Discuss Augustines understanding of the relation between human loves Essay

Discuss Augustines understanding of the relation between human loves and the love of God, with particular focus on his experience of the death of his friend (described in Book IV of the Confessions) - Essay Example He emphasized loving the earthling and the immortal was same. God resided in the very heart of humans which stirred love. â€Å"Self love and love of others coincide with love of God when inserted into the ordered hierarchy of loves† (Cavadini and Fitzgerald, 29) Augustine opposed self love and termed it as evil, which misguides humans taking them in the opposite direction of the eternal power. For him human existence was a struggle where one copes with sin and salvation. The triumph over salvation could be achieved only through divine grace. For Augustine the concept of proper love was always directed to God as he believed that the very thought of love was incited by God himself. â€Å"All we can do is to love God, who is love, for God’s sake.†(Boeve, Schrijvers, Stoker and Vroom, 279) Loving fellow human beings in the right spirit was equal to loving God with full dedication of soul, heart and mind. Augustine implied the desire to find one’s inner self was synonym to the desire of attaining proximity with the Almighty. Yearning to love one’s fellow being was equal to the desire to love God. Augustine’s theory of love was inspired by Neo-Platonist tradition which encouraged the thought that love was a creation of God in which human participation was very essential for the welfare of humanity. God was the ultimate finishing point and love provided the path to reach that goal. â€Å"The ultimate vocation of the Christian then is grow in his or her relationship to God. The self must learn how to abandon itself for the sake of participating more and more in God’s love.† (Boeve, Schrijvers, Stoker and Vroom, 279) This understanding of love is called kenotic view. Augustine perceived love as the rescue boat which transports the fallen human beings to God’s grace. The underline of this thought was the relation shared between a human and God was a central relation,