 In broad terms, synderesis is a link between the human intellect and the divine wisdom. The universe is created and governed by a providential God and is therefore subject to the order of final causality. Accordingly, all things, rational and non-rational alike, seek their proper ends. Non-rational beings, since they lack will and intellect and are therefore incapable of prudential reasoning, achieve their ends through the natural inclinations that are implanted in them by God. In this sense, they participate in the providential plan for all creation that Aquinas calls the “eternal law”: the divine wisdom insofar as it directs all creatures towards their ends (Summa theologica I-II, q. 93, a. 1, corp.). They do so, however, in a diminished way. Rational beings, by contrast, participate in divine providence in a more excellent way. This participation in the eternal law is called the natural law, whose moral principles function to direct human beings toward their ultimate end: happiness (Summa theologica, I-II, q. 91, a. 2, corp.). These moral principles, which are grasped and accordingly possessed by synderesis, offer an insight into God’s intentions for human beings and therefore into the ultimate purpose of human life. As Baylor writes of Aquinas’s theory: