Essence

All those years of studying the metaphysics of Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas were never wasted, because they helped me to understand the distinction between a substance, something that exists in itself, and an accident, something that exists in another thing.

I am a particular human being in substance, who will undergo many accidental changes in his life. I will be young or old, rich or poor, alone or in company. I may act in different ways, or be acted upon in different ways. I may be in one place or another, and in one time or another. But I will always remain a human being throughout all these different conditions, as long as I live.

The related concept of essence is hardly obscure or mysterious. It is simply the identity that many particular substances share in common. It isn't my humanity, or your humanity. It is the mutual humanity we all participate in. My own specific being is mine, but our universal identity is what binds us all together. We both have something that is distinctly our own, while at the same time something that belongs to both of us. It is the principle that unites us.

All of our living can benefit from this insight. I need not look only to my being and benefit, or only to your being and benefit. Humanity is by definition an inclusive, and not an exclusive, concept.  This is why love is the law for a creature gifted with reason and choice.

Over the years, I have grown to care less if I can explain such things through scholarship. I have grown also to consider how such things can help me to live and love with excellence. All of the theory will be useless if it is not actually experienced and practiced.

I look at myself, and I usually don't see much of anything at all. I then look at all my many neighbors in this whole wide world, however similar or different they may appear, however appealing or unappealing they seem to me, and I perceive essence.

You and I are not defined by our accidents. You and I do indeed live as distinct substances. But all those billions of substances share in a common essence. This can be one of the most comforting thoughts there could ever be.

Marillion, "Essence",  from Happiness is the Road (2008)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWhpWziEOEk

Tell you what I want
Essence
Tell you what I need
Essence
What I'm looking for
Essence

Sit in silence close your eyes, feel the magic everywhere inside you
Fingers toes head heart and soul, connected deep to every living thing
Not just the taste, the touch, the smell
Or the face you know so well
Not the 400 word description
The book, the film, the faithful depiction
Get out of here
Get out while you can
Choose life, strive for essence

Choose life, Choose living
Choose life, Choose living
Go digging, Go digging
Go digging, Go digging
Go digging for essence
for Essence
for Essence

Sit in silence and watch the sky
Feel the magic deep inside you
Every woman and every man
Turn off your mind and you'll understand

Sit in silence and watch the sky yeah
Feel the energy inside outside

Ain't one damn thing means a thing in this life
til you get close to Essence, til you try
Every man and woman listen to me, hey
Live in the moment or you'll never be free

Essence
Essence
Essence

Choose life, Choose essence

Written in 1/2009