In my search for an Augustinian spirituality I try to
find a way out of an impasse in the contemporary religious experience. In my
opinion this impasse is due to the fact that the official religion presents herself
exclusively as resulting from a supernatural origin. In this vision revelation
of the divine comes from above, from outside human conscience. In such a
representation all religious experience man has from within and by nature is
made to something improper or secondary. As a result this exclusive way of
thinking has the opposite effect than what was intended. Most people turn away
from a perception which has become alien to them and seek their own salvation,
while the official churches become more and more an island
Augustine
is not a dualist
The spirituality of Augustine can, as I believe, open a
way out of this impasse. His thinking is from before the separation between the
natural and the supernatural domain, though often the opposite is claimed and
later theologians do in their dualistic thinking rely on him.
It is a way of reading and interpreting. Too little
account is taken to the fact that Augustine is from origin not a dogmatic
theologian, but an orator, a writer, who expressed himself in images and
oppositions. One is easily tempted to interprete this way of thinking too
literally, by representing contrasting images as separate mutually excluding
realities.
Augustine
seeks unity
You should be aware that Augustine in his thinking in
opposites, is finally searching
for unity of the opposites, even though you initially can be put on the wrong
track. In reading the Confessions for
exemple you can come to the conclusion, that for Augustine human nature, is
from childhood on thoroughly sinful and pervers. Already in the beginning he
illustrates this with the example of a baby who cannot speak yet, but looks already
full of bitterness and hatred at the child who is drinking with him from the
mother breast. This emphasis on the sinfulness of man, which is woven throughout
the Confessions, gives the impression
that God's glory and grace should be praised by emphasizing human wickedness as
strong as possible.
Man
is good by nature
But the conclusion that according to Augustine, nothing
would be good in human nature is too premature. That would be the case, when in
his view, God and man would stand facing one another and are excluding each
other. But the Confessions show on
every page how God and man imply one another from the beginning. God is not
outside man, but he is more inward in man than himself. This means that man
cannot be thoroughly bad.
Man is in principle good, for he carries in himself by
nature the divine presence as an indelible mark. It reveals in himself as an
inner guide and physician and as his ultimate destination. What man makes
corrupt and sinful is to deny those fundamental orientation. Sin is in
Augustine's view a question of disorientation, of wandering, and losing your
way. The heart is losing itself in what is not its destiny and its happiness.
With this evil and the disruption that it entails are not denied, but there is
no absolute perversion. Even the irreligious remains in his heart aimed at true
happiness. (Confessions, X, xxii, 32)
Nature
is grace as well
This implication of human nature and divine grace
closes in the spiritual experience the gap between the natural and supernatural
domain. God's power works in each person from within and is not added from
outside to man as a sort of superstructure. Everything in this vision is grace,
pure divine gift. Human nature is basically part of it.
The
divine love is separated from human love
This introduction seemed to me essential,
for
this implication of nature and grace is also applicable to Augustine's
conception of love. He refers to love by different names, but I will limit
myself to two of them, Amor and Caritas. These are two aspects of love that were
in origin, also in Augustine’s view, inextricably linked But in our days they
became more or less separated from each other and in this way limited in their
significance. Caritas has got a strictly Christian interpretation, and as a
result Amor, the equivalent of the Greek word Eros, has lost its originally religious
and transcendent perspective and became the indication of earthly, sexual love.
Such a narrowed conception of love has its impact on
spirituality. When Amor or Eros have lost their religious dimension, the place
of Caritas as Christian love loses an essentiel part of its territory and as a
result confines itself to charity. With this loss Caritas as Christian love is in
fact reduced to social action. And it is doubtful whether this form of love is
always desirable, because it will imply and maintain human inequality
But also Amor leads as Eros a miserable and closed
existence, as it misses its transcendent perspective. People themselves cannot
ultimately fulfill each other’s desires and needs. And it would be a mistake to
take each other as our final destination.
Amor
is by nature religious
Therefore it is important to see Amor again in the
perspective in which Augustine saw it: as a naturally religious impulse that
transcends earthly existence. She has always played a central part in his life
and did continue this. I think it is wrong to suppose that his conversion
consisted in exchanging Amor as earthly love by Caritas. Amor has been as Eros,
as desire and passion, always been his central motive. The real change comes
from a new orientation of that desire, in which the heart is focused on his
ultimate destiny and is fulfilled by true love.
Amor
always remained the central motive in Augustine's experience
How much Amor remained the central motive in
Augustine's religious belief, may you read in the last book of his Confessions (XIII, ix, 22), in which he
does the well-known statement: pondus
meum amor meus, literally translated as”my
love is my weight”. That does not mean that his love is subject to gravity,
but on the contrary is driven by an inner force that pushes the human heart up
to his destination. Like oil, poured into water, rises upwards because of its
lightness of weight, also the heart, driven by Amor, wants to rise up to where
it belongs.
Given that Amor has this vertical direction, the
question arises, what is the role of Caritas as Christian charity. In the light
of this transcendent and vertical human desire, charity should not exclusively be
focused on the inequal social position of man, but more spiritual on their
basically equal condition. This supposes a sense of human solidarity, which implies
that everyone is driven by essentially the same desire for the same
destination. As a consequence it is important to keep alive and respect this
transcendent perspective in everyone. For in this vertical aspect of love,
everybody is equally poor and empty. And at the same time equally rich, for in
Augustine's vision all is grace, gift of the Spirit, even this human and
natural ability to love.
The
destination of Amor
In the gift of your Spirit we find our rest
It is in this spirit that we enjoy you.
That is our proper place
Amor lifts us there.
And your good Spirit raises us, lowly
creatures,
up from the gates of death.
It is in a good will that we find our
peace.
A body tends by its weight to its proper
place.
It does not necessarily move downward,
but to its appropriate position.
For a stone falls, a fire raises.
All things do this according to their own weight.
They seek their own place.
If oil is poured in the water, it rises to
the surface.
But if water is poured on oil, it sinks
below the oil.
By their weight they are driven.
They seek their proper place.
When they are not in their own place, they
are always restless.
Until they find their place and come to
rest.
Amor is my weight.
To what place I am carried,
it is Amor that carries me.
Through the gift of your Spirit, we are set
on fire
and we are carried upwards.
By this fire we go.
We go upwards in our heart
and sing the song of ascents.
(Confessions, XIII, ix, R.11-24)