How Does St. Augustine's View Of Death
In Book IV of “Confessions,” St. Augustine is talking to God about the death of a close friend and how he feels nothing but sorrow. He realizes that everything on this Earth is mortal, and by his tone, it fills him with sadness. As he continues with his prayer, St. Augustine begins to question his emotions and belief in God. He then states, “For that first grief had pierced so easily and so deep only because I had spilt out my soul upon the sand, in loving a mortal as if he were never to die.”1 If St. Augustine would have had that understanding of mortality before his mourning and perpetual faith in God, the permanent piece to everyone’s mortal lives, at all times (more so during the death of his friend), he would not have experienced such
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Augustine’s reflection of life begins to resonate with Thomas Nagel’s idea that life is absurd because humans are finite beings existing under an Infinite Being who controls all, and when looking at life in black and white, the end is death. He then expresses his fear of death, but not necessarily because of the nothingness that may come or the possible denial of entrance to heaven. This fear of death arose from the ever absence of his dear friend and the proceeding state of mind that left a hole in his soul, which aligns with Leo Tolstoy’s beneficent view of Death. He began to think that the reason he was weeping was so that God could hear him and mend his heart. However, throughout the second part of his prayer, St. Augustine’s realizes that, “For these lovely things would be nothing at all unless they were from Him.”2 Mortals who have faith in God should never feel sorrow because of death, for He created mortals to live temporally. Everlasting faith in the omnipresent God yields happiness in all things with no bounds. This belief compares to the “centering” nature of religion articulated by Mircea Eliade. Even though Eliade focused on the broad concept of religions as opposed to a monotheistic view of God, his and St. Augustine’s principles relate in that there needs to be some sort of anchor in (or outside of) the Universe that creates the logic or sense of humans’ belonging inside that
Augustine’s reflection of life begins to resonate with Thomas Nagel’s idea that life is absurd because humans are finite beings existing under an Infinite Being who controls all, and when looking at life in black and white, the end is death. He then expresses his fear of death, but not necessarily because of the nothingness that may come or the possible denial of entrance to heaven. This fear of death arose from the ever absence of his dear friend and the proceeding state of mind that left a hole in his soul, which aligns with Leo Tolstoy’s beneficent view of Death. He began to think that the reason he was weeping was so that God could hear him and mend his heart. However, throughout the second part of his prayer, St. Augustine’s realizes that, “For these lovely things would be nothing at all unless they were from Him.”2 Mortals who have faith in God should never feel sorrow because of death, for He created mortals to live temporally. Everlasting faith in the omnipresent God yields happiness in all things with no bounds. This belief compares to the “centering” nature of religion articulated by Mircea Eliade. Even though Eliade focused on the broad concept of religions as opposed to a monotheistic view of God, his and St. Augustine’s principles relate in that there needs to be some sort of anchor in (or outside of) the Universe that creates the logic or sense of humans’ belonging inside that