Augustine in His Own Words
whom no one seeks unless admonished, whom no one finds unless purified; O God, whom to abandon is to perish, whom to heed is to love, whom to see is to have; O God, to whom faith rouses us, hope lifts us, charity unites us; O God, through whom we overcome the enemy, to you I pray; O God, whom we receive lest we perish altogether; O God, by whom we are admonished to be ever watchful; O God, through whom we distinguish good from evil; O God, through whom we flee evil and follow the good; O God, through whom we overcome yielding to adversities; O God, whom we rightly serve and by whom we are rightly ruled. O God, through whom we learn that so many things once ours are foreign to us, and discover so many things once foreign to us are ours; O God, through whom we learn not to cling to the charms and lures of evil; O God, through whom trivial things lessen their lessening of us; O God, through whom what is better in us is not made subject to our lower self; O God, through whom death is swallowed up in victory; O God, who converts us; O God, who strips us of what is not and clothes us with what is; O God, who makes us worthy to be heard; O God, who strengthens us; O God, who leads us into all truth; O God, who speaks to us of all that is good, who does not lead to senseless things nor permit us to be made so; O God, who calls us back to the road; O God, who brings us to the doorway; O God, who causes it to be opened to those who knock; O God, who gives the bread of life; O God, through whom we thirst for the cup, from which, once drunk, we never more thirst; O God, who "convicts the world in regard to sin, to justice, and to judgment" (Jn 16:8); O God, through whom those who believe minimally do not upset us; O God, through whom we denounce the error of those who think that souls have no merits before you; O God, through whom we do not serve "weak and destitute elemental powers" (Gal 4:9); O God, who purges us, who prepares us for divine rewards, be well-disposed and come to my aid.47
The Vision of God
One thing Augustine drew from his reading of those "books of the Platonists"48 was a method of mystical contemplation that led one to seek to pierce through the ephemeral world visible to the senses and to rise inwardly and upwardly, elevating the mind, however briefly, to the eternity of God. Earlier we saw two accounts of such ascents in
47. Soliloquia 1.1.2-1.3 (BA 5:26–30); my trans., based on Gilligan, FOTC 5:344–47. See retr. 1.4.2 (BA 12:290). On this prayer, as well as the Trinitarian references in De beata vita 4.33–35 (quoted above), see Lewis Ayres, " 'Giving Wings to Nicaea': Reconceiving Augustine's Earliest Trinitarian Theology," Augustinian Studies 38 (2007): 21–40.
48. See p. 18 in Chap. 1, above.
The Philosopher 61
Confessions. In this dialogue with himself, Augustine meditates on what the vision of God requires. He stresses the distinctly Christian (and very un-Platonic) virtues of faith, hope, and love, a triad drawn from St. Paul and a mainstay of his thinking over the course of his career. From Soliloquies, Book 1:
(6.12) Reason. It follows, then, that without these three [virtues of faith, hope, and love] no soul can be healed such that it can see (that is, know) God. (6.13) But once the soul has healthy eyes, what more is needed?
Augustine. That it contemplate. R. Reason is the soul's contemplative gaze. But it does not follow that everyone who contemplates sees. Rightful and perfect contemplation, from which vision follows, is called virtue. For virtue is rightful and perfect reason. But even though the soul may have healthy eyes, the contemplative gaze itself cannot turn toward the light unless these three [virtues] have become permanent: faith by which it believes the reality which it gazes upon can, when seen, make us blessedly happy; hope by which it trusts that it will see if only it contemplates intently; love, by which it yearns to see and to enjoy. Then the vision of God flows from the contemplative gaze. This vision is the true goal of our contemplation, not because the contemplative gaze no longer exists, but because it has nothing further to strive toward. And this is truly perfect virtue: reason arriving at its endpoint, from which comes the happy life. This vision itself, however, is that understanding which is in the soul, brought forth by the one who understands and by the One understood—just as what is called "eyesight" consists of the senses themselves and the reality sensed, such that if either were withdrawn, nothing would be seen.
(7.14) Therefore, let us reflect on whether these three are still necessary once the soul succeeds in seeing (that is, knowing) God. Why should faith be needed since now it sees? Why hope, since it already grasps its hope? But as for love, not only will nothing be taken away, but rather much will be added. For when the soul sees that unique and true Beauty, it will love all the more deeply. But unless it fixes its eye upon it with surpassing love and never withdraws its gaze, it will not be able to continue in that most blessed vision. Now as long as the soul is in this body, even though it may fully see (that is, know) God, the senses of the body still perform their proper function. Even though they may not have the power to lead one astray, they can still cause a wavering unsteadiness. So there still must be faith by which we resist the senses and believe something other [than them] to be true. So too, since in this life the soul labors under the body's many hardships, even though it is already happy in its knowledge of God, it still needs hope that all these trials will not endure beyond death. So as long as it is in this life, hope does not depart the soul. But when, after this life, it unites itself totally with God, love will re-