning. We use our intellect to think about our lives and to live reflectively. Unlike animals, we do not act solely on instinct, emotions, or biological drives. We think about what we are doing. With our intellect, we also give meaning to life and to specific aspects of life. The intellect empowers us to do things such as

• Examine our life goals, values, and attitudes
• Understand the meaning and purpose of an action
• Perform an examination of conscience
• Truly know yourself
• Truly know others (this is the true definition of intimacy)
• Know spiritual goods that our senses cannot detect, especially transcendent goods – those goods that exist only within relationships with others
• Discover God as our perfect good

Free Will: the Power of Self-Determination

Secondly, free will is the ability to choose what is authentically good for us as human beings. Unlike animals, we can choose not to act on emotions, appetites, and instincts. We can choose when to attain physical needs. We can choose spiritual goods when our bodies are clamoring for physical ones. Ultimately, we use our will to choose the path of our lives. The human will empowers us to live our lives deliberately, and ultimately to choose who we become as persons. The will empowers us to do such things as

• Control our emotions and desires
• Choose among various things that appear good to us
• Choose to act or not to act upon our emotions and desires
• Choose to develop virtues
• Choose who we will become – deliberately form our character (self-determination)
• Choose to love others (true love means to choose the good for the other person)
• Choose spiritual goods even when our appetites are not oriented toward them
• Experience true freedom

By following the natural law, we come to act in accordance with our nature. This is a step toward being what God created us to be. By making us more human, the natural moral law orients our lives toward full goodness by balancing the spiritual and physical goods and reminds us that the enjoyment of physical goods should always have a spiritual dimension (meaning, control & balance, as well as connection to God). Therefore the natural moral law guides us toward true, authentic happiness.

Live a More Fully Human Life

Would you like to live a more fully human life, the life that God created you for? From the Abbey‘s online spiritual program the Power of Virtue teaches you how to develop and strengthen the human virtues (also called the natural virtues) to become more human, combat concupiscence, and lay the foundation for your supernatural destiny! I invite you to get started by considering the offer below to become more involved with From the Abbey. Learn your faith with online courses or live your faith with online spirituality programs. Rebuild your Inner Abbey and take your next step toward holiness!

Brought to you by Jeffrey S. Arrowood at From the Abbey, dedicated to helping you rediscover the JOY of learning and living your faith so you can grow in intimacy with God.