The Rut
I continually find myself in the rut of procrastination. There have been very few times that I have not been rushed on a paper due to my bad timing. It usually works out in the end, but that is what is so frustrating -- if I can pull off a 90 procrastinating, what would I accomplish with effective planning?
Anyways, I just finished a term paper on Augustine's concept of the free will. A problem appears to arise when he states that a person can be enslaved to passions and desires. I concluded that the resolution to this is that free will can only exist in the context of knowing God:
Knowledge of God is the key here. In AugustineÂs world view, God is equivalent to truth and goodness. If one allows oneself to be taken into passions, one forgets the truth and goodness that is supposed to be followed. If one forgets what these goods are, he cannot truly make a free choice. At worst, he will know only evils to commit; at best his decisions will be aimless. With knowledge of God comes the knowledge of what is right and what is true to the ultimate form. Man will know how he is supposed to live. With knowing the correct way, one will be able to choose between what is right and what is deficient. Thus the apparent contradiction between free will and being enslaved by passions is resolved.
Counter arguments anyone?I've also decided that I'm going to write various friends into my papers by use of analogy.
posted by Dan Reiter @ 10:28 AM
1 comments
1 Comments:
Dan, very good points!
The one thing I might disagree on is that just knowledge of God is sufficient. You and I both know people that may know a lot about God, but lack a deeper understanding that comes from a relationship with God.
I'm always reminded of the stories Coal Beirschwale told me of his friend he made in Iraq who knew a ton of theology (knowledge of God) but was still very manipulative and untruthful.
Head knowledge is one thing, the Spirit is another.
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