The Tao of Saint Augustine
Augustinian Precepts for an Abundant Living
Saint Augustine left a giant legacy, with important Short Teachings that, regardless of your religious views, they will make you reflect upon in how you view your own life.
The Tao of Saint Augustine
A leading philosopher of the period of philosophy known as Patristic (1), Augustine of Hippo, or Saint Augustine was a Middle Age philosopher, Doctor of the Church whose work helped to lay the foundations of philosophy adopted by the Catholic Church, as well as to raise questions that influenced the entire later history of philosophy.
Until Augustine, Christian theologians and philosophers argued that the foundation and essence of life should be faith, particularly the Christian faith. From their faith, men would be able to make important decisions in their lives and make moral decisions, and that the human reason should only influence the small acts in everyday life, in minor and routinely made decisions.
St. Augustine, on the other hand, as an individual well knowledgeable about philosophy and theological teachings from various faiths and walks of life, sought in reason the justification for faith.
Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.
~Saint Augustine
The Moral and Ethical Augustinian Precepts
Among the variety of topics on which he had worked, he explored the question of human freedom in the form of free-will, arguing that Divine Grace would be the true guarantor of freedom. He also formulated the doctrine of Original sin and the theory of justified War.
According to Augustine, Christians should be philosophically and personally be a pacifist. This means that Christians should defend the peace by choosing it on principle whenever possible, but it allows war when peace cannot be established. He understood that a peaceful posture towards an evil that could only be stopped by violence is a sin since its acceptance only allows the perpetuation of this evil.
Augustine left a giant legacy, with important Short Teachings that, regardless of your religious views, they will make you reflect upon in how you view your own life.
We have selected some teachings from St. Augustine that are true teachings, whether you are a Christian, an atheist, or a pagan.
What is the Limit of love?
The measure of love is to love without measure. ~ Saint Augustine
Choose to love whomsoever thou wilt: all else will follow. ~ Saint Augustine
Love is ever new because it never groweth old. ~ Saint Augustine
Love is one of those things that do not know excess. When the feeling is true and healthy, there is no reason to measure or limit it. Therefore, Love without limits!
Don’t Do it just By Doing.
“It is not enough to do good things; we must do them well.”~ Saint Augustine
“If two friends ask you to judge a dispute, don’t accept, because you will lose one friend; on the other hand, if two strangers come with the same request, accept because you will gain one friend.” ~Saint Augustine
For something to work – whether it’s a task, a plan, or a goal – we need determination and commitment to what we want to accomplish. Willingness is important, but it is worthless without hefty doses of effort, commitment, and dedication.
So, put your heart into everything you do. Do not content yourself merely finishing the goals but with the learning process along the way and doing your best to overcome each new challenge!
Learn to Wait, and to be Patient to Learn
“There is no place for wisdom where there is no patience” – Saint Augustine
“Patience is the companion of wisdom.” Saint Augustine
Patience is one valuable lesson for most people to learn. We live in a generation accustomed to the immediacy of things and instant rewards. But, not everything in life happens at the moment you want them to happen. We must learn to wait. Sometimes we need to wait for the pace of Nature, where the fruit waits for the right time to be ripe.
Patience is one of the most important steps toward acquiring wisdom.
“The world is a book, and anyone who sits at home reads only one page.” ~ St. Augustine
The world is so much more than your eyes can see! Allow yourself to explore and experience feelings, places, and customs that are outside your “comfort zone.”
The world is a great book, of which they that never stir from home read only a page. ~ Saint Augustine
Don’t live trapped in your “glass cube,” where everything is familiar and easy. Go, get out, try, fall, and get up a few times! Only then will you be able to know the world and know what it’s really like to live in it.
The Practice of Stillness
“Let us leave a little room for reflection in our lives, room too for silence. Let us look within ourselves and see whether there is some delightful hidden place inside where we can be free of noise and argument. Let us hear the Word of God in stillness, and perhaps we will then come to understand it.” ~ Saint Augustine
The Truth (almost always) hurts
“People often love the truth when it illuminates them, but they tend to hate it when it confronts them.” – St. Augustine
The truth will not always be what we wish to hear. We may be aware that we are not necessarily perfect beings. Everyone has limitations, but it is in the attempt to improve ourselves and change that we grow and strengthen.
In constant renovation
“Nothing will be lost while we are searching.” ~ St. Augustine
“Even if you have already taken a long walk, there will always be one more way to go.” ~ St. Augustine
“Every infinity… is made finite to God.” ~ Saint Augustine
Do not take anything for granted. However long the search or walk may have been, never give up on continuing your journey.
What should be really important to you
You are not finding out how much you have, but what you are. ~ Saint Augustine
True happiness does not consist in having much, but in being content with little. ~ Saint Augustine
“Love and do what you wish. If you shut up, you will shut up with love; if you shout, you will shout with love; if you correct, you will correct with love; if you forgive, you will forgive with love. If you have love rooted in you, nothing but love will be your fruit. ~ Saint Augustine
Three Ground Rules
Know Yourself, Accept Yourself, Surpass Yourself. ~ Saint Augustine
These are three significant steps that we always need to go through. ~ Saint Augustine
“We need each other to be ourselves.” ~ Saint Augustine
Strengthening what is really worthy
Do you worry if the tree of your life has rotting branches? Do not waste time; take good care of the root, and you won’t have to walk through the branches. ~ Saint Augustine
Seek not abroad, for in the inner man dwells the truth. ~ Saint Augustine
Augustine refers to the importance of prioritizing and valuing our essence, our core, our foundation. If you have sound principles, however, few branches of your life may break, but you will never wither away. The main factor for spiritual renew is the purity and goodness of our essence!
Eliminate evil by its source
Pride is the source of all weaknesses because it is the source of all addictions.”- St. Augustine
The Daughters of Hope
Hope has two beautiful daughters; their names are Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are and Courage to see that they do not remain as they are. ~ Saint Augustine
One is a mirror of the other
Where there is no charity, there can be no justice. ~ Saint Augustine
In the absence of justice, what is sovereignty but organized robbery? ~ Saint Augustine
Share with the world what you would like to be shared with you. As “ugly” and “rude” as humanity may seem, sometimes all we need to change the energies around us is to fill the world with as much goodness and light as we can.
(1) Patristics or Patrology is the study of the early Christian writers who are designated Church Fathers. The names derive from the combined forms of Latin pater and Greek pater (father). The period is generally considered to run from the end of New Testament times or the end of the Apostolic Age to the Second Council of Nicaea in 787
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