A book critic on Confessions of St. Augustine

Critique of St . Augustine 's Confessions

St . Augustine 's semi-autobiographical work Confessions is a Christian classic , but in a great measure deals with Neo-platonic mysticism Although Augustine influenced Christian theology and dogma enormously his own intellectual outlook was largely shaped by Neo-platonic principles . Many Christian saints down the centuries have sought to edify themselves by intimately studying Augustine 's work , in to find their own light on the path . Confessions is not an autobiography in the proper sense of the word , but more of an exploration of the philosophical and spiritual

development of a ardent seeker of God . As the title of the work implies , Augustine is confessing - both his sin and his faith . In this eloquent book of religious meditation , Augustine reveals his own intensely personal struggle to overcome the ways of sickness , darkness and sin , and move towards God . Augustine knew the anguish of the spirit , and he also experienced the triumph of spirit over flesh . There is not in fact much theological doctrine in this work but there are many mystical reflections filled with the fire of love of God . It is said that of all the stories of change or conversion is more impressive than that of St

Augustine

Such conversion simply does not mean adopting a new system of belief Further , it means repenting ' not so much as it means returning or turning back . When we turn back and move towards ourselves , we move towards that center within us which is God or the Kingdom of Heaven The Kingdom of Heaven is within you ' proclaimed Jesus . Whatever action , behavior , thought or attitude takes us away from ourselves constitutes sin . And whatever action brings us back nearer to the divinity within ourselves constitutes virtue . Going by this criterion not only are murder and such foul acts to be considered evil , but also even wrong thoughts and attitudes can be seen as evil . For example pride is evil , because it creates a false impression of ourselves and distracts us from our own true nature

The transition from evil to virtue commences only when we realize there is nothing really to be gained from falsehood , vanity , folly and sin and that all true joy and glory originates from the God within us Perish every thing , dismiss we these empty vanities , and betake ourselves to the one search for truth (p .70 ) This solemn adjuration sets the tone for Augustine 's entire work . True virtue consists not in some sporadic , random acts of goodness , but in committing ourselves wholeheartedly to the path of truth . Many good actions may accompany our behavior then , but they would all be based on our intense search for truth . Only such a burning fervor for truth and light can give us an inner integrity which can preserve us again and again from straying into the side alleys of darkness and evil

St . Augustine grapples with this issue of evil at length throughout his autobiography . Like many philosophers and theologians both before and after him he tries to reconcile the two most fundamental truths of our world : the existence of God and the existence of evil and suffering . On the one hand , the belief that God is omniscient , omnipotent , and wholly good is central to any almost any monotheistic religious faith . On the other hand , the world seems to be full of suffering and misery and not only that , but there seems to be so much pure evil in this world , which oftener than not appears triumphant rather than subdued . The only logical way in which this paradox can be resolved is when we accept that God purposely created this world containing evil and had in fact a good reason to do so . In effect , if God is good and this world , with its ample share evil and vice as well as misery and wretchedness , has come from God , then it inevitably follows that evil is good in its own way This kind of logic has prompted many a religious philosopher to try to ponder and possibly conceive what good reason God might have in permitting evil

Some philosophers seem to have come up with more satisfactory answers than others . But one of the worst possible solutions has been propounded by Manichean philosophy which is an offshoot of the dualistic religion founded by Zoroaster . Manichean doctrine had considerable influence in shaping Augustine 's views when he was young . This doctrine simply denied that God is omnipotent and posited the power of evil as counterpart of God - both of them engaged in eternal battle (Perhaps if there is anything worse than this religious viewpoint , it is the doctrine prevalent in some Gnostic circles of Augustine 's time where it was believed that the world is ruled not by a good God , but by an evil god whom they called Demiurge ) However , Augustine later came under the wholesome influence of Neoplatonism , which was profoundly mystical and wise . Augustine 's views on evil , and in fact his entire conception of God and creation , are largely Neoplatonic conceptions freely mixed with Catholic notions , attitude and language

Neoplatonism was founded by the mystic Plotinus and all of its philosophy is sharply different mainstream Christian religion , although it largely coincides with the mystical views put forward by Jesus Christ and his disciples in the Apocrypha . However , by the time of Augustine Catholic doctrine did not assume a consolidated dogmatic form and therefore Augustine did not find much difficulty in easily mingling these two antithetical approaches to the world . In the original Neoplatonism , the concept of sin does not have much place , only error and folly however , sin and guilt are the central concepts of Catholic religion . Christianity views the Creator and his creation /creatures as distinct phenomena . However , in Neoplatonic philosophy , not only is this distinction blurred but is consummately annulled . In mysticism , any entity exists only in so far as it participates in God . God is immanent and intrinsic to the whole of existence . Simply put , anything that exists is directly and immediately connected to God , has something of divine at its core , and is a manifestation of God in someway or other But when we endeavor to look at the world in this way , it further complicates the question of evil . Because the problem now is not only how God caused to happen all the evil of the world in the first place but that God is directly present in evil or bad or ugly elements of this world as well and perhaps as much as in the forces of good . Augustine tackles this issue by proposing that though the creation is perfect and whole and exists in God as an entirety , certain things are nearer to God 's absolute perfection , and certain other things are farther removed from the centrality of divine goodness . In so far as a thing is transparent to the inner presence of the perfection of God , we consider it good and beautiful , and in so far as it lacks the capability of radiating God 's presence , though it definitely contains God in it , we consider it bad or ugly or evil

Thus doth the soul commit fornication , when she turns from Thee , seeking without Thee , what she findeth not pure and untainted , till she returns to Thee . Thus all pervertedly imitate Thee , who remove far from Thee and lift themselves up against Thee . But even by thus imitating Thee they imply Thee to be the Creator of all nature whence there is no place whither altogether to retire from Thee (p .20

Augustine is saying that there is simply no way of getting rid of God Even in the darkest dark there is an element of light present , and the difference between the most brilliant object and most murky substance is only a matter of quantity and not of quality . Further , this view implies that the element of God that is present in evil person , at some deeper level , is oriented towards good and God , and is bound in due course of time to move nearer to the presence of God . One can go astray from God but one cannot remain there forever , in the very nature of things Augustine forcefully recants the Manichean view of absolute dichotomy he held during an earlier phase of his life

And whereas in virtue I loved peace , and in viciousness I abhorred discord in the first I observed a unity , but in the other , a sort of division . And in that unity I conceived the rational soul , and the nature of truth and of the chief good to consist but in this division I miserably imagined there to be some unknown substance of irrational life , and the nature of the chief evil , which should not only be a substance , but real life also , and yet not derived from Thee , O my God of whom are all things . For I had not known or learned that neither was evil a substance , nor our soul that chief and unchangeable good (p .43

Evil has no substance or existence . There is no such thing as darkness but only a relative absence of light . Such relativistic explanation which sees the world in different percentages of grayness rather than pitting white and black against each other , is certainly more scientific , however it tries to explain only the how aspect of evil and not the why aspect of it

But Augustine touches upon the why aspect at length too . The crux of Augustine 's viewpoint here is that God allows darkness to exist in all his wisdom because the presence of darkness makes for a more interesting , meaningful , and dynamic universe than if all were perfectly light and good . Thou art the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world for in Thee there is no variableness , neither shadow of change (p .43 ) God is the perfection of light and goodness God is absolute , but the world is relative . Though God 's presence informs every human being (presumably , not only human beings but all living and non-living entities , if God 's beauty and perfection were equally manifest in all entities of his creation , which could have been the case if God so desired , then there would be no variation , change growth , movement , transformation , evolution etc . There would be no world , in fact . Therefore the existence of the world necessarily presupposes a play of light and shadow with constant and infinite variegation

Augustine regrets his folly

And I maintained that Thy unchangeable substance did err upon constraint , rather than confess that my changeable substance had gone astray voluntarily , and now , in punishment , lay in error (p .43

The implications here are clear . God did not create some human beings to be or destine them to become evil . God neither erred nor created evil But God gave human beings , uniquely in all of the creation , a free will which is allowed to consciously decide a person 's course of action at every step of the way . And freedom is not an evil thing in itself . If only God did not create human beings and endow them with freedom of choice , there would have been no question of evil , bad or ugliness There may have been pain , suffering and death , as when a lion pounces upon a deer to tear it apart alive , but all this would be a part of harmonic cycles of nature - there certainly would not be all the mess misery and anguish that is unique to the human lot

In fact , not only evil and suffering , but most notions of duality such as good and bad , beauty and ugliness , and so on are concepts that largely exist only inside the human mind . When a lion hunts and pounces upon an innocent and helpless deer , mercilessly tearing it apart , we might think that the lion is a cruel and wicked animal , whereas the meek and nimble deer seems to be the very epitome of goodness and grace . But the one who created lion created the deer too . If God had any human-like perceptions and sensibilities , he could have created all animals herbivores , and would not have had any difficulty in doing so . But it is very puerile to project our limited human sensibilities unto this most magnificent creation which God created in his infinite intelligence

Thus , in nature , there does not seem to be any problem . Only with human beings enters the question of evil , confusion , error , stupidity , and all such bad things into God 's creation . And , ironically , human beings are often regarded as the pinnacle of this creation . Indeed , human beings are not bad per se , nor is the free will that so clearly distinguishes them from animal kingdom . God did not create evil , he only gave supreme freedom to man , which is by definition liable to misuse and abuse Throughout Confessions , Augustine continually blames himself for all his weaknesses and perversions , thereby implying the role of individual responsibility in human failings . Because with enormous freedom comes enormous responsibility , and it is the responsibility of each individual to strive to move away from vice and move towards virtue and ultimate redemption . Being free , moral and rational agents - we human beings add to the glory of creation . At the same time , we are continuously prone to error . Our evil consists in our capacity to get diverted from the right path which would have led us towards good and God . Yet we are also given the capacity to see the error of our ways and set ourselves straight , if only we decide to open our eyes and realize our situation

Jesus Christ said , Repent ye , for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Yet this repentance is not possible if we had not erred in the first placed , were diverted from the right path , grew oblivious of the goodness of our inner being . As such , being endowed with free-will every human being is bound to err and get lost in the ways of folly and sin , especially in youth , but most of us begin to learn from our mistakes and grope our way towards enlightenment . Thus is human drama played out , and evil has a necessary role in it

Augustine 's views account for the existence of evil , but largely from a personal point of view . They suffer from severe limitations as they fail to clearly justify the suffering caused by evil . If I commit some crime I myself would suffer from it , as such a deed would violate the inner goodness which is my basic nature . But what about the suffering of my victims ? Has not some serious affliction been randomly visited upon them for no fault of their own ? What is the justification of the arbitrary nature of seemingly endless human suffering in a world that is believed to be guided by divine intelligence ? This is not , however , just a question related to suffering which is a consequence of evil , but to all human suffering in general . Evil should be regarded as an integral part of the broader question of human suffering . As we have seen , philosophy and mysticism endeavor to justify the place of suffering , injustice , and weakness in the supposedly perfect creation of God in one way or another . But in the end , there are no easy answers to this question and it mostly becomes a matter of faith . One has to have faith that everything , no matter how atrocious it may seem to us , has some deeper meaning in the larger scheme of things . All we can do is personally strive to overcome our own negativities and shortcomings , as did Augustine , and if possible help the world become a better place , while having faith that nothing is nor can be fundamentally awry in God 's existence . However , such unshakeable faith in God can be usually achieved only by going through an arduous spiritual journey , such as the one documented in St . Augustine 's Confessions . His confessions reveal

the essential human frailty and the equally essential spiritual strength of man

Reference

Pusey , Edward Bouverie . The Confessions of Saint Augustine ' 2004 Whitefish , MT : Kessinger Publishing

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