“Three things are necessary for the salvation of man: to know what he ought to believe; to know what he ought to desire; and to know what he ought to do.”

Those three elements may be part of a greater plan. The main thing necessary for the salvation of man is a savior (simple science and the application of Natural justice - too much to address in this forum). Also, there is the tangible "BE", which is the foundation and, beyond the believe, desire and do.

In Aquinas' oeuvre salavation had everything to do with an after life. Although his precepts are good I don't embrace the idea that they should be followed for the sake of anchieving angel-hood...how about just living up to the more-real impreative of this worldly journey.

It is one thing to "know" these things... and it is another to actually believe them, desire just them, and to actually do them.

Three of the things necessary to the integrity and wellbeing of humankind are: discard the crutches of religion depend on one's own reasoning exercise tolerance and kindness

Dick, Excellent! Believe in kindness, desire kindness, and do kindness - we are the key to our own salvation.

If we are the key to our own salvation, then we each become our own gods, worshiping our own disires, expecting kindness to ourselves by others. The world becomes a pantheon of godlets whose behavior is as petty to each other as those sitting on Olympus, hurling lightning bolts at one another. The beauty of a Supreme Being is that He puts us in our place, and reminds us that each of us and our desires are not the center of the universe. As Voltaire said, "If there were no God, it would be necessary to invent him." Fortunely, I don't have to invent one.

There is much I know I should do -- so why don't I do it? ;-) There does not seem to be a shortage of good advice, only a shortage of following it...

I disagree. You can know what you need to know to attain "salvation" but I don't believe it can be obtained by simply knowing.I believe you must walk the talk.

Off the cuff, a tri-cord of behavior, Belief, Desire and Do. In this current life, through desire a man separates himself to his belief and seeks the wisdom in Doing that which is right in the sight of God our Creator. This logic of natural observation lends itself to our Revolution and Independence as a Nation at Liberty. Aquinas being very conscious of natural laws of nature as applied to individual salvation of any given type. Good thoughts, Good works, Good deeds. a universal law of nature. Cardinal virtues. coupled with, spiritual virtues of faith , hope and charity, might grant salvation of the soul and spirit before a just God. Do the which is right and one will have praise of the same.

Fortunately you don't have to invent a 'belief' in God Mr Allyn remembering that belief and faith do not equate to truth - when truth enters the room, belief and faith leave by the back door. But in an increasingly secular world the challenge for the religiously minded is to make God believable and relevant. My 'belief' is that one day that challenge will eventually fail. Aquinas distinguished between man made secular law, natural law and God's law. As the pendulum swings towards a secular world, the salvation of man by believing, desiring and doing is related to doing the right thing for mankind and this planet as an expression of man's purpose and not (as EGL elegantly points out above) individual salvation and angelhood.