Passage from the text:
"Can this be the innocence of childhood? Far from it, O lord! But I beg you to forgive it. For commanders and kings may take the place of tutors and schoolmasters, nuts and balls and pet birds may give way to money and estates and servants, but these same passions remain with us while one stage of life follows upon another, just as more severe punishments follow upon the schoolmaster's cane. It was, then, simply because they are small that you used children to symbolize humility when, as our King, you commended it by saying that the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."
- Book I Chapter XIX
Commentary:
St. Augustine makes the proposal in this passage that we all play with vain things, whether we are young or old. That, truly, as we grow up, we never stop being childish. While some would like to think that they are smart and mature, an educated adult, in their state in life the truth is that for all their gambles and vices they are still children. Who's to say that the childish games of children are much different from the "adult" games of grown-ups: hide-and-go-seek versus not paying taxes, tag versus gambling?
I believe him. Adults still have their toys; their iPhones and yachts and guns and stocks. The difference is only symbolic.
Friday, January 25, 2013
Immutability: Invincibility?
Passage from the text:
"You, my God, are supreme, utmost in goodness, mightiest and all-powerful, most merciful and most just. You are the most hidden from us and yet the most present amongst us, the most beautiful and yet the most strong, ever enduring and yet we cannot comprehend you. You are the unchangeable and yet you change all things. You are never new, never old, and yet all things have new life from you. You are the unseen power that brings decline upon the proud. You are ever active, yet always at rest."
- Book I Chapter IV
Commentary:
I'm really digging the paradox motif St.Augustine has going here. It illustrates the elusiveness of God that few can comprehend. "Unchangeable and yet you change all things" Augustine tells us. Who is so immutable and of such strong a will as to be capable of changing all things? But for God, is Augustine's constant refrain. What's interesting about this passage is that it's sandwiched between Augustine's account of his childhood and his boyhood. In a way, this prayer to God symbolizes the fact that Augustine, himself, is changing- whether or not he wants to.
"You, my God, are supreme, utmost in goodness, mightiest and all-powerful, most merciful and most just. You are the most hidden from us and yet the most present amongst us, the most beautiful and yet the most strong, ever enduring and yet we cannot comprehend you. You are the unchangeable and yet you change all things. You are never new, never old, and yet all things have new life from you. You are the unseen power that brings decline upon the proud. You are ever active, yet always at rest."
- Book I Chapter IV
Commentary:
I'm really digging the paradox motif St.Augustine has going here. It illustrates the elusiveness of God that few can comprehend. "Unchangeable and yet you change all things" Augustine tells us. Who is so immutable and of such strong a will as to be capable of changing all things? But for God, is Augustine's constant refrain. What's interesting about this passage is that it's sandwiched between Augustine's account of his childhood and his boyhood. In a way, this prayer to God symbolizes the fact that Augustine, himself, is changing- whether or not he wants to.
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