In his book, Confessions, St. Augustine makes some profound statements such as:
Through the Spirit we see that whatsoever exists in any way is good…
-Book 31, Ch 31
But then, he contests these thoughts with, such as when referring to the Manichaeans:
They themselves are truly evil, when they think such evil things.
-Book 8, Ch 10
What Augustine was dealing with was his own “shadow”, that is, the parts of himself that he repressed/resented. It might be interesting to begin a discussion about his possible roadblocks/contradictions by addressing his chapter that deals directly with the shadow, Book 2, Ch5, Why Men Sin, in which he shows some amazingly insightful shadow integration.
I am going to select just one, and I invite readers to select others from the chapter. One of the more obvious shadow elements (that is, something very common in people’s shadows) that he appeared to have integrated (part of our “beautiful bodies”) is the capacity to desire “power to command and rule over others” which is, more simply put, the desire to dominate, to be in control.
This thread began on the Catholic Answers Forum. An archive of the thread can be found here (If it is saved well!):
St. Augustine's roadblocks in his Confessions
Please feel free to grab a copy of Confessions and enter into the discussion!
Through the Spirit we see that whatsoever exists in any way is good…
-Book 31, Ch 31
But then, he contests these thoughts with, such as when referring to the Manichaeans:
They themselves are truly evil, when they think such evil things.
-Book 8, Ch 10
What Augustine was dealing with was his own “shadow”, that is, the parts of himself that he repressed/resented. It might be interesting to begin a discussion about his possible roadblocks/contradictions by addressing his chapter that deals directly with the shadow, Book 2, Ch5, Why Men Sin, in which he shows some amazingly insightful shadow integration.
I am going to select just one, and I invite readers to select others from the chapter. One of the more obvious shadow elements (that is, something very common in people’s shadows) that he appeared to have integrated (part of our “beautiful bodies”) is the capacity to desire “power to command and rule over others” which is, more simply put, the desire to dominate, to be in control.
This thread began on the Catholic Answers Forum. An archive of the thread can be found here (If it is saved well!):
St. Augustine's roadblocks in his Confessions
Please feel free to grab a copy of Confessions and enter into the discussion!
