As most of you know, I have been reading St. Augustine's "Confessions." At first I found his writings tiresome, but now I am enjoying it very much. You also know that I have been attending a logic class, and the thoughts of St. Augustine go very well with this. A few weeks ago we were talking about objective beauty. Deciding what is beautiful, and how you decide or reason your conclusion.
There are many abroad who talk of their own fantasies and lead men's minds astray. They assert that because they have observed that there are two wills at odds with each other when we try to reach a decision, we must therefore have two minds of different natures, one good, the other evil. Let them vanish at God's presence as the smoke vanishes. As long as they hold these evil beliefs they are evil themselves, but even they will be good if they see the truth and accept it, so that your apostle may say to them 'Once you were all darkness; now, in the Lord, you are all daylight.'(Eph. 5:8) These people want to be light, not in the Lord, but in themselves, because they think that the nature of the soul is the same as God. In this way their darkness becomes denser still, because in their abominable arrogance they have separated themselves still further from you, who are the true Light which enlightens every soul born into the world. I say to them 'Take care what you say, and blush for shame. Enter God's presence, and find there enlightenment; here is no room for downcast looks.' (Ps. 33:6)
I think this is a big problem with the world today. We want to be the light, not in the Lord, but in ourselves. Movie stars give credit to their talent, but not to the one who gave it to them. We our proud of what we have accomplished with our lives, but how many times do we forget to thank God for helping us get there?
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