Hello, my name is Father Gregory Pine and I'm a Dominican friar of the province of St. Joseph and this is Pines with the Quines.

In past episodes or past conversations with Matt, I have made mention of the fact that I kind of tried to stay away from music.

I think the first conversation that I had with him was actually about modern music.

And in addition to that, that I tried to stay away from certain forms of entertainment, and here I'm thinking mostly of like movies.

And so somebody in the community section of Matt's YouTube page asked the question like why or kind of like what's your thought behind that or what's the reason for which.

So like what of that is just personal and what do you think of that ought to be more widely practiced.

So this video is about, yeah, my thoughts about like music and movies and general entertainment, how that represents maybe an obstacle to growth and holiness or how we can live our Christian lives, you know, with these things present and do so in a way that, yeah, can do this is to growth.

So let's get after it.

So I think my basic starting point here is that we as human beings made to the image and likeness of God have a contemplative end.

Okay, how do I know this? Well, because of the revelation of the fact that we're made for heaven.

So in heaven, there won't be anything to do in the sense of like this needs getting done or it's going to be left undone like everything will have been done.

God will be all in all, but it will be for us to worship right to know and to love right and to enact that by a kind of perpetual liturgy which will draw on all of our stores which will have us firing on all cylinders.

Okay.

So at the end of the day you as a human being are not just a doing right you are a being and your human beingness is made for the knowledge and love of God.

And what is true in heaven is true on earth. Now mind you on earth we experience you know like bodily and emotional and psychological and spiritual need and pretty acute ways.

And oftentimes when we attend to those needs we're going to have to like you know get out of your head and into your body.

You're going to have to do practical things and think in practical ways right.

But that should never cover over. That should never occlude the fact that ultimately we're made for the knowledge and love of God.

So you know Aristotle and those who follow in his tradition distinguish between the speculative and the practical use of the intellect.

And so when St. Thomas for instance talks about different forms of life he has an extended commentary there on a certain passage in Aristotle's Nikkeh McKinethics where he distinguishes yeah between those for whom the speculative intellect dominates and those for whom the practical intellect dominates.

And he says yeah at the end of the day the speculative is higher right because the speculative is engaged with higher things right it engages us in our highest power namely our intellect right the heights of our intellect.

And it's the type of activity which even if we can only sustain it for short periods of time on earth affords the greatest delight because it represents our deepest perfection it represents what corresponds most wholly and entirely to our human nature.

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