ThinkBlog

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Book I. The Early Years. Cont’d. S. vi.10

vi.10

Here Augustine praises God for his infancy, even though he doesn’t remember it. It seems good to do so, even though at first glance that seems overdone: though we don’t remember our infancy, we know we had to have one in order to attain the state in which we presently are (without Premise 1 there’s not going to be a Conclusion). The things he experienced as an infant helped shape his temperament as a child[9], and “the child is father to the man.”[10] Even so, I think on those times that I don’t remember apart from my infancy, and give ever the more praise to the Father for those times: they were when I was inebriated with strife, selfish pride, bitterness, sorrow, and foreign chemicals. Some of those are as dark to me now as new asphalt under cloudy night skies, but I must/should praise God for getting me through those times, for allowing me to live even though a sinner, for giving me the grace to see me through. So the more thought I give Augustine’s discussion of his infancy, the more sensible it seems.

He considers the testimony of others about himself to be valid. Wonder what Descartes would say! This seems quite trusting of him. (Not exactly sure where to go with this one, but it seems this deserves more thought.)

So, to a neoPlatonist to be and to live are one and the same, on that gradient between nihil and God. I wonder if this kind of thinking is why (in past years) I considered the flesh and all physical things to be “less than,” the dross of creation. Rocks have existence, but not life in the sense that animals do; animals not in the sense that we do; and we not in the sense that God does. But this seems faulty reasoning. As Thom has pointed out, if God called it good, who am I to declare it sub-par? Then again, rocks do have a kind of life in the sense that they have existence through time. A very interesting discussion.

Looking forward to more on time; God’s timeline is one big Today. (Cf. Philosophy Club GTC discussion, and minutes from meeting headed up by Alan Clamp.

I love this: having humility enough to admit that God is beyond discovery (without lending a fatalistic, pessimistic bent to that admission) is sufficient for Him to reveal Himself. I have often found that right at that moment that I give up hope about something, it pulls through–God teaches me about perseverance in some very humorous ways.[11]

8. But realistically, I have no idea how this will work. If heaven is eternity in the Thomistic sense of being atemporal, and if time is the fourth physical dimension, will there be a “memory” of the history of God’s creation? Will it remain in stasis when we are in heaven, a permanent block of creation into which we could peek and perhaps walk unseen? This is puzzling, but outside the scope of A’s _Confessions_, at least for now.

9. That is assuming the holistic tack on childhood development, not giving way to either nature or nurture exclusively.

10. Gerard Manley Hopkins.

11. This is not to say that circumstances are crafted around me; only that when I am focused where I should be, God’s truth illumines the circumstances and I end up learning something about both myself and His character.

References.

Augustine, St. Confessions. Henry Chadwick, trans. ISBN 0-19-283372-3 (Paperback).

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0192833723/thinkblogorg-20

Book I. The Early Years. Cont’d. S. vi.10

vi.10

Here Augustine praises God for his infancy, even though he doesn’t remember it. It seems good to do so, even though at first glance that seems overdone: though we don’t remember our infancy, we know we had to have one in order to attain the state in which we presently are (without Premise 1 there’s not going to be a Conclusion). The things he experienced as an infant helped shape his temperament as a child[9], and “the child is father to the man.”[10] Even so, I think on those times that I don’t remember apart from my infancy, and give ever the more praise to the Father for those times: they were when I was inebriated with strife, selfish pride, bitterness, sorrow, and foreign chemicals. Some of those are as dark to me now as new asphalt under cloudy night skies, but I must/should praise God for getting me through those times, for allowing me to live even though a sinner, for giving me the grace to see me through. So the more thought I give Augustine’s discussion of his infancy, the more sensible it seems.

He considers the testimony of others about himself to be valid. Wonder what Descartes would say! This seems quite trusting of him. (Not exactly sure where to go with this one, but it seems this deserves more thought.)

So, to a neoPlatonist to be and to live are one and the same, on that gradient between nihil and God. I wonder if this kind of thinking is why (in past years) I considered the flesh and all physical things to be “less than,” the dross of creation. Rocks have existence, but not life in the sense that animals do; animals not in the sense that we do; and we not in the sense that God does. But this seems faulty reasoning. As Thom has pointed out, if God called it good, who am I to declare it sub-par? Then again, rocks do have a kind of life in the sense that they have existence through time. A very interesting discussion.

Looking forward to more on time; God’s timeline is one big Today. (Cf. Philosophy Club GTC discussion, and minutes from meeting headed up by Alan Clamp.

I love this: having humility enough to admit that God is beyond discovery (without lending a fatalistic, pessimistic bent to that admission) is sufficient for Him to reveal Himself. I have often found that right at that moment that I give up hope about something, it pulls through–God teaches me about perseverance in some very humorous ways.[11]

8. But realistically, I have no idea how this will work. If heaven is eternity in the Thomistic sense of being atemporal, and if time is the fourth physical dimension, will there be a “memory” of the history of God’s creation? Will it remain in stasis when we are in heaven, a permanent block of creation into which we could peek and perhaps walk unseen? This is puzzling, but outside the scope of A’s _Confessions_, at least for now.

9. That is assuming the holistic tack on childhood development, not giving way to either nature or nurture exclusively.

10. Gerard Manley Hopkins.

11. This is not to say that circumstances are crafted around me; only that when I am focused where I should be, God’s truth illumines the circumstances and I end up learning something about both myself and His character.

References.

Augustine, St. Confessions. Henry Chadwick, trans. ISBN 0-19-283372-3 (Paperback).