Preview

Reflection Confession of St. Augustine.

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
751 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Reflection Confession of St. Augustine.
St. Augustine uses his focus on the fact that God may exists in the same extent which wisdom and truth exists, which is as concepts or ideas in the mind but not reality. He shows that there is evidence of God but not a powerful creator. To Augustine, God exists but requires him to exist for the basis of his argument. St. Augustine focuses on memory as an unconscious knowledge, which eventually leads him to his knowledge of God. Augustine is no longer telling events of the past, but only of present time.

Augustine starts his analysis of memory in a description of a house. The storehouse is a place where objects are retrieved, deposited, and re-stored; just like the memory where images are kept, and in need recovered. Augustine gives a characterization of memory as if it was materialistic; it is reliable, everything has its own place in it, and it can contain unlimited information. The memory exists in all things in the past, present and no one can take it away from us.

St. Augustine believed that the ideas in someones memory must have been in his mind before he learned it, waiting to be recognized. Augustine suggests, "It must have been that they were already in my memory, hidden away in its deeper recesses, in so remote a part of it that I might not have been able to think of them at all, if some other person had not brought them to the fore by teaching me about them" (X: chapter 10, 218). In recognizing an idea the inclusive memory he has in his mind. In addition memories that are neglected slip back into remote places of the memory and these memories evolve becoming new ones again.

Augustine then started to focus on the search of God in his memory. The search of God in one's memory was troubling matter for Augustine; God cannot be attained through the powers of memory, which beast's posses. Augustine is suggests looking for God in a different place, outside of the memory. An issues which is brought up by Augustine is the consequences of not finding God in the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Ap Psych Ch 7&8

    • 2700 Words
    • 11 Pages

    |What is memory? |The persistence of learning over time through the storage and retrieval |…

    • 2700 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    He was a Manichee because Manicheism offered more concert answers. However he is challenged, “I then expended much mental efforts on trying to discover if I could in any way convict the Manichees of falsehood by some definite proofs” (5.14.25). Augustine did thought at some point that Manichaeism can offer what he wanted, but because he was too ignorant and he never saw what really was Manicheism. While his time in Milan, he becomes a skeptic where he begins to question everything. He now believes that’s there is no truth to the question of God, but an understanding of him. He meets bishop named Ambrose, which his mother becomes happy because maybe he can convert back to Catholicism. During his time with Ambrose, Augustine starts to believe that Catholicism can offer him the understanding he has been…

    • 1367 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Memories are known as the mental faculty of retaining and recalling past experiences. In her article, Memories of Thing s Unseen, Elizabeth Loftus proves that memory can be very faulty at times and not only can memories be changed, but false memories can be planted into the mind. In addition, she also explains the characteristics and consequences of false memories and discusses the role of imagination inflation.…

    • 891 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The way humans perceive this mystical power is known as “the light”. This light is very different from regular light because regular light is seen by the eyes and is simply just imagery. On the other hand, the spiritual light is emanated by God, but interpreted by the mind. It guides us to the way of living that is spiritual and free of sin. When we do not let that light into our minds, we ultimately close off God from our lives and become more materialistic. Thus, we begin to sin. The reason this resonated so well with Augustine is because this is what he devoted his life to. His objective was to find a source of sin and figure out a way to prevent it. Furthermore, when he achieved his objectives, he integrated them with his lifestyle in order to stay connected with God and all the good he stands for. However, the light’s purpose was not only used by Augustine to secure his future with God, but also to reflect on all he experienced as an…

    • 1084 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Autobiography is a method which allows the reader and the writer to reflect on a personal, and factual journey through the past. The creation of the autobiography opens up new doors which enlighten the reader into the development of history, which is a uniquely western idea. Augustine’s Confessions uses this story as an autobiography to describe his distinctions between his ideas of Inner and Outer Man, which he reflects through his various books. He also uses the distinction between his books to describe his life as a pilgrimage from the City of Man to the City of God.…

    • 658 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Augustine, although recognized as a saint today, was not always a man of great faith. For most of his life, he was tempted with sin, and he struggled to figure out who God was. In the earlier part of his life, he was fascinated by rhetoric. He admired famous rhetoricians, and he even wrote some works of his own, including The Confessions, in which he reveals the struggles he faced. Augustine’s attraction to rhetoricians is not something unfamiliar to a modern audience, as today it is something called “celebrity worship”.…

    • 671 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Saint Augustine’s Confessions autobiographically chronicles his spiritual journey into developing his beliefs and accepting Christianity. He only recounts the events from his childhood and adolescence that lead to his conversion. Instead of anecdotally laying out his life story, Augustine chooses to write about his personal struggles to become a devout Christian. Throughout the story, he entangles himself into different philosophical schools of teaching to better understand his take…

    • 961 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    t Augustine 354-430 CE, developed a theodicy in order to tackle the ‘Problem of Evil’, the seeming contradiction between God being omnipotent, omnibenevolent and there still being evil in the world. As a Christian, he believed that God had made everything that exists, and that at the moment of creation, everything was perfect, because ‘God saw all that he had made, and it was very good’ Genesis 1: 31. He therefore concluded that ‘evil is not a substance’; it is merely ‘Privatio Boni’ or privation of good, because he thought that ‘things which are liable to corruption are good’, otherwise they cannot be corrupted.…

    • 585 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Augustine’s theodicy is mostly influenced by the creation stories found in the Genesis. Augustine had a traditional view of God and thought God was omnipotent and good. The genesis mentions that everything God made was good, therefore the universe that God created is good. Augustine believed there were higher and lower goods but everything was good in its own way.…

    • 547 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    “He who knows the truth, knows the light, and he who knows it knows eternity.” (171). Saint Augustine explains throughout The Confessions the challenges he faced in search for the divinity truth. The struggles and triumphs Saint Augustine conquered at each level of the Divided Line presented in Plato’s The Republic.…

    • 1531 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    He says strive for goodness, live in conformity with it, and you will find God. God is…

    • 1101 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Augustines first book is devoted to his early childhood and his reflections on human origin, memory, and desire. His ideas of God were very much influenced by the religious teachings of his day.…

    • 1155 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Augustine's Flaws

    • 1465 Words
    • 6 Pages

    In Book I, Augustine uses phrases such as “a wretched boy” (31) and “I earnestly begged” (24) towards his relationship with God. Degrading himself instead of learning through God takes a toll on his total understanding of God, leading to his incomplete understanding of God. Using the verb “beg” instead of ask or another more equal verb shows that Augustine sees no equality between himself and God. While equality between humans and God is not necessary, Romans 8: 39 states “nor anything else in creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Augustine attempts to make a divide, to separate himself from God in that he is not worthy enough for His presence. This is what shows that Augustine does not truly understand how to interact with God. Augustine even goes as far to state “You know how stupid and weak I am” (221) and “Tell me, I beg you, tell your miserable suppliant, O merciful God” (18). He uses adjectives such as stupid, weak, and miserable to describe…

    • 1465 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Augustine reflects on Christianity in the secular world in his writing The City of God, where the focal point of the writing is to differentiate the two separate kingdoms men are living in. A kingdom lived by according to man and a kingdom lived by according to God. Augustine states that when a man lives according to himself, or society in this case, he is living according to a lie. Augustine openly states this about the kingdom of man, “But as this is not a good which can discharge its devotees of all distresses, this city is often divided against itself by litigations, wars, quarrels, and such victories are either life-destroying or short-lived.” He pushes for the reader to simply notice and examine the division created by personal victories, which leads him to write “…all men desire to have peace with their own circle whom they wish to govern as suits themselves.…

    • 982 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Augustine begins describing memory as that of a house. He describes it as being a place where images, ideas and memories are kept. They can be accesses and stored, re-used and deposited as needed. Our memories can never be taken away from us, as they exist in all things in the past and present. Augustine believed that memories have always been in his mind, even before he could recognize them as his own. Augustine states in Book X, chapter 10, “It must have been the they were already in my memory, hidden away in its deeper recesses, in so remote a part of it that I might not have been able to think of them at all, if some other person had not brought them to the fore by teaching me about them” (Augustine, 1992). Memories that are neglected slip back to distant parts of the mind, and then begin to evolve in order to be created into new memories.…

    • 1055 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays