The foundations of Augustinian interiority

Augustine's Theology/Philosophy about Interiority

Augustinian interiority is closely associated with Greek teleology. The word ‘teleology’ is derived
from the word ‘telos’, which means the goal, or the Value, in an ethical sense. For ancient Greek
thinkers the goal of our life is eudaimonia, that is, happiness, attainable through having the divine part
of the self fully ‘actualized’ – in other words, through possessing virtue, which is a moral and intellectual
ability acquired by exercise. Wisdom is the highest virtue and is knowledge of the self and God. Thus,
teleology is basically about an ethical transformation, which leads us ultimately to true happiness,
through discovering and cultivating the divine element in us.

Augustine encountered Greek teleology through the Hortensius, which is a protreptic work of
Cicero written in response to his friend orator Hortensius Hortalus’ attack on philosophy. Philosophy in
the time of Augustine consisted of not only an intellectual element, but also a moral element. Augustine
tells us in Confessions 3.4.7 that, due to Cicero’s ‘exhortation to philosophy’, he began to pursue
‘wisdom’. Hence, what Augustine meant by ‘philosophy’ is identical to what we mean by ‘teleology’. This
is to say that for Augustine philosophy primarily concerns the goal of our life and, so, is synonymous
with – as Holte puts it – ‘teleological speculation: ‘no one has any right to philosophize except with a
view to happiness.’

Holte argues that ethics became the most important issue for Augustine after his conversion to
philosophy/teleology. However, what was equally important, and even logically prior, to Augustine’s
yearning for a radical change in his lifestyle was gaining knowledge of God and of the self (i.e., wisdom).

The reason is that in Greek teleology acquiring wisdom is an essential prerequisite for an ethical
transformation: in other words, a practical conversion depends on a theoretical conversion. Augustine’s
own life attests to it. For instance, from Neoplatonism he learnt to perceive God as immaterial and, so,
identical with Wisdom and Happiness. Only then was he able to check his preoccupation with material,
earthly and carnal things, though not completely.

Eventually, he says in Confessions 4.2.3, I knew nothing about love for you, of whom I had no
conception other than of physical objects luminous with light. In other words, as long as Augustine
thought about God in a materialistic manner, he was incapable of loving things other than what he could
perceive with his senses. In short, due to the priority of theory over practice, Augustine wanted to know
God and the soul as the first step forward to happiness through an ethical transformation.

Neoplatonism helped Augustine to settle partially his problem concerning what the right way to
think about God and the soul is, and to establish a theory concerning how we must approach God
epistemologically. Augustinian interiority involves not only intellect, but also memory, will, faith, hope,
love, and divine grace. However, we cannot love what we do not know. Also, the collective role of faith,
hope, love and divine grace is primarily to assist reason in its search for God.

Consequently, although acquiring knowledge of God is only an intermediate stage on our way to
true happiness, the intellectual part of Augustine’s teleological project: wisdom … in the knowledge of
which you found delight (De libero arbitrio 2.15.40).
 When I seek you, my God, what I am seeking is the happy life (Confessiones 10.20.29), This is
eternal life, that they should know you, the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent (Jn
17:3). (De Trinitate 1.8.17) … After reading the Hortensius, Augustine changed his way of pursuing
happiness: he now began to strive for knowledge of God and the soul so that he could love God, render
his lifestyle ethical, and finally attain true happiness.

Augustinian Interiority . Confessions 10.27

I have learnt to love You late, beauty at once so ancient and so new! I have learnt to
love You Late! You were within me, and I was in the world outside myself. I searched for You
outside myself and, disfigured as I was, I fell upon the lovely things of Your creation, You
were with me, but I was not with You. The beautiful things of this world kept me far from You
and yet, if they had not been in You, they would have no being at all. You called me; You
cried aloud to me You broke my barrier of deafness. You shone upon me; Your radiance
enveloped me; You put my blindness to flight. You shed Your fragrance about me; I drew
breath and now I gasp for Your sweet odor. I tasted You, and now I hunger and thirst for You.
You touched me, and I am inflamed with love of Your peace.
For St Augustine it was clear that not everyone was yet aware of the fact that every human
being is capable of God (Capax Dei) and thus can reach God. In order to overcome this unawareness,
Augustine proposed the way of interiority, that is the turning away from the physical to the spiritual
world, from the outer world to the inner self. Interiority holds that truth may be found through a self-
exploration of the inner life of an individual person. Interiority refers to the interior life, a particular lived
reality of a spiritual tradition. It is a spiritual withdrawing inwards in order to come to a better
knowledge of both oneself and God. This is our "resting in God." As the opening paragraph of the
Confessions of Augustine acknowledges, "because You have made us for yourself, and our hearts find no
peace until they rest in you." (Confessions, I,I.) Only in God is found the final happiness of any person.