As Saint Augustine’s tale unfolds, it increasingly
focuses on the contrasting, yet not opposite, natures of intelligence and
faith. Saint Augustine has a constant love of learning, and he is often
portrayed as extremely intelligent throughout the novel, but despite this
Augustine claims that intelligence is not important – only faith truly matters
to succeed, faith being an unshakable trust in existence and purpose,
especially God’s.
Augustine read Aristotle's Ten Categories "and understood it without help. [...] Other people told me that they had understood it only with difficulty." (Confessions 87). Augustine clearly understands what
is presented to him, maintaining a notable openness of mind, along with a
strong sense of skepticism. However, Augustine claims that intelligence is not
important – only faith truly matters to succeed, faith being an unshakable trust in existence and purpose, especially God’s. Though Augustine is intelligent,
it is of no use to him -- in fact, in many ways his over-questioning nature
leads him towards sin. “Hardly had I brushed aside [my doubts], than, in the
flicker of an eyelid, they crowded upon me again.” (Confessions 133) Augustine
cannot convince himself of God’s existence merely on trust, and therein lies his
fault. Augustine does not realize that he has been taking things on faith long
before questioning his faith in God.
His great revelation is not immediately apparent once he
makes it. As he says, “unless we took [many] things on trust, we should
accomplish absolutely nothing in this life” (Confessions 117). Though he never
once stopped believing in God, his faith was inconstant. Saint Augustine relates many stories of his
adventures that deal with faith – he begins his association with the Manichees
through admiration of Faustus, a man, he is told, who “was very well versed in
all the higher forms of learning and particularly in the liberal sciences.”
(Confessions 92) Saint Augustine takes the fact on faith, believing that this
high regard must correlate to intelligence. His disillusionment when he finds himself
to be “none the better for [hearing Faustus talk]” is profound. (Confessions
97) Not knowing God, Augustine cannot bring himself to put his full trust blindly
into something that he has not known himself. Although intelligence is not
necessarily something bad, in Augustine’s case his curiosity and skepticism
combine so as to weaken his already weak faith, leaving him floundering in
doubt.
Gabe accurately points out the way in which curiosity and knowledge hinder Saint Augustine's relationship with God. His intelligence certainly appears to lead to a skepticism that refutes blind faith. However, Augustine also realizes that he sought intelligence in the wrong place. Reflecting on his past, he "did not know that if it was to share in the truth, it must be illuminated by another light, because the mind itself is not the essence of truth," (86). In his studies of literature, Augustine focused far too much on the mind as the source of knowledge. However, the true knowledge that he lacked was the Truth of God. "You are the true Light which enlightens every soul born into the world," Augustine praises God, (86). Once Augustine discovers the true source of knowledge and wisdom, the Truth is revealed to him.
ReplyDeleteI think something that could be added to Gabe's argument is the fact that Augustine couldn't quite wrap his head around the fact that God wasn't something he could see. This is why, in Gabe's words, "Augustine cannot convince himself of God's existence merely on trust." Augustine thought of God "as some splendid being, but entirely physical" (72). Augustine had never seen a physical manifestation of God, and thus could not entirely believe in him. This partially explains Augustine's skepticism of the God he now praises so much.
ReplyDeleteGoing off Emma's point, at the beginning of the text, Augustine devotes much thought to pondering the physical size of God and the technical implications of that. For example, he questions, "Do heaven and earth contain you because you have filled them? or do you fill them and overflow them because they do not contain you?" (4). Here, he betrays his instinct to categorize God as something tangible, which impedes him from fully grasping God's immaterial enormity and thus from easily adhering to faith in God.
ReplyDeleteSomething that Gabe points out, and others support, is that Augustine's intelligence is something that hinders his faith. "...my knowledge only bred self-conceit" (154). Augustine's "self-conceit" is what distracts him form pursuing his faith. One reason for this is that he is praised for his knowledge by those around him. Because of this, Augustine's faith in God becomes a lesser priority than his pursuit of knowledge.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Emma and Emily, I think that Augustine's realization that God is not a physical being is essential to his greater understanding of God. Originally he thought of God as a sort of ghostly spirit or as something physically enormous, that he was himself a minute part of. His realization that God cannot be thought of in this way and can only be thought of something that indescribably exists helps Augustine shift from trying to rationalize the existence of God to merely believing in God.
ReplyDelete