Reflections on the spirituality of Augustine
In what way his spirituality has an universal character?
In this article I try to answer the question whether the spirituality of Augustine has a universal and a common human basis. I mean a spirituality which is in principle not limited to a group of religious believers, but can appeal to anyone. That means a way back to the sources, the origin of Augustine’s inspiration. But I believe that in Augustine's thinking there has always been the same original motive, a basic inspiration which remained in all the developments he passed through and which he never renounced.
Philosophy as the search for happiness
From the beginning I was fascinated by Augustine’s passionate love for philosophy. Already young at secondary school we read and translated as well Plato as texts of Augustine. Augustine's philosophy is, like the philosophy of that time, a practical one. It is a way of living. I remember the translation of De beata vita. Philosophy appeared in it as a way to find your destiny and happiness. It initiated a quest for the true happiness that could last a lifetime and that, even if you had the idea where your destination might be, never got closed.
The philosophical quest for happiness must never end
I knew of course that Augustine found finally rest in God. But only over the years I realized that this answer to the question of happiness was too easy, or rather had no strength or substance, if you did not first investigate, like Augustine, the depths and implications of this question before you answer it. That’s why I think that before any theological response, first the philosophical, i.e. the human question has to be fully investigated, otherwise the answer is floating in the air and has no real power.
Augustine appeals to the inner teacher
When I ask myself what is at the heart of Augustine’s philosophy, then it is his emphasis on the inner self as the place of truth. In his vision this truth is revealed by the image of the inner teacher. In the human quest for his destination, Augustine is not referring to an authority outside, but to a sense within man, which has to act as an inner guide.
The teacher, a dialogue with his son Adeodatus
He develops this view among others in The Teacher, a writing in the form of a dialogue with his son Adeodatus. The dialogue circles around the question which is the role of the teacher in finding the truth. In the dialogue it becomes clear that knowledge of the truth cannot be transferred in a simple way from teacher to student. Words have only function if they point to a common truth that in principle. already exists in the student
The relationship between teacher and student
By this observation, the relation of teacher to pupil appears in a different light. It makes no sense that Augustine overloads his son with truths. Instead, he questions his son to wake in him insights that are logical and obvious and based on general criteria he already naturally has. The student is here taken seriously, as he possesses in himself all the means to know the truth. In this respect father and son are equal, because partners, pupils of the same inner teacher.
All real communication appeals to an inner truth
his view on the inner self of every man as the space where the truth is revealed can still be relevant, not because this should be new, but simply because this forms the universal basis for communication among people. It has implications not only in education but in principle in all human relationships and institutions. They get only sense, insofar as there is a relation to this inner human domain from one to another. If this is not the case, nothing works.
The principle of the inner teacher is universal
This universal principle gives the Augustinian spirituality a human if not humanistic character. When Augustine in the second part of his dialogue on The Teacher identifies the inner teacher with Christ, he is not referring to an external reality. He does not claim this general human data for an exclusive Christian or religious domain, but he rather claims the Christ for this universal human image of the inner teacher.
Christ as the manifestation of the Logos
It is a matter of approach. Augustine calls here the Christ God's unchangeable power and eternal wisdom. This refers to the image of the before all time existing Christ. He is called the divine Word and the Divine Wisdom. He is in a Greek word the Logos, which is at the basis of all creation and is from the beginning present and active in every creature. The spirituality of the inner teacher is consequently a spirituality of the inner Word, the inner Logos, which is innate in man as a creative principle and has to be developed.
The inner Logos is a faculty of the human reason
The inner teacher should here not be considered as a kind of supernatural faculty in man, but more as an inborn and therefore natural principle. It is a faculty of the human reason or ratio, by which every man in principle can know his place in life and every communication is made possible.
The reason is a universal power
In The Teacher de question arises: which property in man makes him universal? Augustine in his answer points precisely to the human Ratio or Reason as the faculty to mutual understanding and knowledge. It is also the capacity to review individually taken positions. Reason has innate notions and criteria which are universal. These notions are realities of the mind. They are not derived from the sensory and material world and therefore refer to the timeless nature of human reason.
The enlarged ratio
When Augustine understands the inner teacher as Ratio or Logos, it indicates that the knowledge of the truth about human existence is absolutely not irrational. When knowledge about destiny of man is labeled as irrational, then is that due to the current conception of the ratio, which is a narrow one and accepts only that knowledge as valid, when it is proven by the model of natural science, originating from the age of enlightenment. All other knowledge appears then as believe or superstition.
Augustine’s view on Reason or Ratio is larger. Reason includes also the universal, inter-subjective knowledge, which is obtained by introspection. This knowledge gives no scientific proof, but provides real insight into the way man should go. In the conception of today, ratio is reduced to a static and mechanical instrument. She has lost her dynamism because she is cut loose from her origin, and consequently she cannot give any direction.
The Augustinian spirituality teaches to turn in the inner self
The Augustinian spirituality invites to introspection, because in man’s consciousness is the notion of a divine and timeless origin, and gives by that implicitly insight in his path and destiny. That process of awareness occurs repeatedly in the writings of Augustine. Notably in the Tenth Book of his Confessions, where he enters into the halls of memory in search of the divine presence. He finally finds it in the desire for truth and happiness, which is common to all people. You could rightly call the spirituality of Augustine a spirituality of desire. That desire must be intensified, the heart kept burning, for this quest of the truth is not only a matter of reason but also of the heart, of that enlarged reason, which Augustine calls the Inner teacher.
Of course there is much to add to this story about the Augustinian inner teacher. For example, that this faculty is not ready given, but has to be developed in life. Here I confine myself to his basic inspiration, the heart of his philosophy. It teaches you to pay attention to your inner self, to insights that you in essence already knew, but did not realize. It can help too as a remedy against a chronic centrifugal tendency