Augustine Confessions Essay
In Confessions by Saint Augustine he vouches that the only two essential things in this world are life and friendship. According to Augustine’s claim God created man on this earth to do two things:breathe and live. This is something that a human needs, but Augustine goes even further, declaring that to be a whole person, one must live a life with friends and friendship. Augustine interpreted others theories about friendship such as the Roman politician Cicero. After reading their thoughts and interpretations on friendship he critically analyzed what they had to say by reflecting in an intellectual manner. But Augustine also viewed friendship as an important part of his life and he evaluates his friendships over the course of the three life
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Friendship is not something based purely on thinking about oneself or what another person can do for us which was his understanding in his stage of adolescence. It is a mutually beneficial relationship in which both parties share common concerns and values. To be a good friend as a young adult one must think about another person and by doing so it takes us out of ourselves and creates a sense of freedom. He shared this type of friendship with a friend who was the same age as Augustine and he also shared the same profession as a teacher. This was a dear friend of Augustine because they grew up with one another and when Augustine returned to his home town, Tagaste, to teach they became close friends. Augustine describes this friendship, “We could talk and laugh - help each other in small ways - we enjoyed doing lots of things together - reading some book - going somewhere -sometimes we would be very serious together - sometimes we were able to act the fool together.” (Confessions Bk IV Ch viii Para 14) According to Augustine in our deeper friendships our interests must align with the other person and one must be interested in all aspects of them. When one of Augustine’s friends died suddenly he was so traumatized that he had to move out of his hometown Tagaste because he was always reminded of his friend everywhere he went. Now Augustine moved to
Friendship is not something based purely on thinking about oneself or what another person can do for us which was his understanding in his stage of adolescence. It is a mutually beneficial relationship in which both parties share common concerns and values. To be a good friend as a young adult one must think about another person and by doing so it takes us out of ourselves and creates a sense of freedom. He shared this type of friendship with a friend who was the same age as Augustine and he also shared the same profession as a teacher. This was a dear friend of Augustine because they grew up with one another and when Augustine returned to his home town, Tagaste, to teach they became close friends. Augustine describes this friendship, “We could talk and laugh - help each other in small ways - we enjoyed doing lots of things together - reading some book - going somewhere -sometimes we would be very serious together - sometimes we were able to act the fool together.” (Confessions Bk IV Ch viii Para 14) According to Augustine in our deeper friendships our interests must align with the other person and one must be interested in all aspects of them. When one of Augustine’s friends died suddenly he was so traumatized that he had to move out of his hometown Tagaste because he was always reminded of his friend everywhere he went. Now Augustine moved to