"My Immortal"



Oh philosophy, you seem to find me everywhere I turn! You constantly catch my attention in everything I do, see, and listen to, especially the concepts of St. Augustine established in his confessions. I wonder if painters, songwriters, actors, etc. purposely relay philosophical messages in their forms of art.

To begin, St. Augustine believes that someone bigger than ourselves can grant us an eternal life. This eternal life, in a sense, leads to immortality. God is the eternal life therefore immortal. As I began to understand this concept of immortality and the eternal life the way St. Augustine explains it, a certain song kept crossing my mind. This song is titled “My Immortal” by Evanescence. “My Immortal” could be interpreted in many ways, but I believe that this song better exemplifies Augustine’s thoughts and concepts of the eternal life, sin, and intrapersonal struggles with more of a focus on the second verse. The second verse of this song seems to be an inner struggle to fight the temptations of sin and not stray away from the path of God.

Second Verse: “You used to captivate me, by your resonating light. Now I’m bound by the life you left behind. Your face it haunts, my once pleasant dream. Your voice it chased away, all the sanity in me.”

In the first sentence, I believe that sin is what she is referring to by being captivated in its resonating light. In other words, sin has beckoned her with a pleasurable temptation. Then in the second sentence, the pleasure from the sin has worn away, so now she has to face the punishment of that sin that has now burden her. In this statement, St. Augustine would sympathize with her by saying, “… by the burdens of this world [sin] I was sweetly weighed down (pg. 189)” Furthermore, the next two sentences in this verse is an intrapersonal struggle between her two wills, flesh and spirit. She realizes that she no longer wants to be chained to this world by the consequences of her sins, yet she does not want to be freed from these earthly temptations just yet. St. Augustine can relate to this as well because he stated, “Give me chastity and continence, but not yet! For I feared that you would hear me quickly, and that quickly you would heal me of that disease of lust [addiction to sin], which I wished to have satisfied rather than extinguished (pg. 194).” Back to the lyrics, the haunting face stands for “Good” and the pleasant dream stands for the pleasurable sin. To better understand this,  the pleasant dream is the temptation of sin that she is yearning for and feels comfortable in its presence, and the haunting face is the “Good” reminding her to not fall into the temporary pleasure of sin. In doing this, God would grant her the chance at an eternal life only if she does not fail in seeking him. Then, the last sentence in the second verse conveys and impression that she has or is really close to losing her battle of “Good.”  The voice suggests that it is sin that has chased away all of the sanity [peace of mind] she has gained from following the path of prosperity. In other words, sin has once again tempted her with temporary pleasure. St. Augustine can also sympathize with the downfall in the second verse be he stated that, “For this very thing did I sigh, bound as I was not by another’s irons but by my own iron will. The enemy had control of my will, and out of it he fashioned a chain and fettered me with it. For in the truth lust is made out of perverse will, and when lust is served, it becomes habit, and when habit is not resisted, it becomes necessity (pg. 188).”

In the end, I can conclude that sin becomes an addiction, somewhat like a drug, and every once in awhile we fall into its comfortable presence of its welcoming arms. Just like the saying, “Once an alcoholic always an alcoholic” serves as an analogy of once a sinner always a sinner. The only way to break this habitual instinct is to serve the Lord one day at a time…baby steps.



Prayer of A True Confessionist...

While reading St. Augustine, I struggled to come up with an idea to write about in this first blog. I knew for sure that I definitely did not want to have that typical blog that only talks about the subject through a bland literary post. I thought, “Why not spice it up and do a confession prayer like St Augustine, but in my own words?”  I only truly understood his concepts when I wrote this prayer for this blog. I feel as if I have come closer to view the window of St. Augustine’s soul through this prayer. I hope you enjoy this!  

Most gracious and heavenly Father, I come to you in the name of Jesus. First and foremost, I come thanking you for all that you have done and continue to do for me. You have always answered my prayers even when I felt that I did not deserve your answers. My soul has yearned for you when my flesh lead me into temptation. My flesh has longed for you when my thoughts were not of you. For “when my soul was withdrawn from thee, a mighty burden of misery weighed me down (Book 4.7).” “Your love is better than life itself (Psalm 63:62).” In knowing this, I confess my deepest and darkest sins to you. I hope through this, I can find rest within the shadow of your wings, for “[my] heart is restless until it rests in you (Book 1.1).” Grant me the ability to seek righteousness and not sin. Help me to call upon you, for there have been times when I did not know you, and instead of calling upon you, I have relied on earthly entities to heal my mind, body, and spirit. “Lord let me seek you by calling upon you, and let me call upon you by believing in you, for you have [now] been preached to [me] (Book 1.1).” Have mercy Lord, on those who have failed to seek your love in this lifetime and those who have not been preached to about your never ending love and compassion, for they will continually be restless in their becoming without your never changing omnipresence, the great I Am. And now Lord, fill the cracks of my corrupted soul with purity, for you are the Incorruptible Good that has made me in an image of your Being.

Amen

The Little Mermaid

Virtue and Excellence can be found anywhere and everywhere throughout pop culture. These characteristics can be found in movies, songs, politics, and even cartoons for children. Aristotle believes that virtue and excellence is what we strive for throughout our entire life. In order to have the kind of virtue and excellence Aristotle refers to, we have to understand that virtue deals more with inner-character (intrapersonal feelings) than just the external body boundaries. For example, Aristotle states three values that can help us to further understand how we can decide if we are truly virtuous and have excellence, "first, if he does them knowingly, secondly if he decides to do them, and decides to them for themselves, and thirdly if he does them from a firm and unchanging disposition (pg 115 sec 1105a31). In this, he is trying to explain that a truly virtuous person does the right thing and the good thing no matter the situation. Whether it is to fight for his country or lie to save someone's life. Okay, so what exactly does this have to do with anything related to the examples of pop culture that was stated earlier? Well, in this case, a certain cartoon for children exemplifies Aristotle's view of a man that is not truly virtuous and of excellence. This cartoon, you may have heard of, is The Little Mermaid television series. The twenty-eight episode "Heroes" depicts Aristotle's view of virtue very well. This episode is basically about a supposed "hero" by the name of Apollo who comes to visit the city of Atlantis to see his friend King Triton. The merpeople hold Apollo in high regards because of the most famous battle he fought in against Ursula (the sea witch). Ariel, the daughter of King Triton, goes on an adventure with Apollo because of all the "accomplishments" he has and the fact that he is "very adventurous, and while on this adventure, Apollo begins to show his true colors. He reveals to Ariel that he did not do any of the things that the merpeople admire and adore him for out of courage but mostly all out of fear. On that note, Apollo would be the model man for Aristotle to explain what a man is that has no virtue or excellence. In the end, Aristotle mostly explains what it means to not be someone of virtue and excellence, and that is why episode twenty-eight of The Little Mermaid television series identifies with Aristotle's ideas on virtue and excellence.

Below are parts of the episode of The Little Mermaid mentioned in the post above. Sorry I couldn't put the actual video up...but links will do! =) 

Part 1 of Episode 5

Part 2 of Episode 5

Part 3 of Episode 5

Philosophy in Children

I have noticed that once we have reached a certain academic level, our classes stop asking us to ask the question "why?" My whole thought process has been based on facts and memorization skills, so now when I am forced to ask myself "why?' in my studies or in my life, I kind of come to a standstill. After elementary school, telos meant nothing to me, though I'm positive that I did not know what telos meant until I began to study Philosophy1313. (Telos answers the question "why").

Children seem to be more receptive to Aristotle's thoughts on asking "why?" to find out what the true purpose of something is. Children would constantly question you on why you are doing a certain activity until you do not have an answer to their question. I remember plenty of times when I was younger I would ask my mom or my dad "why?" to everything they did, and I am sure you may have had similar conversations. A conversation that may a little like this:

Mom: (In the kitchen making lunch for you for school)
Child: Why are you making lunch mom?
Mom: So you can  be full and have energy for the rest of the day
Child: Why do I need energy mommy?
Mom: So that you can pay attention in school
Child: Why do I need to do that?
Mom: So you can get good grades throughout the school years
Child: Why?
Mom: So you can go to a good college and get a good job
Child: Why do I need all of that?
Mom: To live a "happy life"

This conversation relates to Aristotle's philosophical thought about an "action" leading to "good." These actions are not always a selfish indulgence. The example above better exemplifies an action that aims to a non-selfish good because the mother's "action/ purpose" aims to better her child's life in the long run. Also, this conversation embodies Aristotle's concept that there cannot be an answers of infinity to the question "why?" The mother, in the conversation, came to a final telos when she said, "To live a happy life." Aristotle believes that everyone's aim in life is to end in a truly happy life. This so-called "happy life" consists of being blessed, well-off, and/or  flourishing, so the child in this conversation will have a happy life according to Aristotle. Why does this child end up with the "happy life," because a good college education that leads to a good job will able the child to have a well-off life.