It has been over six months since I raced the Gravel World Championships in Leuven, Belgium. Since then, as you may decipher from my writings and my activities, claiming that my life has radically changed would be understated. Indeed, I have not touched a bike for the longest time, but the sun exposing its rays might change this very soon. Today, I invite you, my readers, into the deepest trenches of philosophy. As you might not have realized, everything we do is driven by some profound beliefs, and the reality is that all people of this world operate within a metaphysical framework—most of them implicitly, as they have not thought about such questions, but my role is to make people think, nonetheless. Therefore, today, I want to attempt a dive into classical Aristotelean and Thomist metaphysics—a reality that I live by and attempt to articulate in my writings. I shall now confront this metaphysical critical realism with modern alternatives—the heresies leading to chaos.

Substantia et accidens

Substance (substantia) exists in itself, not in another; accident (accidens), in another, not in itself. A bike will always possess the substance of a bike; however, its accidents may vary such as colors and shapes.

The followers of the cult of wokeism believe that they can change a person by altering his accidents. They can, indeed, impact the accidents, but they will never be able to transmute the substance—what subsists of them. Furthermore, in my experience, the natural traits always return as if the soul was crying for truth.

Transubstantiation means that the substance is changed and not the accidents. Therefore, the consecrated host becomes the Body of Christ, but its texture and taste remain the same. Species here would refer to the preserved appearances—accidents without a subject post-transubstantiation. The inability to differentiate the two—or intellectual idleness—has led many Protestants to be satisfied with the vague explanation of a spiritual presence; but I cannot be satisfied with such which in turn paves the way to subjectivism—the door of evil then becomes open to any behavior with the mere justification of “I just felt like it.”

Essentia et esse

Essence (essentia) means what an entity is—its definition. Existence (esse) means the fact that it exists—the contrary of not being. What makes a cyclist a cyclist? A human is a political animal (ζῷον πολιτικόν)—in other words a rational animal. A cyclist is still a human; therefore, a cyclist is a political animal who happens to ride a bicycle. How weird for an animal to ride a bicycle? Thank God, we are not mere animals. Here, it is critical to distinguish Being as a first principle—the Esse which is “ipsum esse subsistens”—with those who possess being (ens), but only by contingency such as human beings do. The first principle is the same as the sun is to other entities—without it, no light can shine to illuminate the other beings. Without an immutable first cause, nothing can exist.

Sartre proposed that existence preceded essence. For him, life had no inherent meaning; therefore, one was free to create his own meaning or more precisely said, to invent his own meaning. But, we all know that emotions cannot be ordered on demand. If one works a job he hates and he continues doing it, he may attempt all he wants to convince himself that is not the case, but he is bound to fail. He may continue working this job, because it allows something greater to happen such as feeding his family, but that does not mean that the job is inherently satisfying. Therefore, meaning must exist outside of the thought.

I shall add a note here. I think that jobs today have become a new Golden Calf, because even if one does his “dream job,” which I am grateful to do, what is the pleasure of bringing food on the table if there is no happy wife and children waiting for you behind the door? Thus, work must be organized properly, respecting the inherent structure of truth—that is work subordinated to family responsibilities. Naturally, everything must find its correct position in the puzzle of life. Sin happens when the priorities are reversed on the hierarchy of goods, which I shall present later. Clearly, I notice every day that this generation is pretty good at reversing importance—however, to their defense, I shall note that they did have a multitude of factors that played against them finding, living, and transmitting the truth. For now, many merely exist, but do not live. The simple and regretful fact that people need to drink or ingest substances, and distract themselves unto death to attain a psychological relief means that there is something they are called to do and fail to. And if there is a vocation one is called to attend to, there must be some-One doing the calling.

Potentia et actus

Potency (potentia) means being toward something; while act (actus) means being purely realized. A human being is always on potency toward act. Actually, a human can achieve his natural physical potential earlier than his intellectual or spiritual potential. This is easily recognizable by the fact that all professional cyclists are not yet grandparents with grey hair, even though I did possess the grey hair. It is common sense, but today this notion has gone out in the wild, making it appropriate to explain such basics. Naturally, I have always wanted to ensure that I raced at the highest possible level. I did not know what I would do after my career—I honestly still do not know really, but I know I am walking the right path which seems to be the correct way to live the adventure of life.

The modern error is to think that the human can save himself, that he is fully actualized capable of anything—meaning he could achieve act on its own. The great sects of scientism worshipping the “hows” without searching for the “whys” as well as the transhumanists who have no greater dream that to train robots in becoming the master of humans have fallen for this idea. When we rewind the story, much of this modern deviance is based on the belief that one can invent truth rather than submit to truth—the ideological idealism that Descartes started with his “Cogito ergo sum” that leads to the ever present tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1–9). I now propose a return to order: therefore, “Sum, ergo cogito.” Or, I shall say more precisely: “Sum quia actum esse participo, ideo cogito.” (I am because I participate in the act of being, therefore I think.) I do not know about you, but I would rather rely on Christ than artificial intelligence for salvation. Once again, we can either submit to what is or live a lie—which, by nature, is an invention of something that is not. Therefore, humans cannot invent truth; they can only discover it. They only invent lies. Man shall seek truth, namely, the adequation of the intellect to reality (adaequatio rei et intellectus).

Forma, materia, et quattuor causae

Form (forma) is the principle that actualizes matter, what causes matter to become life. The assembling allows matter to become a bicycle. Matter (materia) is therefore what receives form, what is in potency to be determined. The body is the matter and the soul is the form of the body. Matter is what is visible, and form is what gives life to something.

Everything visible has four causes: a material cause, an efficient cause, a formal cause and a final cause. Let us take a bicycle as an example. The material cause (causa materialis) is what the bike is made of: nowadays, most of the time, it is of carbon fiber. However, this material cause already needs to be oriented properly toward the final cause; therefore, while carbon fiber might be an appropriate choice for competitive cyclists aiming at the best weight-to-stiffness ratio, other materials such as titanium, aluminum, or even steel might be more fitting for someone else.

The formal cause (causa formalis) is what it is: a bike is a bike. Unless you are an idealist philosopher who thinks we can only know our perceptions of things and not how things are in themselves—but I doubt that when you see a mailbox, you do not think that is what you think of a mailbox, but you indeed know it is a mailbox—the aforementioned fact is obvious to you. Moreover, when you see a Homo sapiens with facial hair and a deep human voice, you know it is a man. G.K. Chesterton brought the truth to light when he wrote about the normal person seeing reality for what it is: “He seems fairly certain that the difference between chalk and cheese, or pigs and pelicans, is not a mere illusion, or dazzle of our be- wildered mind blinded by a single light; but is pretty much what we all feel it to be.”

The efficient cause (causa efficiens) is what made it; for a bike, it is the manufacturer. With this philosophical search, I must be honest that I am more and more eager to offer bespoke cycles that would be made with the final cause in mind from the beginning. That would allow us to create products that are truly unique and transcendent. We could then adjust both the geometry for optimal fit coordinates of contact points, but also fine tune geometry for precise steering and stability adapting variables such as bottom bracket height, front center, back center, or even head tube angle. Getting the first part right makes for a wonderful cycling experience, but what if we got the material and the accidents right?

The final cause (causa finalis) is what the entity is made for. Here, we might say that the bicycle is made to commute. Indeed, a bike is more efficient than walking or running—efficiency means how much energy is used (i.e. oxygen breathed) to move a certain distance. If we solely consider machines purely propelled from natural human capacity, it is easy to argue that the bicycle is the most efficient innovation. It is critical to add that there are some kinds of bicycles which are more efficient such as recumbents, specifically one with a fairing, because of the increased aerodynamic efficiency, but there is a trade-off in the fact that they are harder to control, and that you lose most of the enjoyment of riding a bicycle in the first place. In this case, commuting is the immediate final cause, but it must be oriented toward something higher. Of course, there is a final or ultimate end that cannot be surpassed: visio beatifica, but a superior one could be riding a bike in the context of developing virtue.

Transcendentia, ordo bonorum, et quattuor species legis

Saint Thomas Aquinas defines four transcendentals toward which every being tends—unity (unum), truth (verum), good (bonum), and beauty (pulchrum). Therefore, anything we engage in must tend toward these; otherwise, we act against our nature. To tend toward the transcendentals entails adherence to the hierarchy of goods, ascending from lower to higher forms: useful good (bonum utile), pleasant good (bonum delectabile), moral good (bonum honestum), intellectual goods (bonum intellectuale), common good (bonum commune), spiritual goods (bonum spirituale), and ultimate good (summum bonum).

Indeed, proper order means a respect of the natural hierarchy. For neomarxists and postmodernists, order is associated with oppression; but, truthfully, the contrary of order can only be chaos, that is easily witnessed in the manner the latter group employs language. Postmodernism, indeed, deconstructed everything—including art. But, if everything is relative to them, why do they even bother creating any art? Well, art is not the proper term in this context—true art must evoke the universal through the singular, as a cathedral does, not random coloring without intent. The most ironic part is the fact they can deconstruct means that there is a natural order to deconstruct in the first place—they know it is a rebellion against God. The correct fight is not against the structure itself, but is rather about the right organization of such structure. The antidote was, is, and always will be the walk toward the transcendentals—meaning the cultivation of virtue. Virtue is best defined as a proper habitus or the right disposition of the soul according to Aristotle. A positive habitus is therefore a virtue; a negative one is a vice. Thus, sanctification means the progressive replacement of vice for virtue; it is the human end. Training must be used to develop virtues, and not solely, win races, which respects the natural law (lex naturalis), which is the accessible part of the governing eternal law (lex aeterna) through the light of natural reason; and, the human law (lex humana), the law of the polis (or of the state), must itself, reflect the natural law. Otherwise, the state becomes oppressive—unless its human law mirrors the natural law, which in turn derives from the divine law (lex divina) which comprises the revealed laws, such as the Decalogue. Winning must be subordinated to virtue; otherwise, humans become means to achieve some utilitarian ends. Humans must be treated as ends, not means—even Kant agrees on this. Even though, he inverted the metaphysical order by placing ethics before being—in other words, he invites us to act as if God exists, but tells us that we cannot know. Kant posits ethics based on a priori rational duty, detached from metaphysical participation in the good. He, therefore, denied the final cause that made him think about such a principle while affirming the efficient cause. Instead, I say it is obvious that there is an organizing principle as the very role of science is to understand the correlations.

Imagine a cassette on a bike which would be set up in the inappropriate order. That comical scenario actually happened to me when I was younger; I was disoriented during the race. In a mechanical sense, it felt much like my soul felt when I faced the hollow depths of existentialist atheism—nihilism. It was disordered, but the very fact that it could be disordered and I could notice that it was the case means that it exists. You want to run up the stairs—the staircase to Heaven, but you have to assemble the steps methodically; otherwise, you might move up a step then down two which means that you have to climb three next. However, if you take the time to assemble the steps in the proper order first, which is the most difficult, you are walking effortlessly toward your Creator. This article helped me order the terms properly in my soul—consolidating a constellation of knowledge as stars in the sky. I hope to have shed some light in your spirit. May you keep understanding the world.

Deus, suscipe Papam Franciscum. Amen.