"Virtue"- al Reality

Phobias and panic attacks are being treated successfully with only seven weekly sessions by the use of virtual reality therapy at Georgia Tech. The new technology projects a phobic situation of apparent reality, helping the patient to be reconditioned gradually to a normal response to heights, flying, tunnels, and dogs. Even one session of "VR" can convince the mind to readily accept as real something that is not. 

Life is full of reality counterfeits. Many persons judged by the courts as guilty are really innocent, and vice versa. Many actions of others that seem malicious are not, and many malicious acts can be made to look innocent ---as every con man soon learns. But God sees ultimate reality: "Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart" (1 Sm 16:7). "The Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts" (1 Chr 28:9). One's motives are fomented in the will (or "heart") and one's conscious thoughts reside in the mind. These two faculties provide the subjective norms of all morality. In good acts, these two conform to the objective norm (God's law).

God's words can be either uplifting or sobering: "I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeeds deserve" (Jer 17:10). The sincere person welcomes the "righteous God, who searches minds and hearts" (Ps 7:9), but the sinner might well quail before him.

This excerpt is from the book One-Minute Meditations for Busy People, by John H. Hampsch, C.M.F., originally published by Servant Publications. It and other of Fr. Hampsch's books and audio/video recordings can be purchased from Claretian Teaching Ministry, 20610 Manhattan Pl, #120, Torrance, CA 90501-1863. Phone 1-310-782-6408 or www.Catholicbooks.net