Thursday, November 1, 2012
Augustine's relation of light, understanding, and well-being
Saint
Augustine equates light to his understanding of god which directly correlates
to his well-being. In doing so, as Augustine comes closer to understanding the
nature of evil and god, he comes into the light and well-being. In his
dreadfully sinful and depressed state, Augustine writes to god, “at that time
you had not yet given me the light in my darkness” (135). Darkness here represents
the lack of understanding of god while he was still trying to figure out what he
found most true. In his lack of understanding and darkness, Augustine describes
his pain by exclaiming, “What agony I suffered, my God! How I cried out in
grief while my heart was in labor!” (143). This agony partly comes from his conundrum
that god could not have created evil because “all that [god has] made is good” and
"there are not substances whatsoever that were not made by [god]” (148).
This lack of understanding kept him in the dark and in turmoil. When comes to
he understand that “the author of sin” is in fact god, he resolves his
ignorance about sin and develops a better awareness of god, rising out of the darkness
and turmoil into understanding, tranquility, and light (155). Digging himself
out of darkness by attributing his philosophy to understanding the nature of
god, Augustine exclaims to god, “your aid befriended me…I saw the light” (146).
In that moment, god’s “light shone upon [Augustine] with brilliance,” and in
this light, Augustine no longer feels the severe anxiety that came from an
incomplete understanding of the universe (147). Augustine describes his tranquility
to god by stating “my wounds had been touched by your healing hand,” equating
his understanding and illumination to his wellbeing (154). Augustine’s relation
of light to understanding that causes happiness is significant because in his
sinful ways, he was nowhere near the light, but as he devoted his mind and
philosophy to understanding god, he comes into the light, into a deeper
understanding of god, and finally into the peace of mind he lacked for so long.
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I found Eric's point noteworthy, in that he compares Augustine's internal emotions to the external light and dark of nature. This comparison allows Augustine to trace his path of insurrection to enlightenment. As we established in class, Augustine is clearly an accomplished rhetorician and even, "a teacher of the art of public speaking," which shows throughout his eloquent recounts of his past (71).
ReplyDeleteAs Eric interestingly points out, Augustine's brings the conversation of light and darkness for his better understanding of God. I think that another thing to point out is that Augustine uses this comparison to realize again God's purpose of the journey he takes. Even though Augustine does not understand everything at the time, he does recognize later in his interpretation of his journey that there is purpose. Augustine states " ... but you never allowed [my changing ideas] to sweep me away from faith by which I believed that you were, that your substance was unchangeable, and that it was yours to care for and to judge mankind" (142-143). His better understanding in his evaluation of his journey allow Augustine to comprehend who God is and to begin to answer the questions that bother him of where evil comes from. Augustine recognizes "it was above me because it was itself the Light that made me, and I was below because I was made by it" (147). Augustine acknowledges that God is Light and that everything that comes from him is Light or essentially goodness. As Eric points this out, darkness becomes the sin that puts Augustine further from God, and in this reading he is getting away from the dark and towards the light. He says " I saw the LIght that never changes casting its rays over the same eye of my sou, over my mind" (146).
ReplyDeleteI think that Augustine's use of comparing God to light is very interesting, because on one hand, Augustine says that God is the "the Light that never changes," but he also says that God in God's physical form, is not like light."The light passes through it and penetrates it, not by breaking it or splitting it, but by filling it completely... I imagined that you were able to pass through material bodies... (134). Augustine says that this model is wrong because it would mean that there is more God in bigger things, and that is not right. It's interesting that Augustine first says that God is not like light, but continues to use light as an example of goodness.
ReplyDeleteEric, your picking up on the idea of Light and Dark in Augustine is great and I think it ties in well with the activity that we did in class on Wednesday. I would place this language of light and dark under the sight category: Augustine "saw the light" (146). I also agree that light is a mental association with understanding. It is interesting that Augustine uses this sight and mind image of light to me mostly because God's form to Augustine is not one he easily finds. That he associates God with light is significant because it reveals something about his form—God is so brilliant that we can never see his true form but we can see him shining and feel him shine within.
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