The grand idea of “The God Shaped Hole” took a course at the beginning of Augustine’s Confessions (1.1.1) “ What place is there in me to which my God can come, what place that can receive the God who made heaven and earth? Does this mean, O Lord my God, that there is in me something fit to contain you? …. Or, since nothing that exists could exist without you, does this mean that whatever exists does, in the sense, contain you? If this is so, since I too exist, why do I ask you to come into me? For I should not be there at all unless, in this way, you were already present within me.” (Chestnut). What Augustine is saying in a summary, is that God has placed a desire for himself in every person. Augustine definition feels this desire or “need” …show more content…
This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object: in other words by God himself”. (Chestnut) Pascal’s philosophical definition is explaining all humans are all searching for something. That “something” usually is a troublesome sense to power us to do more. Pascal believed there is something inside of us that wants more, the desire and the push for happiness. And that’s “ The God Shaped Hole” that is …show more content…
And this desire brings Michael his ultimate satisfaction. Eventually learning a valuable lesson, which are his family and his life itself is his God Shaped hole. Michael then cherishing every moment of time by spending it with the people he loves and his morals change. He does this without trying to manipulate time to produce an outcome that otherwise would not have happened. Michael experienced a life-changing journey in order to fully understand his God Shaped Hole and how to embrace and appreciate the loved ones in his life. That is the definition of a God Shape Hole for the character Michael in the movie “Click”, but that does not mean it is the same for every
The second circle of hell, a realm for those who fell victim of their carnal desires, is another level at which to place Augustine’s soul for he was consumed by lust in his pre-conversion days. He was encouraged by his family to learn the art of persuasion and making of fine speech when he was only sixteen. He used these skills, which he developed very well, along with his good looks to seduce as many women as possible. It was “in that sixteenth year of my life in this world, when the madness of lust. . . took complete control of me, and I surrendered to it” (Confessions, 987). He was in love with being in love. Yet, he was unable to discern between love and lust.
...e so it may be fabrication or mayhap truly be Godly intervention Augustine had opened up to a passage that had told him to discard his lust for flesh and put on Jesus Christ. This was the last sign that he needed and Augustine converts immediately.
...lighted” Augustine’s body (Confessions VIII. 5, p. 148). In this example, regardless of Augustine’s want to will succumbing to God, he found that his habits had rendered him unable to. His will in favor of the lower things held Augustine tighter than his will for God, which caused Augustine to choose the lesser good, which left him “in the midst of that great tumult I had stirred up against my own soul in the chamber of my heart” (Confessions VIII. 7, p.152). His two wills tore at him until he fully abandoned his earthly lust for the spiritual Godly desires; supporting his conclusion that free will in favor of the lesser goods causes evil. Therefore, free will is the ultimate source of evil.
After stating this, Augustine continues to support his statement by talking about friendship. Is the friendship Augustine mentions lustful or sincerely about love? "Thus I polluted the stream of friendship with the filth of unclean desire and sullied its limpidity with the hell of lust." (pg. 35) Obviously Augustine is letting the idea of love turn straight to lust. He talks about unclean desires, but he says he wants to be clean and courtly. Maybe Augustine has the wrong idea about love.
...ese kind of foolish acts take place every day in society. Michael and Frances obviously love and care about each other; this was just a small bump in the road that they have overcome. It could have been a fork in the road, and they could have gone their separate ways. But they stuck through it, just like most of relationships. This is important because it shows that most people can overcome any problem if they really tried.
Why does St. Augustine seek God? Through his Confessions we come to understand that he struggled a great deal with confusion about his faith, before finally and wholeheartedly accepting God into his life. But we never get a complete or explicit sense of what led Augustine to search for God in the first place. Did he feel a void in his life? Was he experiencing particular problems in other relationships that he thought a relationship with God would solve for him? Or perhaps he sought a sense of security from religion? A closer analysis of the text of St. Augustine’s Confessions will provide some insight into these fundamental questions.
Author Claudia Gray stated, “Self-knowledge is better than self-control any day” (Goodreads). Evil and sin exists in our world today and the temptation they bring bounds many human’s spiritual being. Finding the root of all evil is a hard and torturous concept to understand, but knowing one’s own free will helps bring understanding and deliverance from the evils of the world. Throughout the book Confessions Saint Augustine “ponders the concepts of evil and sin and searches the root of their being” (Augustine 15). The existence of evil is one of the most worrisome challenges a Christian or any individual deals with throughout life. Saint Augustine’s beliefs concerning the root of all evil and sins transforms as he begins to grow and develop in the knowledge of his free will and spiritual being. Early on, he believes “God created all things and evil is a thing, therefore God created evil” (Augustine 73-74). From this he conceives the notion that God cannot be good if he knowingly created evil. As Augustine begins to grow in his spiritual walk, his views begin to evolve as he questions his Manichee’s beliefs and explores the concepts of good and evil. From his inquiring Augustine develops the question, what is evil and what if evil did not need creating? He asks, “Do we have any convincing evidence that a good God exists” (Augustine 136-137)?
“Accordingly, two cities have been formed by two loves: the earthly by the love of self, even to the contempt of God; the heavenly by the love of God, even to the contempt of self. The former, in a word, glories in itself, the latter in the Lord.” (14.28) Love, in a present-day definition is normally a good thing. According to the brilliant St. Augustine, that would depend on the nature of the love in understanding. In his book, The City of God, Augustine skillfully drew upon two loves: on one hand, a love which is holy: agape, unselfish love, and on the other hand a love which is unholy: distorted love of self; selfishness. Augustine identifies with unselfish love, which is holy love, the love of God, and following God’s rules according to the bible. As contrasted to its opposite, love of self is to the point of contempt of God and neighbor in which these two loves conflict. In this essay, I will give a brief background of the author; I will be discussing the topic of love in The City of God, but more specifically, Augustine’s perception of self-love.
After stating this, Augustine continues to support his statement by talking about friendship. Is the friendship Augustine mentions lustful or sincerely about love? “Thus I polluted the stream of friendship with the filth of unclean desire and sullied its limpidity with the hell of lust.” (pg. 35) Obviously Augustine is letting the idea of love turn straight to lust. He talks about unclean desires, but he says he wants to be clean and courtly. Maybe Augustine has the wrong idea about love. Love is when you care deeply about someone and will do anything for them. Thinking about sexual desires and physical attractions are defining...
In Augustine’s early life he considered himself extremely sinful and full of himself: “In my youth I wandered away, too far from your sustaining hand, and created of myself a barren
The love, love regained and love lost in the novel also affects the emotion of the individual. Michael was desperately in love with Julia, but unfortunately he had to leave her and loneliness become his only companion. This is evident in the words of Michael, “Life settles into bearable aloneness”
Augustine called himself a “slave to lust” and seemed to be unable to live a happy life without a woman. This would be contradictory to Augustine’s belief that one should love God above all else and if one experiences attachment to transient things, one should ultimately give praise to God for their existence: “if sensuous beauty delights you, praise God. . . and channel the love you feel for them onto their Maker” (IV.12.18). This seemed to be the most difficult concept for Augustine to
From Augustine’s Confession, we can feel the deep and sincere remorse of the sins committed him in every volume, chapter, even every paragraph. Which is the exact reason of his conversion, that he did not return to his faith as a rhetoric at professor at Rome but admitted that he was a sinner. In regard to faith, his great perplexity at the time was that since the world is governed by God, why is the world full of evil and emptiness? Where did sin come from?
Christians believe that we should desire God and that God is the root to all happiness and therefore freedom. In Happiness Christian Moral Life, they state, “Men and women are made for God and will find happiness and peace only in God” (page 6). Augustine suggests this and says that we often refuse to accept this truth and fall astray from God. Later, in the article/book when Augustine is on his way to a eulogy he passes a drunken beggar and notices that this drunken beggar is happier than what he has ever been in his life. He suggests that this is because less is more, and this beggar has never become greedy to expect too much.
Upon entering the structure, “communication with the gods is made possible” (Eliade 26). It is a sacred space where humans are able to interact and communicate with the gods, something that cannot be achieved in other places. The Hagia Sophia is a brilliant example of a “sanctuary that are ‘doors of the gods’ and hence place of passage between heaven and earth” (Eliade 27). Eliade stresses the difference between the sacred and profane worlds and that only communication with the gods can be obtained by crossing a threshold, entering into the sacred realm. The decorations and iconoclasm within the church also express a connection to the gods. God is present everywhere and the church acts as an entrance to the world above. The Hagia Sophia acts as an “axis mundi” which is a “cosmic pillar,” a connection between sacred ground and profane earth (Eliade 35). As a place where the world connects to the heavens, Hagia Sophia contains many connections to God and acts as a pillar, connecting them to