When the intellect regularly grasps its proper object---- truth --- it becomes habituated to beholding the truth. The mind becomes stamped by the truth, much like the metal of a coin is stamped with the head of a sovereign. This quality of being formed by the truth is good for the intellect. When the intellect has this quality , it is all the stronger for it: a truth-shaped mind can more easily sift through rumor, reject falsehood , discover reality, and so on. Accordingly , the habit of grasping the truth quickly, easily, skillfully, and joyfully is the perfection of the intellect. Seen from the other end of things, when the intellect is properly habituated, it grasps the truth so quickly, easily,etc. that knowledge, insight, understanding , and the rest seem natural to it. The contrary also holds. Falsehood and fantasy weaken the mind, preparing it to wander , darkened, lost in a maze of misshapen mirrors. Gazing into the black hole of unreality destabilizes the intellect and deprives it of the light of truth.
A similar dynamic exists with the will. Its proper object is the authentic good. When the will continually chooses what is truly good, it becomes stronger,more energetic, more stable, more excellent in its choices and loves. Likewise, when the will rejects what is evil and shuns the corruption of immorality, it comes to love and appreciate the good even more.
Fake goods disguised as real goods are to the will as drugs are to the body: at first, they might bring pleasure, but in the long run they destroy the power from within, fostering addiction, weakness, pettiness, and, eventually , hatred of what is truly beneficial.
Our habits take us either downward or upward. When a person's intellect is habituated to what is false, and his will to what is evil, his soul is corrupted.
On the other hand, when a person develops good habits to an extraordinary degree, the soul is perfected.
If by grace one's habits exceed the usual human mode, the soul becomes heroic or even divine by participation in God's own perfection.
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