Throughout the Confessions, Augustine recounts his character’s spiritual journey with God. This journey is a metaphorical journey in the sense that Augustine the character is always with God, but he does not know this until he gains the knowledge that gives him stability in God. On this journey, Augustine either intensely weeps or does not weep over several cases of separation. All of the separations observed are worldly separations in that one person has died and will no longer be present physically in the others’ life. Both the weeping and absence of weeping are problematic in Augustine’s spiritual journey. Early on, weeping serves to give Augustine relief from the pain that comes with losing the physical and material objects of life and
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His character’s final case of weeping occurs when his mother, Monica, passes away. Augustine’s character does not automatically weep over his physical and worldly separation from his mother because he has gained knowledge of God and understands that his relationship with God is more important the physical absence of his mother. In restraining himself from crying, Augustine the character shows that he knows that his previous habit of weeping for physical loss was bad for his soul and relationship with God. Eventually, he weeps before God for his absence from Monica, this time in a different sense than before. This is because he grasps everything that Monica did for him and how she helped him understand God’s presence in his life. Augustine the author says, “Let anyone who wishes read and interpret as he pleases. If he finds fault that I wept for my mother for a fraction of an hour, the mother who had died before my eyes who had wept for me that I might live in your eyes…” (Conf. 174). In this way, his character’s weeping for Monica is less problematic because he now knows the relationship he has with God. He allows himself a moment of humanity to passionately weep for the figure who aided him in acquiring the knowledge of God, but he also asks to be forgiven by critics. It remains problematic in the sense that he knows that weeping should not be a form of relief from pain that comes with separation. Even though Augustine the author knows that weeping is the wrong habit to fall back into, his character does not and so he weeps for the great gratitude he feels towards his mother. It is a moment of incontinence for the character of Augustine as he lacks the will to control the tears he sheds for his mother. Augustine the author knows that his character must learn to have a strong will in moments of separation since he
His character’s final case of weeping occurs when his mother, Monica, passes away. Augustine’s character does not automatically weep over his physical and worldly separation from his mother because he has gained knowledge of God and understands that his relationship with God is more important the physical absence of his mother. In restraining himself from crying, Augustine the character shows that he knows that his previous habit of weeping for physical loss was bad for his soul and relationship with God. Eventually, he weeps before God for his absence from Monica, this time in a different sense than before. This is because he grasps everything that Monica did for him and how she helped him understand God’s presence in his life. Augustine the author says, “Let anyone who wishes read and interpret as he pleases. If he finds fault that I wept for my mother for a fraction of an hour, the mother who had died before my eyes who had wept for me that I might live in your eyes…” (Conf. 174). In this way, his character’s weeping for Monica is less problematic because he now knows the relationship he has with God. He allows himself a moment of humanity to passionately weep for the figure who aided him in acquiring the knowledge of God, but he also asks to be forgiven by critics. It remains problematic in the sense that he knows that weeping should not be a form of relief from pain that comes with separation. Even though Augustine the author knows that weeping is the wrong habit to fall back into, his character does not and so he weeps for the great gratitude he feels towards his mother. It is a moment of incontinence for the character of Augustine as he lacks the will to control the tears he sheds for his mother. Augustine the author knows that his character must learn to have a strong will in moments of separation since he