Have you ever wondered what a person is? I mean, have you ever looked out into the world and wondered what makes a person a person? I look at a rock and know that it is not a person. I can look at a car and it is not a person. I can keep doing this over and over. Aristotle notes that there is something in the person that makes the person what they are...he names this the soul (the animating principle).
But, what is an animating principle, a life-force? This sounds like something off of Star Wars! But, really, what is it? Let's take a look around as Aristotle did. See, I can look at a rock and it doesn't move. It's simply there. It doesn't smell, taste, grow or anything like that. It simply is. As I look around the world, I notice plants and grass. These don't eat, smell or laugh, but they grow. It has an animating principle. But, is grass equal to a person? When I cut my grass, will I be arrested for murder? Of course not, unless you're a hippy or Franciscan! (I know that was a bad joke, but it was funny :) please dont be upset).
So, let's keep doing this; let's keep looking around. I see the rock isn't me. I see the grass has some of the same characteristics as me, but what else? I see animals. Are they like me? I mean they eat, smell, move, reproduce, etc. They are like me, right?!?! Well, let's look at it. Animals have the same thing as humans in that they have sensual knowledge of things. They see, smell, hear, taste, and touch. But, they miss one thing that we have, that is very important. They do not have rationality. I have never seen a group of monkeys write a blog, or a book, or form a library. I have never seen them fly to space (on their own), or play a football game, or even have a sophisticated language (with symbols and universal principles). We are not animals, and animals are not humans. We each have senses, but not rationality. This is the classic definition of a person (Aristotle, Plato, Church Fathers, etc.). But is that it?
Here is where I would like to employ one of my favorite philosophers...Blessed John Paul II. He makes it more "personal". He writes a lot about the human experiencing the world. See, the "issue" with the classical definition is that it leaves the world of experience objective. We do not only experience the world objectively. I do not say, "I am going to talk to the person and have a purely objective experience." That is not "real" (as John Henry Newman puts it). He makes things more "real" because all of my experiences affect me. I am the person who is acting. You are the person acting. It is us experiencing the world uniquely. (this is a very brief way of explaining his thought).
Each of us experience the world uniquely, defined by our actions and those around us. Your specific experience makes you who you are. (BTW I'm not saying/JPII saying that if you're not acting you're not a person). Your moral actions make you the person you are. Your actions determine what you will do and who you are. (He takes a great balance of both the empiricists and idealists, found much in the world today.) Do bad...then you're bad. Do good...then you are.....bad..j/k...you're good. See?! But, there's more to being a person.... he states this in Mulieris Dignitatem
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Being a person means striving for a self- realization, which can ONLY be achieved through a sincere gift of self"
We are created as persons. I am a person. You are a person. We are all persons, but we are not THE definitive persons....God is. He is what it means to be a person. Those 3 persons show us what it means to be a person. How is it that we know the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit?
Well, how is the Father different from the Son? The Son different from the Father? How's the Holy Spirit distinct from the others???? Aquinas, Augustine, even the Catechism (CCC 255) state that the only way that we can tell the difference between the 3 persons is the way they relate to each other.
The Father is eternal and gives everything that He is to the Son, except being a Father. The Father eternally generates the Son. The Holy Spirit is different from the two because He proceeds from the two. The Son is eternally begotten. The Spirit preceeds from (technically "spirated", or "generated") in the Father and the Son (there's a lot of deep theology in this!!!).
What does this have to do with being a "person?"....Well, we are made in his image! He says let "US" make man in OUR image! St. Augustine states, "What's the 'we' if it is not the Trinity. If we are made in his image, then we are relational beings. There's more! 1 John 4 states that "God is love." Well, if we are made in His image, and He is love, then what are persons???.....relational beings created by love and for love.
Love is relational. It demands relationship. It is reciprocal! It gives, it receives. It is sacrificial, seeking more, but returning more and more. It gives totally, as God has made us. True love is the Trinity because the Trinity truly gives love. We are truly made for love by love!!! (I'm sure I've lost most of you by now. But, if you're still here please excuse my rant.)
So, practically speaking, our being human entitles us to live in loving relationships, to our spouses, children, family, and even strangers. Each person is made for so much more! Now the question is; if to be a human means to be a relational being in love, then what flows from this is...are you really being human?
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