Forgetfulness

You may recall that I wrote about laziness in a previous blog post. At the very end I proclaimed, "I now feel doubly obligated to get my blog posts in on time as if I do not this post would become atrociously hypocritical." Sure enough, last Monday, I show up to school and feel pretty ashamed of myself. A greeting from my blog partner and a "Hey did you do your blog posts?" accomplishes this feeling. This time however, it was not directly due to laziness (I am no hypocrite). I simply forgot.

Laziness has a clear theological explanation. After the fall, concupiscence entered the world. Concupiscence causes man to be selfish, in particular with his time. Thus, man has a tendency to be lazy. But forgetfulness (if you'll excuse my rhyme) is a bit more hazy. 

On one hand, forgetfulness is a consequence of laziness. Using my personal example, if I had written down my blog assignment in my planner, I most likely would not have forgotten about it. I was too lazy to take out my planner, and thus forgot I had work to do. This would mean that forgetfulness is another consequence of the concupiscence man has inherited from Adam and Eve. 

On the other hand, people do not intend to forget things. The nature of forgetfulness is that something simply never crosses someone's mind. There is no will or action involved; a moral decision is not made. This is distinct from the omission of an action, as choosing to omit an action is still a choice in itself. Because there's no real choice involved, it is hard to put someone at moral fault for forgetting something. 

This is why I say forgetfulness is a bit hazy in relation to whether or not it is caused by Original Sin. It all comes back to this question: did man forget even before the fall? In short I would say yes forgetfulness is caused by Original Sin and the fall, but distinct from laziness. The Catholic Church teaches that Original Sin darkened human will and weakened human intellect. A weakened human intellect would also involve a weakened memory, hence forgetfulness.

This concludes my two-part series on laziness and forgetfulness. If I am lazy or forget again, I will admit to my hypocrisy but will not make a blog post exclusively covering it.

-Shoe