Win Die Bekenntnisse Des Heiligen Augustinus (Classics To Go) Scripted By Augustine Of Hippo Presented In Ebook

suspect most people today would not imagine that they have much in common with a Christian saint who lived overyears ago, Remarkably enough however if they read this book I think they'd find much to relate to, just as I did, The Confessions is the famous autobiography of St, Augustine of Hippo, a North African saint, It is in part his life story, but to me it is really his spiritual biography, It is in effect a long letter from himself directed towards God, explaining his path towards the divine, It is the story of how Augustine went from a sinner someone who in his own words had a restless soul and disordered mind into the realm of divine knowledge and awareness.
It is a familiar story to anyone who has read Ibn Arabi, alGhazali or any other individuals who have counseled taking what is often referred to as the spiritual path.


What was most notable to me about the book were how "normal" St, Augustine and his thoughts seem by today's standards, He did not want to surrender his bad habits and he did not want to be ridiculed for believing something that he'd incorrectly assumed was ridiculous, He wanted real knowledge and the company of his beloved friends and family, He loved his mother and he wanted to do what was right in his life, a life that he knew was inherently transient, The book describes the process of his spiritual awakening, likening it at one part to the resistance one feels to waking up in the morning and the efforts we take to remain asleep even when we know we must get up.
He describes the components of existence as being like the words of a sentence, with one dying so the other can live and none but the highest intellect able to see the meaning of the entire sentence.
His heart desires to come to a place of rest, rather than being in endless search for a thing that our minds cannot name, The prose is beautiful.

This is a book that deserves to be described as timeless, because it deals with the core issues of the human condition: who we are, why we are here and what we must do to be enlightened, peaceful and successful.
It is also an advised read for those who incorrectly believe that Christianity is a superficial or intellectually unstimulating religion, This could not be further from the truth, To me St. Augustine was another Ibn Arabi, an earnest seeker of the truth who found his riches by looking within, As long as human beings still exist, this book has something very important to say to them, St. Augustines Confessions is such a lovely and honest book, Id recommend it to everyone, if people who arent remotely religious, Its one of those works that really manages to encapsulate certain feelings and articulate them in ways that are clear but also sort of startling in their clarity, saying obvious things in ways youd never quite thought of before.


Take this bit from Book: “In my heart I kept saying Let it be now, let it be now! and merely by saying this I was on the point of making the resolution.
I was on the point of making it, but I did not succeed, Yet I did not fall back into my old state, I stood on the brink of resolution, waiting to take a fresh breathAnd the closer I came to the moment whichw as to mark the great change in me, the more I shrank from it in horror.
But it did not drive me back or turn me from my purpose: it merely left me hanging in suspense, ”

Its a distinctly theological feeling for Augsustine, but I also think its just generally a human one, and thats what makes this book such a joy to read.
Augustine is also just a lovely writer, and hes honest and inquisitive about himself, his God, and his world, Its one of the most accessible ways to get a look at the worldview of an early medieval Christian,

There are also two sections on memory and time booksandthat are just loads of fun,
“Why then should I be concerned for human readers to hear my confessions It is not they who are going to heal my sicknesses, The human race is inquisitive about other peoples lives, but negligent to correct their own, ”

I was very excited to read this book Confessions by St Augustine, Having been an inspiration to so many including John Calvin, Martin Luther and so many others, It is a memoir like few others, One of the first of its kind, In that fact alone my curiosity was peaked, To read of a life from so long ago pulled me, It is so much more than that, It is indeed a confession, I laying out of all his early life filled with doubt and various ideas of the age he grew up in, It is also a great study of philosophy and theology, The result of this work laid out much of the thought of the reformation leading to the protestant faith,

It is broken in to thirteen books, Starting with a pouring out of his self and leading us through his earliest memories growing up in North Africa in thes, His relationship with his parents and particularly to his mothers faith as an early Christian is a big part of his growth, His sins and reflective disgust with his youthful dalliances are not white washed, Including his wanting of womans company in his bed,

“How stupid man is to be unable to restrain feelings in suffering the human lot! That was my state at that time, So I boiled with anger, sighed, wept, and was at my wits end, I found no calmness, no capacity for deliberation, I carried my lacerated and bloody soul when it was unwilling to be carried by me, I found no place where I could put it down, There was no rest in pleasant groves, nor in games or songs, nor in sweetscented places, nor in exquisite feasts, nor in the pleasures of the bedroom and bed, nor, finally, in books and poetry.
”

The first half of the book is more or less a memory of his early life into his lates and earlys, His relationships with woman and birth of his son out of wedlock, his friends, mentors, and his mother Monica leading to his conversion, The second part of the book get more into philosophical discussions,

His discussion on time is both interesting and honestly confusing to me, I found many of his discussions long and winding roads that lead us to his understanding of time, It was at times difficult to follow yet fascinating,

His argument for the existence of God who is good and how evil can exist simultaneously is here and all of it is written beautifully.
The entire novel is readable and enjoyable regardless if you are a believer or not, There is much here to mine, It is a novel that could be read several times and probably should be to fully grasp all that is in it,

I have no doubt most would read and be startled to know how relatable it is to our own individual doubts on the existence of God.
The fact that this Saint could have many of the same doubts in his life as me gave me pause, As he lays out many streams of thought I caught myself wondering why I had not thought of that myself, And then there were times I read his thoughts and was lost and found myself rereading parts to try to grasp it all,

The entire confession is eye opening and revealing that we are all human, The titles of Bishop and Saint matter not, We all struggle with the same issues,

“Give me chastity and continence, but not just yet”

I gave itonly because I enjoyed the first part far more than the second.
I struggled with many of the concepts but the writing was beautiful, However I think many would read the second half or the last three of four books and enjoy these pieces more than I,
There is much in here to enjoy and think about,
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