In Peter Kreeft’s Practical Theology, a commentary on St. Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologica, the author says this in Chapter 71, “The Importance of Knowledge:”
“If we don’t know the road, we cannot attain the goal, no matter how much we desire it. The way to perfect happiness is Christ, Who said, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life’ (Jn 14:6). And the ‘acts’ by which we attain Him and happiness are faith, hope, and love. …
“Reason, discernment, discrimination between the real good and the apparent good, between objective reality and subjective feeling — this is essential for happiness, and for salvation.”
In the past, discernment was difficult because not enough information was available. Today, discernment is even more difficult because too much information is available. How can we distinguish between real news and fake news? How can we filter out the noise? How can we differentiate information offered in good faith from that being spun out to us with ulterior motives?
In an age of information overload it is easy to give up. It is easy to retreat into a comfortable corner and not think at all. It takes real effort to wade into the morass, let alone discern what is right and good.
Finding trusted sources of information and interpretation is important. I’m always on the lookout for news providers, Â editorialists, friends, neighbors, family members, clerics, and teachers I believe to be informed, intelligent, and moral. I’m also on guard not to rely on sources merely because I agree with them, though I admit this is a great challenge.
To discriminate between the real good and the apparent good, I have found the most thorough and reliable sources by far to be Jesus Christ and His reflected spirit in the Bible, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The Bible and the Catechism have stood the test of time and the much smaller test of my own experience. If these works are diligently studied they will help anyone, religious or not, discern truth in issues both large and small.
Reflection
Am I thinking for myself or going with the crowd? Am I continually applying discernment to the information and opinions that come my way, or am I operating on moral and intellectual auto-pilot?
