In my blog Augustine Philosopher you can find some reflections
on texts of Augustine. I'm looking for the source of his spirituality,
especially his philosophy, which meant at that time love of wisdom. In fact, these reflections are mostly centered
around the same theme, his search for true happiness. I have put these
reflections together in the hope that they can inspire new readers.
When I analyze texts of Augustine I resume an interest in his work, which I got early at an Augustinian grammar school. We read there among others De Vita Beata, his treatise about happiness. His approach to the happy life impressed me deeply at that time. Hence my special interest in the philosophical side of his work, which is embedded in the classical philosophy of those days, especially the Neoplatonism of Plotinus.
I left the subject for a long time, but picked it up recently, believing that his philosophy has still nothing lost of its actuality. You don't have to search for an refuge in eastern philosophies to find an inspiration that is essentially the same. Hence you find here diverse thoughts about in fact the same theme, the desire for true happiness, which I would call Augustine’s primal inspiration.
My
way of reading texts of Augustine
My way of reading his texts requires some explanation. First
of all I must explain what I understand by reading. It is a subjective activity,
such as writing is. It is a way of analyzing a text in search for what can
be useful to you. It is a way of selecting and choosing, a way of feeding yourself and
it is not necessary or useful that you eat everything. That does not mean that your
reading is hineininterpretieren or finding in a text what is not
really in it. But if possible finding a new and unexpected perspective.
Reading Augustine is a constant source to reorient
yourself. I also try to draw new inspiration from his texts and have the
ambition to formulate a new approach to the religious dimension in man. I am aiming
at Augustine's thinking about interiority.
This can be a source for the religious impasse in which we find ourselves
since long. I think that it can be a breakthrough of a new inspiration. But I
am aware that this approach is an old one that is closer to the origin of
religious inspiration. Hence I try to read Augustine to lift out those elements
of his work which can be useful for our actual situation.
I mentioned already: reading is selecting. I choose what
interest me and leave a lot of what is less important for our actual situation. I
do perhaps not right to Augustine in his totality, but I really try to discover
his main inspiration.
Augustine’s work gives cause to many interpretations. Many have referred to his work and often in directions which now seem dubious. There are in fact many augustinisms. I will not go deep into it and follow my own intuition.
I try to go back to what has fascinated me in him from the beginning. And as a help I do appeal to a presence which Augustine calls the magister interior, the inner teacher. I am confident that he will lead me into the right direction.
In principle you already know everything. All knowledge is basically in you. So you need no church, no pastor, no guru to fill your head with all that knowledge. What they can do at best is make you aware of that knowledge that lives in you.
Augustine
and philosophy
Augustine's thinking dates from before the distinction
between philosophy and theology. In that period the domain of the human mind
was not divided into different compartments, each with their specific questions
and approaches. Augustine had only one question in mind: how do I live
properly.
His philosophy is simple and has immediate implications for practice. It is a search for wisdom (sapientia) which is a different approach than pure knowledge (scientia).
His intention to know God and the soul is a consequence of his search for wisdom. Therefore I consider Augustine primarily as a philosopher in the ancient sense of the word: as a searcher for wisdom, of a way of right living. He is concerned with the whole man, who thinks and desires and whose life is not split up in a secular and a religious domain.