The primary purpose of Book is to show that the search for God is

an inward search of one's own mind.

The function of memory, which is shared somewhat by both animals
and humans.
He goes through each type of memory (senses, skills, ideas, and
emotions)

Augustine expresses the belief that knowledge (that is, knowledge of

true things) is unconsious - it can be found in all people but is not
acknowledged or recognized unless touched by God.
Augustine admits that he cannot find God using any of his senses,
so he must turn his quest inward, into his mind.
He likens memory to a storehouse: he begins with sensory
memories, and wonders at how these memories can have such an effect
on the person remembering them. He is confounded by the number and
variety of images that are stored in a human mind. This leads him to
praise God, and see this as further evidence that human beings cannot
fully understand their total selves.
Skill-memories present new difficulties for Augustine, because they are
not related (he says) to sensory memories. The pictures of the skills aren't
stored; rather, the ability to perform the skill is stored in the memory.

Ideas are, to Augustine, a separate kind of memory, and he quickly

moves on to his Platonic idea that things can be recognized as true when
the mind lights upon them. This he takes as evidence for the truth already
being there in the memory, and simply recognized by the mind when it is
reminded of it.

Emotional memories are also problematic for Augustine. He marvels

that an emotion can be remembered without being re-experienced, or
elicit different emotions upon remembering (such as distaste at former
joy in sin). He cannot understand the nature of an emotional memory, for
it is certainly not the same as the other kinds of memories. This leads to a
discussion of the paradox of remembering forgetfulness, which takes
Augustine into a state of confusion. He is amazed at the vastness and
mystery of the faculty of human memory. With this established, he
glorifies God at the "multiplicity" of memory. The complexity and vastness
of the human memory serves as a proof of the vastness of God. He
implies here that God, even before he is consciously known by the mind,
is already in the human memory.

Augustine now moves on to the universal human pursuit of joy. He

claims that even if people search for it in error among the lower things of
creation, they are all really seeking God. He presumes that the human
memory contains the original joy (before the fall of Adam) and that is how
we are born knowing that we seek joy. Free will, and the human
ability to turn away from God, is what leads most people not to
seek joy in God, but to seek joy in things of the earth. Similar to
the desire for joy is desire for truth - for which he posits the egocentric
notion that no one wants to be deceived. The misapprehension of true
things, however, means that the true things in our memory are not
always recognized. Also, human pride intervenes because we do not want
to admit we have been deceived.

Augustine ends Book X bewailing the fact that he is unable to let go of all
the desires of the flesh. Though celibate, he still has erotic dreams. He
enjoys food and music too much. He is not negating the beauty of
creation, but instead the excessive attachment to those beauties to the

exclusion of God. He admonishes that art, which appeals to that most

knowledgeable of senses, sight, should be particularly careful to be only
of the most moral content. Augustine explains that he still has the vice of
pride and enjoys being praised by others. He knows he should have a
selfless reaction to this and should only enjoy praise to the effect of
knowing that his actions have helped others. He tries to reconcile this
pride by asserting that the goodness in him comes only from
God.
Book XI -- Time and Eternity
Summary
In this Book Augustine assesses the nature of time itself and discusses
how it relates to the eternity of God. At the beginning of the Book he tells
his readers that the arguments are both intricate and difficult, and that
he has to appeal for God to help. This is a rhetorical device that negates
the possibility that he might be critiqued for any philosophical errors, and
also serves to show that he is not philosophizing just for the sake of doing
so. He is writing this with God in mind, and in an effort to further his own
understanding of God. Indeed, this is true of all the Books inConfessions.
Leading from his discussion of memory, the understanding of the nature
of time appears to be the next logical topic. The temporality of Earth
and the eternity of God are tenets of Augustine's faith.
His primary problem begins with Genesis, and the idea that God created
the universe. Genesis states that God made the universe, but that
suggests that there was a time before the creation of the universe. That
would mean that God existed in time, and was thus limited by it.
Here, Augustine employs the figurative, or spiritual, interpretation of
the Bible that was first taught to him by Bishop Ambrose.
The "And God said" (Gen 1:3) passage in Genesis also presented
problems for Augustine. Augustine explains that all human speech
exists in time, with even a single word having a beginning and an end

and "the syllables sounded and passed away." The Word could not
have been like temporal speech: God's Word is always being said,
and has no beginning and no end.
Another temporal word that Moses wrote in Genesis was "beginning,"
which caused similar problems for Augustine. Manichees were wont to
question this, asking what God was doing before creation. Augustine
cannot fully answer this question except to say that it is the
wrong kind of question.
God exists separately from time, and temporal things unfold as part of his
eternal design. creation exists in time but does not mean that God exists
in time. The reading of the word
"beginning", as Augustine says, is not a temporal starting point, but
rather the fixed point outside of time to which all temporal things can
return. God is this fixed point. This response to critiques of Genesis allows
Augustine to contradict the Neoplatonist notion that creation couldn't
have happened, because that would have made God exist in temporality.
Augustine continues, saying that God didn't create the world at a given
moment, because for God there is no time. The creation happened in a
moment, and is happening eternally. The reason we cannot understand
this is because human beings exist in the world, which is bound by time.
God didn't start things at one point - he simply is the point at
which all things begin and to which all things return. God is
unchanging.
Augustine states that on earth, time is difficult to define. He writes that all
creation seems to exist in time: the past, present, and future are the ways
in which time is knowable to human beings. However, he argues that the
past and the future, regardless of the presence of memory, do not exist:
all we have is the present moment. He breaks that moment down into the
smallest instance, and he cannot define what the present moment
really means. This present moment cannot have space (for it is time),

nor can it have duration, for once it has happened it is gone into the past.
From this he posits that time doesn't truly exist, even though it
seems to (because it can be discussed and measured). In this hopelessly
negative argument, Augustine accepts that the notions of past, present,
and future are useful for human beings.
He refutes the idea that time can be measured through the movement of
stars and planets. He points out that they may move in time, but that
those heavenly bodies are not actually time. Even if none of the stars or
planets existed, time would still pass. Augustine cannot give the reader a
positive definition of time - he offers only a negative one. He suggests
that, as Plotinus writes, time is actually a distention of the soul. He adds
that this is a distention away from the perfect being of God.
In an about-face, Augustine suggests the possibility that time is
something that we measure within our own memory. We cannot grasp the
past (for it has no existence), but we can consider the memories of the
images or sensations we had in the past. Time is thus not a feature or
property of the world, but a property of the mind.

Confessions Summary and Analysis of Book XII -- Platonic and Christian Creation
Summary
In Book XII, Augustine seeks to quell the diversity of opinions about the
interpretation of the book of Genesis. In this Book he concentrates on the
most literary and intense kind of exegesis - the use of language. He
admits that there is more than one true interpretation of language (for he
has accepted figurative interpretation, which, by its very nature, must
have more than one interpretation), but he wants to set the boundaries of
exegesis. It appears that he wants to put a limit on exactly how much
questioning and extrapolating can be done on each word of scripture. This
he does later in the book with the Ten Axioms.

Book contains the interpretation of Genesis. This interpretation leads him

to formulate his ten AXIOMS, arguments aimed at his Christian critics,
who might take issue with his figurative interpretation of Genesis.
God made heaven and earth; the "beginning" in Genesis refers to God's
wisdom. "heaven and earth" is a label for all creation (the heaven of
heavens and formless matter); mutability implies a kind of formlessness;
something completely mutable (formless) cannot be temporal; formless
matter cannot suffer temporal successiveness; the origin or source of
something sometimes is labeled as its product (formless matter became
the earth); "earth and the abyss" refers to formed objects that have
almost total formlessness; God made everything with a form and
everything formable; and everything with a form is first formless.
Augustine continues to note that the many "figurative" readings of the
Bible are present so that many different people can read and understand
the truth. The truth of a reading can be found not necessarily in the exact
philosophical meaning, but rather in the inspiration it gives the reader to
achieve a deeper faith. The intention of the author is not as important as
the truth of God, which lies in the Bible for all to see.

Book XIII -- Finding the Church in Genesis I

Summary
Book XIII is the most prayerful of Books in a work that is, in truth, one
long philosophical prayer. In this Book Augustine "sums up" the points he
has laboriously proven in the previous Books, and also touches on some
other points of Catholic doctrine.

First and foremost, it is important to Augustine that everyone remembers

that everything a human being does comes from God - even the impulse
to have faith in God. All goodness and being come from God, and to think
of humanity as separate from God is to misunderstand its nature. All of
creation is a function of the goodness of God, he explains, and God made
creation out of the abundance of that goodness.
The Trinity is touched upon - specifically, the Spirit moving over the
waters in Genesis - and Augustine confirms the three-in-one nature (a
mystery) of God.

Augustine muses on his own story of conversion, and how he, like the rest
of humanity, has the perverse tendency to turn away from God. His story
should be a lesson for all that even if God is desired by a person, he or
she can still easily fall into error if, in anything, he or she turns away from
God. Augustine remember Biblical story of Pentecost, when the apostles
were visited with tongues of fire. The Holy Spirit is represented often as a
flame, and this flame of love can bring the soul closer to God.

Outline (by book)

1.

His infancy, and boyhood up to age 14. He speaks of his

inability to remember the sins he almost certainly committed
during this time. Children serve as insight into what man would be
if it weren't for being socialized into waiting one's turn. God
teaches us to think of others before we think of ourselves, unlike
children who cry until they are fed.

2.

Augustine finds himself amongst bad companions, which leads

him to commit theft and succumb to lust. Augustine comes from a
good family and has never wanted for food. In this chapter, he
explores the question of why he and his friends stole pears when
he had many better pears of his own. He explains the feelings he
experienced as he ate the pears and threw the rest away to the
pigs. Augustine argues that he most likely would not have stolen
anything had he not been in the company of others who could
share in his sin. Some insight into group mentality is given.

3.

His studies at Carthage, his conversion to Manichaeism and

continued indulgences in lust between 16 and 19.

4.

His loss of a friend and his studies in Aristotle and the fit and
the fair between 20 and 29. Augustine is overcome with grief after
his friend dies in his absence. Things he used to love become
hateful to him because everything reminds him of what was lost.
He concludes that any time one loves something not in God, one
is bound to feel such loss. Augustine then suggests that he began
to love his life of sorrow more than his fallen friend.

5.

His movement away from Manichaeism under the influence of

St. Ambrose in Milan at 29. Augustine begins to understand that
things said simply can be true, while things put eloquently may be
lacking in substance. He is unimpressed with the substance of
Manichaeism, but has not yet found something to replace it. He
feels a sense of resigned acceptance to these fables as he has not
yet formed a spiritual core to prove their falsity.

6.

His movement towards Christianity under the influence of St.

Ambrose at 30. He is taken aback by Ambrose's kindness but still
does not understand the substance of his teachings.

7.

His rejection of Manichee dualism and the Neoplatonist view of

God at 31. He struggles to understand the Christian God.

8.

His continued inner turmoil on whether to convert to Christianity

at 32. Two of his friends, Simplicianus and Ponticianus, tell
Augustine stories about others converting. While reflecting in a
garden, he hears a child's voice chanting "take up and read."
Augustine picks up a Bible and reads the passage it opens to,
Romans 13:13-14. His friend Alypius follows his example. Finally,
Augustine decides to convert to Christianity.

9.

His baptism done by Ambrose at 33, the death of his mother

Saint Monica, the death of his friends Nebridius and Vecundus,
and his abandonment of his studies of rhetoric.

10. Continued reflections on the values of confessions and on the

workings of memory, as related to the five senses.
11. Reflections on Genesis and searching for the meaning of time.
12. Continued reflections on the book of Genesis. Augustine
especially focuses on the language used to tell the creation story.
13. Exploration of the meaning of Genesis and the Trinity.

Purpose
Confessions was not only meant to encourage conversion, but it offered
guidelines for how to convert.
Augustine extrapolates from his own experiences to fit others' journeys.
Augustine recognizes that God has always protected and guided him. This
is reflected in the structure of the work. Augustine begins each book
within Confessions with a prayer to God.
For example both books VIII and IX begin with "you have broken the
chains that bound me; I will sacrifice in your honor."[4] Not only is this

glorifying God but it also suggests Gods help in Augustines path to

redemption.
Written after the legalization of Christianity, Confessions dated from an
era where martyrdom was no longer a threat to most Christians as was
the case two centuries earlier.
Instead, a Christians struggles were largely internal.
Augustine clearly presents his struggle with worldly desires, such as lust.
Augustines conversion was quickly followed by his ordination as a priest
in 391 AD and then appointment as bishop in 395 AD. Such rapid
ascension certainly raised criticism of Augustine.
Confessions was written between 397-398, suggesting self-justification as
a possible motivation for the work. With the words "I wish to act in truth,
making my confession both in my heart before you and in this book
before the many who will read it" in Book X Chapter 1, Augustine appears
to defend his position by admitting his imperfections not only to his critics
but to God, in a form of reconciliation.[5]

Audience

Due to the nature of Confessions, it is clear that Augustine was not only
writing for himself but that the work was intended for public consumption.
Augustines potential audience included baptized Christians,
catechumens, and those of other faiths.
Peter Brown, in his book The Body and Society, writes
that Confessions targeted "those with similar experience to Augustines
own."[8] Browns suggestion combined with the evidence that Augustine
agreed with the Catholic gender hierarchy, indicates that Augustines
intended audience was male.

Furthermore, with his background in Manichean practices, Augustine had

a unique connection to those of the Manichean faith. Confessions thus
constitutes an appeal to encourage conversion.
La importancia de las tesis sobre el tiempo objetivo defendidas por Agustn de Tagaste radica
en el hecho de su novedad al abordar por primera vez la experiencia del tiempo en s misma y
en su relacin con el individuo. Cabe resaltar que sus meditaciones y anlisis, expuestos en el
libro XI de las Confesiones, se dan en el seno de unas consideraciones teolgicas sobre la
creacin por las cuales la experiencia humana est siempre referida al proyecto divino. El
objeto de sus meditaciones es distinguir el tiempo humano del tiempo de la naturaleza y
observar la razn de ser del tiempo mediante las acciones del alma humana. San Agustn
advierte la insuficiencia de las tesis centradas en la medida del movimiento y propone un
nuevo concepto para ello: la distentio animi.
The Importance of On Target Weather thesis defended by Augustine of Tagaste lies in the fact of their
novelty to tackle for the first time ever experience in itself and in its relationship with the individual .
Significantly, his meditations and analysis , presented in Book XI of the Confessions , occur within nail
Theological Considerations concerning the creation by which human experience esta always referred to
God's Project. The object of his meditations is to distinguish human time time observing nature and
rationale of the time by the actions of the human soul . St. Augustine warns inadequate thesis focused
on the measurement of the movement and proposes a new concept This para : animi distentio .

En toda experiencia del tiempo hay dos elementos principales. La experiencia de la

sucesin, por la cual las cosas aparecen y desaparecen, y por lo tanto pasan; y por otra parte
la experiencia de una magnitud, por medio de la cual se pueden comparar las duraciones. Sin
embargo la razn de ser del tiempo no parece poder deducirse de su posibilidad de medirse,
sino que debe exponerse a partir de una determinada concepcin del ser, y el ser se
caracteriza por mantener las propiedades que lo determinan. Si se intenta comprender el
tiempo a partir de la experiencia del pasado, del presente y del futuro, su aportacin al ser es
muy problemtica porque el pasado ya no existe y el futuro todava no es; entonces el tiempo
est hecho de no-ser y de un presente inestable que no se deja atrapar fuera de una
anticipacin de futuro o de una transformacin en pasado.
Throughout time experience there are two main elements. The experience of succession, by which
things appear and disappear, and therefore pass ; and otherwise experience a magnitude , through
which can be compared durations . However the rationale of the time does not seem to be derived from
its ability to measure , but must be exposed from a certain conception of being, and being
characterized by maintaining the properties that determine it . If you try to understand time from the
experience of the past, present and future, their contribution to be very problematic because the past is
gone and the future is not yet ; then the time is made of non - being and an unstable mind that not get
caught out of an anticipation of future or a transformation in the past.

La nocin de magnitud, nocin central en el conocimiento, no implica la estabilidad de

las partes medidas ni la contemporaneidad de la medida con lo medido. En principio, creemos
medir el pasado y el futuro, pero esta medida nos lleva siempre a la medida del presente y,
en realidad, el centro de gravedad del tiempo es el presente aunque no logremos medirlo sin
referencia a su pasado o a su porvenir. El continuo temporal, a diferencia del continuo
espacial, no tiene la existencia simultnea de sus partes, y la divisibilidad temporal es al
mismo tiempo un derramarse en la nada, por lo que la lnea de actualizacin en el presente
llega a ser tan fina como inasible.
The notion of magnitude , central notion knowledge does not imply stability measures and
contemporaneity of the measure with parts measured . In principle , we measure the past and the
future, but this always leads to measure the extent of this and, indeed , the center of gravity of the

time is the present if we fail to measure without reference to their past or their future. The time
continuum , unlike the spatial continuum , has the simultaneous existence of its parts, and the
temporal divisibility is both a spill into nothingness , so that the line update this becomes as thin as
elusive .

Si el ser se identifica con el presente hablamos impropiamente del tiempo, porque no

puede estar constituido de tres dimensiones, una de ellas el presente, sino que est
constituido de tres presentes. El tiempo es una nica dimensin de la que surgen tres
aspectos: el presente del pasado, el presente del presente y el presente del futuro. El lugar
del pasado es la memoria y su ser es un ser de imagen y de signo; tambin es una imagen o
un signo que ya se ha dado y que puede interpretarse como anticipacin. En los dos casos es
el alma humana la que articula un acontecimiento presente, natural o mental, con el pasado o
con el futuro, y son sus operaciones psicolgicas las que contienen el triple presente.
If it is identified with the present time we speak improperly , because it can be formed in three
dimensions , one present, but consists of three presents . Time is one dimension of the emerging three
aspects: the present of the past , the present of the present and the present of the future. The last is
the place memory and is a being of image and sign; it is also a picture or sign that has already been
given and that can be interpreted as anticipation. In both cases is the human soul that articulates a
present event , natural or mental , with the past or the future, and its psychological operations are
those containing the triple present .

Sin renunciar a la magnitud, San Agustn se centra en la percepcin de la duracin

como experiencia de la medida del tiempo. Para ello recurre a la mtrica de los poemas o a la
duracin de los sonidos, cuya existencia parece exclusivamente temporal. Una slaba larga
debe enunciarse con mayor tiempo que una corta, y un sonido puede durar ms que otro; sin
embargo la medida se establece siempre por comparacin y no se consigue una aprehensin
directa de la duracin. Incluso un mismo elemento potico puede pronunciarse en duraciones
diferentes. La duracin siempre es relativa y nunca establece una unidad de medida
inmediata; y en un intento por definir la medida inmediata de la experiencia temporal Agustn
de Tagaste denota el tiempo como distensin, esto es, dilatacin, espaciamiento. Pero en
definitiva medir el tiempo implica aplicar una unidad de tiempo a otra duracin, y esto se
hace en un mismo presente gracias a la memoria. El desdoblamiento del tiempo en la medida
supone una capacidad reflexiva que, en la unidad de sus operaciones, permite la aplicacin
de una duracin que rememora a otra. La medida del tiempo se hace mediante las
operaciones del alma. El tiempo es, para San Agustn, un movimiento psquico y no de la
naturaleza.
Without giving up the scale, San Agustin focuses on the perception of the duration and extent of the
experience of time. For this purpose it uses the metric poems or duration of sounds, whose existence
seems only temporary. A long syllable should be stated more than a short time, and a sound can last
more than another; however the measure is always set by comparison and not a direct apprehension of
the duration is achieved. Even a very poetic element can be pronounced in different durations. The
length is always relative and never set a unit of immediate action; and in an attempt to define the
immediate measure of temporal experience Tagaste Augustine denotes the time as 'strain', ie
'expansion', 'spacing'. But ultimately it involves applying timing unit time to a different duration, and
this is done in one present through memory. The splitting of time as is a reflective capacity that, in the
unity of its operations, allows the application of a term that recalls another. Time measurement is done
by the operations of the soul. Time is, for Augustine, a psychic nature and not move.