"Can I, then, love in another what I hate in myself, though both of us are human?"
- Book IV Chapter XIV
Commentary:
I felt this question was especially compelling; it's couched right in the middle of a discussion on why Augustine derives pleasure from the sadness of actors in a play, yet dislikes being sad. It's a testament to humanity's inconsistencies. Personally, I think that I enjoy drama and tragedy because, in a way, I can feel all the anguish of the fictive protagonist without any of the pain; I get to live another life without any of the consequences. Not only that, but if it's an especially badly done work, I know that the ending will be better than the beginning- and so I risk very little in letting the production tug at my pathos. My only qualm with any of the above is that in thinking that pity being drawn out of me is a form of entertainment I become desensitized to the actual occasions of unhapiness in life [or worse, begin to seek them out so as to feel picturesque and complicated].
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