Analysis Of The Third Book Of St. Augustine's Love To Love

In the third book of St. Augustines confessions he has moved to Carthage. Augustine is young, thoughtful, and self loathing. He is seeking new love in life and in a spiritual aspect. The first thing he says about his new home of Carthage is “ a cauldron of unholy loves was seething and bubbling all around me” Augustine gives into these unholy loves and learns much about himself and god while living in Carthage. Augustine sought something to love, he begins personal relationships with others. He thinks this is in a way a misdirection for his love of god. He states “ I was looking for something to love, for I was in love with loving “ He also muddied up some of his relationships with other people whom started as friends then became his object …show more content…
“ Why do we as a society like to watch sad, tragic plays, movies, shows, and the like? St. Augustine loved the theater, like most people in that age and his favorite genre, tragedies. Despite his love for these plays Augustine begins to ask himself why he enjoys watching others suffer so much. Spectators grieve for these characters, and the more they grieve the better they believe the play was, the more joy they feel in the end. Augustine sees how contradictory and irrational it is. This is in fact a interesting thing to think about. Why do we experience joy from watching others fictionally suffer. It makes me wonder if this kind of entertainment may dull our senses and emotions to the real life suffering of …show more content…
I do not believe Augustine is too hard on himself. He is what all people should strive to be, he recognizes the problems within himself and seeks to find truth in why he does the thing he does and to fix his own “human condition.” He struggles with sins every person does, even in the present day. He knows he can be driven by emotional and physical lust. St. Augustine realizes that this lust is fueled by his desire for a deeper love, his of god. All humans go through this in one way or another in life I believe. We seek love in others only to find in the end our greatest love will be within ourselves and/or our spirituality. He also sees that humans find joy in others pain. Whether that be through fiction, as he views in plays or directly as with the wreckers. Morally people should not find any enjoyment out of others negative emotions, but inherently we do. I myself still do not truly understand why. Humans truly are complicated creatures and I admire Augustine for recognizing the flaws with the human condition, particularly in