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Augustine’s Preaching and the Healing of Desire: How Can We Fix Our Desires?
I’m an Augustine nerd, and my third book on Augustine’s theology of desire has been released. (Ricochet members: Check for a cheaper price here!) I recently posted on the idea of the totus Christus–the Whole Christ–that guides Augustine’s interpretation of the Psalms; on the overlapping identities implied by this theology; and on what sort of desires he thinks are the right sort of desires.
Now it’s time to talk about how we can actually get those desires!
One really interesting aspect of these sermons is Augustine’s communal understanding of how sinful desires are healed. This is a bit like some ancient pagan philosophies, but . . . also rather different. I’d try paraphrasing more of this, but I think I phrased it better in the book.
The life of the healing of desire is largely a life of community, as the ancients understood. The Epicureans had established a community with—and known by—a garden, and Epicurus had advised his disciple Menoeceus to “Practice these things and the related precepts day and night, by yourself and with a like-minded friend, and you will never be disturbed either when awake or asleep, and you will live as a god among men.”[i] Similar and yet different, Augustine situates the healing of desire in the Enarrationes in an ecclesial context. Immersion in the life of this community is itself a therapy for the healing of desire. . . . We must stick with the true church for reaching the happy life (5, 9).
i Epicurus, Letter to Menoeceus; in The Epicurus Reader, trans. and ed. Brad Inwood and L. P. Gerson, 28–31 (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1994), 31.
And what are the specific things that heal our desires?
Almsgiving does that:
Surrendering our worldly goods for eternal goods exercises and strengthens our love of greater goods. Almsgiving is a way of redirecting our lives towards eternal priorities (En. 48 1, 9 and 48 1, 13). When we give to the poor we are giving to Jesus, who can keep our inheritance safer than any earthly means of preserving wealth (38, 12). . . .
Prayer does that.
Repentance does that.
The Bible does that:
Reading the scriptures is a treatment for our desires. En. Ps. 36 1, 3 is an eloquent statement on the topic, informing us that the Bible itself is a medicine for the sick soul. We should drink from the scriptures for the healing of our desires. . . .
There’s also something else, something like and yet unlike ancient philosophy. Like and unlike Buddhism, too. Something about what church is supposed to be. Again, I think it’s best if I use my phrasing from the book.
Published in Religion & PhilosophyThis connects to the therapy of the Stoics and the Epicureans. Epicurus advises us to always keep in mind the truths of Epicurean philosophy, for merely keeping the truth in mind helps to achieve tranquility. In Epictetus’ handbook of Stoic doctrine—his Enchiridion or Handbook, not to be confused with Augustine’s own Enchiridion—he likewise recommends continually reminding ourselves of the necessary principles. We should at all times pay attention to our own thoughts and motives, and make sure they are in good order. We should also anticipate how things might go wrong. Perhaps the best word to describe this practice, if we can employ it without specifically Buddhist connotations, is “mindfulness.”
Augustine is like and yet unlike. . . . the reminding itself comes in this form: The scriptures are read, they are sung together in community, and they are expounded by God’s bishop. This is a Christian, biblical, and communal business, and while a name like “mindfulness” or “meditation” almost fits, a better word is, simply, “church”—or, at least, what church is supposed to be.
Maybe a better phrasing would be “How can we have our desires fixed?” Nothing fixes our desires without G-d’s gracious help.
Not to be a wise as* St. A. What if our most basic desire is watching college football? Especially the second Saturday in Oct. Any cure for that?
Convert to a better sport. I recommend rugby.
At least it isn’t pro football. Maybe that’s something you can work with.
You have been around Brits too long. Some of my Navy pals learned it but I was not fast enough. Not enough Tom Brady’s in that sport.
Hardly any. Kenyans, yes.
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after football: for they shall have their fill.
Kenya is still the Commonwealth, no?
I think so, yes.
Modern man doesn’t want his desires”fixed”he wants them fulfilled-IIRC it was C S Lewis who said that classical man sought the truth (reality) & believed the way to happiness was by various exertions that helped him conform himself to that truth (discipline, education, prayer etc). But modern man thinks the means to happiness is to bend the truth to his will-thus he seeks to alter reality via technology (primitive man tried the same with magic, but technology works better). We see this most starkly in transgenderism.
Congratulations on your book. How I miss the writing!
Community is essential to church health. I once proposed that a community table be set up in a common area of a neighborhood. Dinners would be planned, invitations hand delivered, guests interviewed by the host, and then on the night of the gathering, the host would introduce each couple or invitee with a brief story about them, moving around the table at random times during the feast.
My hope was that the intimacy that naturally emerges over the breaking of bread would ignite a new flame of community connectedness in Christ, and draw people together for healing. Just as you wrote.
I have yet to find a place for this. But I hope to pursue the idea soon.
“Do not stray after your hearts and after your eyes.” (Numbers 15:39)
Each time we experience an inappropriate desire is an opportunity to fulfill God’s commandment not to stray. The fact that this commandment is written in the plural would support the OP’s claim that being part of a community is essential to reining in such desires.
Last in the series:
Augustine’s Preaching and the Healing of Desire: An Integrated Ethics