St. Augustine | Real World Spirituality

Who is St. Augustine

~350AD. Augustine of Hippo was a Roman African, early Christian theologian and Neoplatonic philosopher from Numidia whose writings influenced the development of the Western Church and Western philosophy, and indirectly all of Western Christianity.

Refugee Spirituality
Sisyphus - human journey -> Never arriving or never returning
"In Greek mythology Sisyphus or Sisyphos (/ˈsɪsɪfəs/; Ancient Greek: Σίσυφος Sísuphos) was the king of Ephyra (now known as Corinth). He was punished for his self-aggrandizing craftiness and deceitfulness by being forced to roll an immense boulder up a hill only for it to roll down when it nears the top, repeating this action for eternity. Through the classical influence on modern culture, tasks that are both laborious and futile are therefore described as Sisyphean (/ˌsɪsɪˈfiːən/)."

We are similar as humans, we are in constant frustration - born into the exile

• Human condition: exile without remedy

• Man feels alien - no previous memory of a land before, and no hope of a promised land

• Camus - later philosopher who was intrigued by augustine’s writings - “happiness is embracing your exile. Make exile you want it. His rock is his thing - he’s never going to arrive, but the struggle is enough to fill his heart

• A Longing that will never be satisfied

• We have a hunger for “home” - a place of rest and satisfaction that cannot be edited (a map inscribed in the human heart) A refugee - looking for a home I’ve never been to before. Looking to find security in a home (we all go home after a long day’s work - where we find rest)

• Home = security, peace, joy

Refugee Spirituality: The goal isn’t just returning “home” for a refugee - but it’s being welcomed into a place where you weren’t born - to find so much JOY entering and being welcome to a home you’ve never seen

Understanding human longing and estrangement

• The dynamic of being between

• Augistine begins his books with the idea of rest: (qupte) The heart of hope and home = rest

• The ending of his 13th book is peace - rest from frantic pursuits

• In rest - we find joy, “characterized by quietude that is the opposite of anxiety the blissful rest that they no longer have to perform. They are loved, You don’t have to prove anything

• The exhale of someone who has already arrived

• Not to look down on the material world

Friendship
Quest movies are often buddy movies - journeying together

• Our modern age - “you be you” individualism and autonomy

• Entrepeneurs - expressing themselves individualistically

• Loneliness - STUDIES on this (UK - percentages) how it affects health, stats on how often people see family or friends and likely lead to poverty too (physical and social effects)

• UK - no whas a minister of loneliness

• “We thought we were our own liberators, but perhaps we’re our own jailors”

• Yale student - “we dont have a word for the opposite of loneliness” --- the idea of when a cheque is paid and you don’t want to get up

• Opposite of loneliness is finding ourselves together

Culture
Anxious, lonely, needing to be known/seen/loved, constant dissatisfaction

• False idea that other people take away from my autonomy 

• Augustine “alone i would not have done it” 

Authentic relationships
Pushes you to who you’re meant to be

• Staying close enough to put a hand on the shoulder but enough room to let them feel the weight

• **pride lurks even in good works