A Life Examined, Or, Much Thought Of Pears

I am reading Augustine’s Confessions. I have read about it, excerpts from it, for many years, but I picked up Sarah Ruden’s translation at Powell’s in Portland earlier this month and have made it my first book of 2022.

In book 2, Augustine spends a lot of time digging into a story from when he was 15 years old. He and some friends snuck onto someone’s property at night and stole a bunch of pears from a pear tree. They then ran around town throwing the pears at various things, including pigs.

What is interesting to me is that Augustine is so thoughtful about this incident with the pears. He interrogates his emotional state, his motives, questions whether or not he would have stolen the pears without his friends around (he concludes no) and tries to work out how his illicit desire for the thrill of theft connects to and provides a lessor substitute for his God-given desire for God himself.

My world doesn’t require me to spend much if any time in self-reflection. I have many options for entertainment that will gladly keep me from looking at my own heart at all. I wonder how much the natural boredom of earlier eras is responsible for providing the fertile ground for self-reflection.

It seems to me that the person in 2022 that would seek to live their life in any way like Augustine, at least when it comes to opportunity for self-reflection, needs to make time for boredom and prevent themselves from immediately reaching for electronic entertainment whenever there is a moment’s silence.

Also, Augustine needed to get better taste in fruit. Pears are not worth the effort.