St. Augustine's Dichotomy

St. Augustine's dichotomy of forms -- the will of man and the will of God, the needs of the soul and the desires of the flesh, sinful falsehood and the liberation of divine truth -- serves not only to emphasize the direct force and opposition of these forms, but to explore their essential duality, the interplay of distinct but related states and wills existing both separately and reciprocally of each other. Good and evil, however, emerge uniquely in their contrast, in that the opposition of good takes no form beyond that of the negative -- a deficiency of good. Evil, therefore, essentially possesses no force, as it possesses no being. Rather, evil must be ushered in by another force, namely, a will. Indeed, the will of man, imperfect and …show more content…
Augustine's elaboration of the two Cities serves as a vivid allegory of the opposing fates of man, his use of civil language in referring to the faithful evokes further concepts of society and hearkens enduring issues of civility and unity. Is the role of the faithful pilgrim in the City of Man that of an active antagonist or passive observer? If an enlightened man must remain in a place of darkness how does he endure the prolonged night? There exists then, in efforts to secure the fate of humanity, an essential want to establish peace among the people, both pure and impure, in order to lessen opposition and encourage sound integration of peoples. The ultimate aim of all creatures, St. Augustine proposes, is the attainment of peace, and temporal peace is ultimately shared by good and bad alike, just as temporal ills are shared. The aim of humanity therefore, in order to protect the freedom and integrity of the pure, should be the attainment of peace and the establishment of harmony among the Church and systems of man that attempt to order society independently of God. Although individuals separate from God will never attain the fulfillment of Divine peace, citizens of The City of God must endure pilgrimage in the City of Man and should be allowed tranquility in their order so they may focus on the will of God. Indeed, although wicked men may be disordered and separate from the goodness of God, no one is exempt from the chastisement of God. This gives evil some …show more content…
Augustine remained unfailing in his faith once blessed with the light of truth, and his opinion of humanity echoes both stimulating and exacting, for man is bared before God, stripped to his simplest forms, a servant, a citizen, and an unworthy child capable of redemption only by the unfailing grace of God. Man may doubt God, challenge God, curse God, reject God, but the truth of his power, his order, and his providence will be revealed with the final judgment, in which humanity will be splintered and sorted so that the righteous may transcend their ails and the evil may suffer eternally for their faults. The whole of humanity, therefore, is subject only to the wills of the individual, those that seek God submitting themselves to his care and his kingdom and those that wander blindly or spite His name inheriting only death and agony in just penance. For it was through the individual that humanity inherited temporal anguish and as an individual one must seek deliverance. Does not the individual comprise humanity? Ultimately, God in his truest form remains perfectly good, his Creation instilled with that nature integral to Him, each being created in his image with a sense of reason and order. Faithfulness insists that the goodness of God will not fail humanity, that the pious will not fail to rise as their spirits compel them, and that the Divine, the pure, the right, the just will never forsake them in their righteous