Late have I loved you, beauty so old and so new: late have I loved you. And see, you were within and I was in the external world and sought you there, and in my unlovely state I plunged into those lovely created things which you made. You were with me, and I was not with you. The lovely things kept me far from you, though if they did not have their existence in you, they had no existence at all. You called and cried out loud and shattered my deafness. You were radiant and resplendent, you put to flight my blindness. You were fragrant, and I drew in my breath and now pant after you. I tasted you, and I feel but hunger and thirst for you. You touched me, and I am set on fire to attain the peace which is yours. (Augustine, Confessions 10.27 (38); trans. Chadwick)
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Quote of the Day: Augustine's Confessions
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3 comments:
Augustine was convinced of the transcendent,that is, that God dwelled apart from the "city of man". I don't believe so. i think we can find God in anything that is used rightfully...
In the Confessions and many other writings, he thought you found God by turning inward into yourself.
So, turning inward is about virtue of an individual who hides their head in the sand?... Ethics wouldn't exist apart from a reasoned discussion about the issues and taking responsibility where responsibility is due... and no one grows only by being a monk...I don't believe in asceticism...
Ascesticism denies "life in this world", which is "purity" "holiness"...not going there, as I don't believe those things exist. They are only ways of coming to terms with faith apart form this world...and it is breeding ground for exclusion, self-righteousness, etc.
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