1.4 Integration
The life review in Confessions is a distinctive form of recollection that shows Augustine “in the act of reintegrating elements of his thought and life that had begun to come apart for him” (O’Donnell, 1992, I, xlvii). Through this process, Augustine binds experiences and events together into an overarching construction of meaning, with God as the ultimate referential value (Niño, 1997). The narrative takes on a reversible character as Augustine moves alternately from past to present: “What I was then …what I am now” (X, 4, 6); he creates a loop in which a specific event can be placed either before or after another because it does not take on its full significance until it is considered from the perspective of the whole journey (Doucet, 1987, p. 51). In this regard, Augustine’s exercise is guided by the conviction that one’s remembered self has not been forgotten by God (XIII, 1, 1). God is the Other, the ultimate relation that inhabits Augustine’s remembering (X, 24, 35). He looks back and finds signs, events, situations that point out God’s care for the individual and the whole creation. In this he attempts to gain some understanding of his place in God’s providential and redemptive plan.
From Augustine we learn that a person is constituted basically by the introspective stance of remembering and by relational modes in life. The many strands of experience that emerge from that core find expression in personal narrative, which is the essence of meaning-making and the therapeutic process (Kohut, 1982; McAdams, 1993).
Suggestion:
Read aloud and meditate on the following passages from Augustine's Confessions.
"Tell me of your compassion, O Lord my God, what what you ar to me. Say to my soul, I am your salvation. So speak that I may hear. Look, Lord, the ears of my heart are before you; open them, and say to my soul, I am your salvation. When I hear, may I run and lay hold on you. Hide not your face from me."
"LET me know You, Oh You who know me; let me know You, as I am known."
"Things of this life to be sorrowed for less, the more they are sorrowed for; and ought to be sorrowed for more, the less men do sorrow for them."
"And from You, Oh Lord, unto whose eyes the depths of one's conscience are naked, what in me could be hidden even if I were unwilling to confess to You ? For even if I hide You from myself, I cannot hide myself from You. But now, because I am dissatisfied with myself, You shine forth, and satisfy, and are beloved and desired. May I blush for myself, and renounce myself, and choose You, and may neither please You nor myself, except in You. To You, then, O Lord, am I manifest, as I am, and with what fruit I may confess to You I have spoken."
I, 1,1; 5,5; X, 1,1; 2, 2
Andrés G. Niño Ph.D., OSA
Posted by Carlos J. Medina
Showing posts with label Augustinian Exercises. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Augustinian Exercises. Show all posts
Friday, September 4, 2009
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Augustinian Exercises
1. MEMORIA: Remembering One’s Story
1.2 Review of Life
Augustine uses a familiar classic pattern of the six ages of life to present his story in books I-VII, as the stages of a journey (O’Donnell, 1992, I, l). In retrospect, as adults do at certain critical junctures, he realizes that he needs to review his life: “I was reflecting with anxiety and some perplexity how much time has elapsed since my nineteenth year when I had first been fired with passion for the pursuit of wisdom .…Yet here I was in my thirtieth year sticking fast in the same muddy bog” (VI, 11, 18). Augustine focuses his attention on different contexts of a developmental arc. He selects and interprets events to make particular points about his experience, in an attempt to establish a continuity of the self.
In psychological interventions, the revision of one’s life is the initial task that sets the healing process in motion. Its main objective is understanding the life structure (Levinson, 1986) formed by components that have a lasting influence on the individual, such as family and friendships, work and lifestyle, faith, and political and social causes. Each of these imposes some degree of involvement and participation, generating questions, conflicts and demands that a person must negotiate in the course of adult development.
-Andrés G. Niño, Ph.D., OSA
Suggestion:
Take a look at the pictures you have of yourself from the earliest to the latest. Who have been the people most important to you? Have there been changes? Do you notice any patterns thoughout your life? Is there something you longed for when you were young? How do you feel about that?
Carlos J. Medina
1.2 Review of Life
Augustine uses a familiar classic pattern of the six ages of life to present his story in books I-VII, as the stages of a journey (O’Donnell, 1992, I, l). In retrospect, as adults do at certain critical junctures, he realizes that he needs to review his life: “I was reflecting with anxiety and some perplexity how much time has elapsed since my nineteenth year when I had first been fired with passion for the pursuit of wisdom .…Yet here I was in my thirtieth year sticking fast in the same muddy bog” (VI, 11, 18). Augustine focuses his attention on different contexts of a developmental arc. He selects and interprets events to make particular points about his experience, in an attempt to establish a continuity of the self.
In psychological interventions, the revision of one’s life is the initial task that sets the healing process in motion. Its main objective is understanding the life structure (Levinson, 1986) formed by components that have a lasting influence on the individual, such as family and friendships, work and lifestyle, faith, and political and social causes. Each of these imposes some degree of involvement and participation, generating questions, conflicts and demands that a person must negotiate in the course of adult development.
-Andrés G. Niño, Ph.D., OSA
Suggestion:
Take a look at the pictures you have of yourself from the earliest to the latest. Who have been the people most important to you? Have there been changes? Do you notice any patterns thoughout your life? Is there something you longed for when you were young? How do you feel about that?
Carlos J. Medina
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Augustinian Exercises
1. MEMORIA: Remembering One’s Story
1.1 Authentic Presence
"At the start of his narrative Augustine situates himself silently in the presence of God. He enters this fundamental exercise with a disposition towards authentic presence. A mere human, immersed in the mystery of his own self and God, he speaks in a way that establishes a relational ground for the unknown to be brought to light: “What are you, then, my God …. What indeed am I to you…?” (I, 4, 4-5; 6, 10). It is a question simultaneously humble and grand, as he attempts to bring his past and present into God’s presence. Augustine sets his mind upon the principal concern at the beginning of his journey: What is the meaning of God in my life? That is the critical question that marks spiritual development as well (Meissner,1987).
Augustine has a definite purpose: “I want to remember…” (II, 1, 1). He wants to reflect on the events surrounding his wandering relationship with God and to give a coherent account of his pursuit of a multitude of things that caused his moral and psychological fragmentation. Thus he enters his inner space, where the power of memory resides: “In my memory I come to meet myself. I recall myself, what I did, when and where I acted in a certain way, and how I felt about so acting” (X, 8, 14). Remembering is an engagement “that enables the individual to recognize himself in his recalled past and facilitates healing the discontinuity of the self” (Kohut, 1977, p. 82) caused by internal events, and by myriad interactions with others and the larger world. This effort to know and be known will throw light not only on his past experience but also on the horizons of his future. Here is a beginning prompted by the urgency to live meaningfully and the sense that the key to one’s psychological and spiritual survival is in memory."
-Andrés G. Niño Ph.D, OSA
Questions to consider:
Who taught me how to pray? What is my earliest memory of prayer? What are the events/times in my life when I especially felt God's help? How have I related to God throughout my life? How have I been towards those in need?
Posted by Carlos J. Medina, Novice
1.1 Authentic Presence
"At the start of his narrative Augustine situates himself silently in the presence of God. He enters this fundamental exercise with a disposition towards authentic presence. A mere human, immersed in the mystery of his own self and God, he speaks in a way that establishes a relational ground for the unknown to be brought to light: “What are you, then, my God …. What indeed am I to you…?” (I, 4, 4-5; 6, 10). It is a question simultaneously humble and grand, as he attempts to bring his past and present into God’s presence. Augustine sets his mind upon the principal concern at the beginning of his journey: What is the meaning of God in my life? That is the critical question that marks spiritual development as well (Meissner,1987).
Augustine has a definite purpose: “I want to remember…” (II, 1, 1). He wants to reflect on the events surrounding his wandering relationship with God and to give a coherent account of his pursuit of a multitude of things that caused his moral and psychological fragmentation. Thus he enters his inner space, where the power of memory resides: “In my memory I come to meet myself. I recall myself, what I did, when and where I acted in a certain way, and how I felt about so acting” (X, 8, 14). Remembering is an engagement “that enables the individual to recognize himself in his recalled past and facilitates healing the discontinuity of the self” (Kohut, 1977, p. 82) caused by internal events, and by myriad interactions with others and the larger world. This effort to know and be known will throw light not only on his past experience but also on the horizons of his future. Here is a beginning prompted by the urgency to live meaningfully and the sense that the key to one’s psychological and spiritual survival is in memory."
-Andrés G. Niño Ph.D, OSA
Questions to consider:
Who taught me how to pray? What is my earliest memory of prayer? What are the events/times in my life when I especially felt God's help? How have I related to God throughout my life? How have I been towards those in need?
Posted by Carlos J. Medina, Novice
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)