Augustine develops a greater understanding for the roots of
the original sin that undeniably hold specific repercussions for the nature of
men, and any state they found. To the act of actively disobeying God, Augustine
suggests, “the evil act, the transgression of eating the forbidden fruit, was
committed only when those who did it were already evil” (xiv, 13). Adam and
Eve, according to Augustine, were already corrupted even before the concrete
act of disobeying. For Augustine the original evil is summarized as when “man
regards himself as his own light, and turns away from that light which would
make man himself a light if he would set his heart on it;” it is this
evil—pride—which comes first in secret that later produces the evil performed in
the open—sin or disobedience (xiv, 13). By nature it seems men are prone to
seek in themselves light, be prideful and thence commit the “original evil.” If
such is true even in the heavenly realm of paradise which is the garden, is
Augustine’s City of God ever truly possible? Won’t humans always by nature be
attracted to love themselves, have pride and thence always be evil? Is there
any true redemption when a fall isn’t clear since humanity appears always as
evil?
In light of your discussion it appears that the existence of a City of God is a fantasy, a realm that man is detached from by his indwelling evil. It should be noted that humankind’s pursuit of this “city” serves as the very mechanism of controlling man’s evil, it is an insurmountable idealization- yet the continuous trudge toward this transcendent reality is what powers the human drive towards peace and purity. The City of God is an artificial factor, imbued in the thought of man in order to combat the evil that looms amongst us.
ReplyDeleteThe answer to your question of whether it is possible to attain the City of God, I am not necessarily sure. However, the reasoning you pose that it is unattainable because of the natural force of evil that drives sin contradicts Augustine's theory of good and evil. In Confession, Augustine rejects the dualism of the Manichees and declares that there is only one force--good. Instead, evil is just the absence of good. This means that evil is not a force; therefore, it cannot be an entity that drives sin. Instead, we say the absence of good drives sin. Augustine also stipulates that good is essentially an obedience to God. Thus, it can be argued that Adam and Eve were not evil; rather, they were not fully obedient to God. And that absence of good is what caused the fall. Hypothetically speaking, if a state were created where everyone was obedient to God would deem that state good. In this way, the City of God is attainable. However, the issue of whether it is practical to expect everyone to be fully (or, to what extent) obedient to God is another issue that could cause the City of God to remain an ideal that is unattained.
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