The Real Distinction (Aquinas 101)

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“It is clear, therefore, that an intelligence is form and existence, and that it has existence from the First Being, which is existence alone. And this is the First Cause, which is God.” - St. Thomas Aquinas, On Being and Essence

If everything in this world that we experience receives its existence from another and is caused, that can only be explained with reference to others that cause it to be. Now, regardless of how far you pass the buck, you cannot have an actual infinite series of such causes. There has to be some being giving existence to everything; this, all men call God. For, by contrast with everything else that we encounter, God exists by nature. He doesn’t receive his existence from anything; existence is proper to the very essence of God, so God exists essentially. For everything else, though, there is a real distinction between essence and existence.

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The Real Distinction (Aquinas 101) - Fr. Thomas Joseph White, O.P.

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