Our mental acuity in heaven

  • Thread starter Thread starter DavidFilmer
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
D

DavidFilmer

Guest
It is usually taken for granted that any physical imperfections will not be inherited by our glorified bodies. After all, Our Lord healed a man who was blind from birth. It is not a stretch to imagine that nobody in heaven will be blind.

But what about mental acuity? On earth, there are some really smart people, and some people on the opposite end of the spectrum. And most of us are somewhere in the middle.

Suppose, in heaven, God offered to teach a class in quantum gravity (something that NOBODY on earth has ever comprehended). I sign up for the class, and notice that Einstein, Bohr, and Feynman have also signed up. If I attend the class, will I somehow have the ability to comprehend the content as well as those guys?
 
We can stretch our minds, learn all we can. God probably won’t see much difference between them and you. Or me. BTW I plan to take my scars to heaven. Jesus had all His wounds on His resurrected body. Mine’ll show how merciful He is.
 
I guess one way to think about this is to compare the faculty of mind (which uses the head) to that of movement (which uses the limbs).

In our natural life, we have Olympic runners and swimmers, but most of us just drag our bodies along.

Yet in our pneumatikon soma, we will be able to move with the speed of thought. In which case, the difference between ourself and an Olympic runner will no longer matter!

What applies to the human limbs would seem to also apply to the human head. The power of our new heads would be such as to overcome the natural differences in native ability.

ICXC NIKA!
 
I read somewhere that in heaven we will have “perfect knowledge,” which means we will not have to learn, we will just know everything.
 
DavidFilmer said:
It is usually taken for granted that any physical imperfections will not be inherited by our glorified bodies. After all, Our Lord healed a man who was blind from birth. It is not a stretch to imagine that nobody in heaven will be blind.

But what about mental acuity? On earth, there are some really smart people, and some people on the opposite end of the spectrum. And most of us are somewhere in the middle.

Suppose, in heaven, God offered to teach a class in quantum gravity (something that NOBODY on earth has ever comprehended). I sign up for the class, and notice that Einstein, Bohr, and Feynman have also signed up. If I attend the class, will I somehow have the ability to comprehend the content as well as those guys?
Click to expand...
Why would a being without mass have an interest in gravity? 😃

Catholic teaching is that infused knowledge is a result of the beatific vision. We will have a complete set of knowledge and be able to understand as God understands.
 
MtnDwellar said:
Why would a being without mass have an interest in gravity? :D.
Click to expand...
We don’t know for a fact that our “spiritual bodies” (pneumatikon soma) will be without mass. Our LORD’s certainly was massive, as He walked, etc, after emerging from death, something a massless entity cannot do.

A “massless body” is, TOU, a contradiction in terms.

ICXC NIKA.
 
GEddie said:
We don’t know for a fact that our “spiritual bodies” (pneumatikon soma) will be without mass. Our LORD’s certainly was massive, as He walked, etc, after emerging from death, something a massless entity cannot do.

A “massless body” is, TOU, a contradiction in terms.

ICXC NIKA.
Click to expand...
St. Thomas teaches that pure spirit is only intellect and will (diánoia kai théli̱si̱) and has no mass.

I think angels have no Mass because it is said that if angels could be jealous of men, then they would be jealous of our ability to receive the Eucharist. 😃

TOU = Thinking Of yoU?
 
MtnDwellar said:
St. Thomas teaches that pure spirit is only intellect and will (diánoia kai théli̱si̱) and has no mass.

I think angels have no Mass because it is said that if angels could be jealous of men, then they would be jealous of our ability to receive the Eucharist. 😃

TOU = Thinking Of yoU?
Click to expand...
To Our Understanding
 
MtnDwellar said:
Catholic teaching is that infused knowledge is a result of the beatific vision. We will have a complete set of knowledge and be able to understand as God understands.
Click to expand...
Um, I’m pretty sure this is NOT Catholic teaching. Because I’m pretty sure that’s Catholic heresy.
Beryllos said:
I read somewhere that in heaven we will have “perfect knowledge,” which means we will not have to learn, we will just know everything.
Click to expand...
You need better reading material.

To “know everything” is to be omniscient, which is a property that only God has.
 
DavidFilmer said:
Um, I’m pretty sure this is NOT Catholic teaching. Because I’m pretty sure that’s Catholic heresy…
Click to expand...
I will look into this. I think I ascertained that view from listening to Fr. Ripperger FSSP
I thought he said that souls receive infused knowledge just as the angles received it.
 
DavidFilmer said:
You need better reading material.

To “know everything” is to be omniscient, which is a property that only God has.
Click to expand...
Yes. Maybe I should have said “we will not have to learn, we will just know stuff.” In my doubtlessly ill-informed theology ;), eternal life is timeless or beyond time, so there is no learning or forgetting, just knowing. Therefore we will know as much about physics as pleases God, which will hopefully be more than we know now.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top