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of contemporary culture and reductionism (sci- sight known to psychotherapists. The most inte-
entism) prevailing almost everywhere in the resting, however, is the last way, which perfectly
understanding of man, I can go on to deal with characterizes Aquinas‘ approach to man: he ad-
what seems to be slightly weaker aspect of the vises that in such a final situation, when none of
author‘s suggestion. the previous ways worked, just ... take a warm
bath and go to sleep. I consider this to be a great
First of all, from reading the writings of St. Tho- anticipation of later knowledge, revealing the
mas Aquinas (As a philosopher, I am as a Tho- saint‘s cognitive attitude. Well, this attitude was
mist from the so-called “Warsaw school of con- extremely open to natural knowledge. It is not
sistent Thomism”), in my opinion, a slightly dif- difficult to know what sources our philosopher
ferent picture of this saint‘s attitude emerges on used. After all, he was considered an Aristote-
the issue of stress. As in many other cases, this lian, and the Stagirite was a called a naturalist
relationship was ... prophetic. I am of the opini- (both naturalist and philosopher).
on that the saint anticipated the 20th-century
knowledge of our body‘s responses to stressors. However, in the case of St. Thomas we have
This can be seen when we go into the text of his another important influence, the leadership of
treatise on feelings or treatise on virtues (rele- a Dominican saint - Albert the Great of Co-
vant fragments of Theological Summa). logne, who for many years was the most im-
portant teacher of St. Thomas, and at the same
Well, considering the issue of sadness (Summa time was an outstanding (perhaps the greatest
Theologiae, 1-2, qu. 37-38), St. Thomas notes in Europe then?) naturalist. I always wondered
that it is absolutely necessary to avoid this fee- how it happened that Saint Thomas did not de-
ling, which threatens the life of man. Sadness vote himself solely to studying nature with such
destroys. Thus, it anticipates the knowledge a teacher, but apparently he decided that the-
we have gained, e.g. thanks to the study of the re are more important matters? Probably right.
impact of stress on health, which is currently However, Saint Albert had to teach his student
very accurate and extensive, those interested a modern scientific attitude. And he succeeded.
are even familiar with the findings of Holmes Reading St. Thomas, I see it all the time. Would
and Rahe (1967, SRRS) about the relationship someone not having a sense of the principles
between illness and stress. Now, the saint is not of organic life pay attention to such specific
limited to warnings about sadness. aspects? Probably not. St. Thomas Aquinas did
not waste the time spent with Saint Albert. He
He gives five specific tips on how to avoid it, in had good knowledge of nature, probably ex-
proportion to the strength of the feeling (stress?) ceeding even Aristotle‘s conceptions. He owed
(STh, 1-2, qu.38). These tips are, in turn: a) pro- it to his master, Saint Albert the Great. This
viding yourself with some equivalent pleasure; is hidden behind the veil of his philosophical
b) expressing sadness (crying out); c) blaming and theological considerations. Yes, he had to
friends with their sadness; d) „the strongest ple- use mainly Aristotelian tools, then considered
asure“ or contemplation of truth and the fifth, revolutionary progressive, but thanks to Saint
final way, about which more in a moment. Albert probably already distanced himself from
them to some extent.
When we consider this scale of preventing sad-
ness, we see a convergence with modern psycho- And here is my fundamental comment on the
logical knowledge regarding various aspects of text of S. Parenti. So-called rational (or Thomi-
„coping“ (e.g. expression or burdening friends). stic) psychology was and still is based on the
Today we know how effective social support is biology of Aristotle, and not based on the core
in reducing tensions (by the way, it is also so- philosophy of St. Thomas (original metaphysics
mewhat harmful for the supporters themselves, of esse). And like Aristotelian physics today (in
but not so much as to make them give it up). some respects), one “smells a rat”. Meanwhile,
The fourth way is to refer to the concept of in- modern Thomism has many more propositions,

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