In The City of God, written by Saint Augustine, he talks extensively about peace and the importance of it. In Book ⅩⅠⅩ is where he specifically speaks of peace. In the book, he explores the idea of everyone desires peace in their life, peace in the Earthly City and Heavenly City, and the differences between the two. When entering Book ⅩⅠⅩ, Saint Augustine starts off by saying that peace is the ultimate goal as he says “we could say of peace, as we have said of eternal life, that it is the final fulfillment of all our goods" (865). He then goes on to say that "there is no man who does not wish for joy... there is no man who does not wish for peace" (866). This demonstrates that it is against human will to reject peace, it is all living things
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Cacus was a creature who everyone feared, who would live in filth, kill people and surround himself in their carcasses. Though being the person that he is, "his only desire was for a peace in which no one should disturb him, and no man's violence, or the dread of it, should trouble his repose" (867). When reading this far into book ⅩⅠⅩ , I realized that I never knew that peace was an ultimate goal for living things. I’ve always known that human beings wanted to be happy and receive everything they desired and live eternally, but it never occurred to be that peace was also a desire. Reading about it in The City of God made me aware that having a sense of tranquility in your life is very essential. In chapters 17 and 25 to 27, Saint Augustine focuses the topic of peace with the Earthly City and Heavenly City. In the Earthly City the citizens "aims at an earthly peace" (877). In the Earthly City the citizens believe in polytheism: believing that gods guide human to be in the here and now and provide them with temporal goods. These gods were worshipped so that the citizens would get what they …show more content…
The citizens of the Heavenly City are therefore "on pilgrimage in this world" (878). Since the citizens of the Heavenly City are essentially trapped in the earthly city they must "mak[e] use of earthly and temporal things like a pilgrim in a foreign land" (877). With this the citizens have a little peace but have not reached the pull potential of peace that they will ultimately gain. The peace that they already have that is "possesse[d] in faith while on its pilgrimage, and it lives a life of righteousness, based on this faith" (878).
The difference between the Earthly City and the Heavenly City is that in the Earthly City "all men's uses of temporal thing is related to the enjoyment of earthly peace in the earthly city; whereas in the Heavenly City it is related to the enjoyment of eternal peace" (872). Citizens of the Earthly City aim for happiness in their city through temporal things whereas citizens of the Heavenly City aim for eternal life with God in combination with everlasting
Cacus was a creature who everyone feared, who would live in filth, kill people and surround himself in their carcasses. Though being the person that he is, "his only desire was for a peace in which no one should disturb him, and no man's violence, or the dread of it, should trouble his repose" (867). When reading this far into book ⅩⅠⅩ , I realized that I never knew that peace was an ultimate goal for living things. I’ve always known that human beings wanted to be happy and receive everything they desired and live eternally, but it never occurred to be that peace was also a desire. Reading about it in The City of God made me aware that having a sense of tranquility in your life is very essential. In chapters 17 and 25 to 27, Saint Augustine focuses the topic of peace with the Earthly City and Heavenly City. In the Earthly City the citizens "aims at an earthly peace" (877). In the Earthly City the citizens believe in polytheism: believing that gods guide human to be in the here and now and provide them with temporal goods. These gods were worshipped so that the citizens would get what they …show more content…
The citizens of the Heavenly City are therefore "on pilgrimage in this world" (878). Since the citizens of the Heavenly City are essentially trapped in the earthly city they must "mak[e] use of earthly and temporal things like a pilgrim in a foreign land" (877). With this the citizens have a little peace but have not reached the pull potential of peace that they will ultimately gain. The peace that they already have that is "possesse[d] in faith while on its pilgrimage, and it lives a life of righteousness, based on this faith" (878).
The difference between the Earthly City and the Heavenly City is that in the Earthly City "all men's uses of temporal thing is related to the enjoyment of earthly peace in the earthly city; whereas in the Heavenly City it is related to the enjoyment of eternal peace" (872). Citizens of the Earthly City aim for happiness in their city through temporal things whereas citizens of the Heavenly City aim for eternal life with God in combination with everlasting