Augustine: Confessions

[cheeseball101]

I've never been a fan of (St.)Augustine... after all, he's responsible for the doctrine of original sin (The fall of Adam) which spawned centuries upon centuries of Christian guilt, which as we know still exists today. But recently I started reading his most well known work "Confessions of a Sinner" and I gotta say, there are parts of this book

Comments

[bice]

Well said.

Interesting loop happens too, because society is *just* intolerant enough (blame it on inherited xenophobia or save it for another debate) that when those people reject its norms they are themselves rejected, which makes them feel all the more vindicated in their rebellion.

And then it's a fad.

Did you ever watch/read Amerika? I saw the movie ages and ages ago, and have forgotten just about everything except Kris Kristofferson's pretty blue eyes. The only sequence that stayed with me was: these "kids" were in a nightclub, and they were getting all rowdy and breaking stuff, and then they went out and knocked over a truck or something, I forget the details. But the whole thing was a setup, contrived (by the evil government, of course) to let them feel like they were rebelling when actually they were just blowing off steam in a controlled environment. Even the truck or whatever it was was a setup

[cheeseball101]

That movie sounds really interesting.I gotta see that. Sounds VERY relevant

[bice]

As best I can recall, the movie was terrible. One of those cold-war genre distopic things (I love 'em so!) But yeah, that sequence definitely stayed with me. Partly because it was not a theme usually explored in that genre - typically it's either total repression or genuine rebellion (whether successful or not).

As far as simple choices, I'm not sure how completely I can believe in the possibility of that... Let me try to sound NOT like a nutbar... The attraction of the clothes for example, which I feel myself (if only they were decent quality! lol) isn't possible without the attraction to what they represent. As fad becomes fashion becomes standard, they will gradually lose that associative baggage, but I think it takes quite a long time. Longer than a generation, apparently, since the punk origins of these fashions are no longer understood by anybody who isn't actually doing research - they've already moved into tertiary sources in the fashion history files - but the aura of rebellion stays with the fashions. Ditto wicca,

[cheeseball101]

That's interesting... that the style cannot be separated from what it represents. I guess I didn't consider that. But then again, different things have different meanings to different meanings.

I agree with everything you're saying, and its awesome that you've read augustine. Have you read confessions? He's a brilliant writer! I'm not sure if city of god was written before or after confessions, but i know that his work kinda progresses from Augustine as the repentant sinner, to the self righteous theologian who gives up all faith in human free will, etc.

Anyways... I was gonna say something else but my ride just showed up. Apparnelty I'm getting out of the apartment! But yea, let me know next time you're heading to milk :D