Searching with Augustine

Commented on Preston's.

"Wherefore delay then to abandon worldly hopes, and give ourselves wholly to seek After God and the blessed life?"

In book six, he encourages his reader not give up the search for truth or take for granted the access we have to His Word. "Perish every thing, dismiss we these empty vanities, and turn ourselves to the one search for truth! Life is vain, death uncertain; if it steals upon us suddenly, in what state shall we depart this world?" Here Augustine is saying that in order for us to truly seek God we have to devote our lives to wanting to know who God is. Not that we may ever fully understand Him, but that we may know as much as humanly possible through Scripture and His creation. As long as our search is guided by God and not for our own selfish gain will we receive wisdom. Augustine's love for philosophy was the seed that ultimately led him to God (if I may be so bold).  As he dug deeper and deeper into Cicero's writings, he realized that what he had come to believe- such as  the teachings of the Manichees- was not completely true and that Christianity had it right all along. The Church, the very institute he spent most of his life resisting, held the key to the Truth he sought. From that point on, his search consisted of pursuing God in an attempt to understand the vastness of His grace, love, and mercy. This is why Augustine tells us not to despair when the search seems endless because ultimately it will lead us to what our soul innately hungers for, the cross, whether we realize it or not. The problem is that because we are human and therefore corrupted, we have to be careful with how and what we philosophize. Philosophy, just like anything else in this world, can be distorted and draw us away from God instead of towards Him if we have the wrong motives or don't allow Him to steer our studies in the right direction.