ROUSSEAU, JEAN-JACQUES. "CONFESSIONS, THE".   Term Paper ID:24725 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Critiques author's secular autobiography from religious perspective of St. Augustine's [Confessions].... More...

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Paper Abstract: Critiques author's secular autobiography from religious perspective of St. Augustine's [Confessions]. Paper Introduction: This study will discuss the life of Jean-Jacques Rousseau as he examines it in his Confessions and in a way which St. Augustine would understand. The thrust of the study will be the religious component present in Augustine's own Confessions and absent from Rousseau. Augustine would likely have read Rousseau's work, identified with his very human failings and longings, and suggested that the French revolutionary turn to God and Jesus Christ for the solace and serenity he obviously has not found in politics, writing, philosophy, and other wholly earth-bound pursuits. In the middle of his Confessions, Rousseau stops to assess the first thirty years of his life, and to briefly preview for the reader the next thirty years, drawing a stark comparison between the two periods: Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. He has a built-in radar for hypocrisy andpomposity. He goes on and onabout the negative impact on the girl then and later: "Theft, lying, andobstinacy--what hope was there for a girl in whom so many vices werecombined?" (Rousseau 87). 616-647.Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. who . If anyone knows anything contrary to what I have here recorded, though he prove it a thousand times, his knowledge is a lie and an imposture; and if he refuses to investigate and inquire into it during my lifetime he is no lover of justice or of truth. From Augustine's viewpoint, Rousseau fails to see that he brings hissuffering upon himself by basing his life on the need to criticize others,to praise himself and his uniqueness, and the need to gain from others thesame praise. From the perspective of Augustine, a man committed to the worship ofGod and the humble submission of the self, Rousseau is a brilliant childwho fails to see that life is far more than the turbulence of social,political and literary concerns. believe[s] me a dishonourable man, is a man who deserves to be stifled (Rousseau 6 5-6 6). . And You stood in the secret places of my soul, O Lord, in the harshness of Your mercy redoubling the scourges of fear and shame lest I should give way again [that is, to temptation] (Augustine 63 ). He should realize, as Augustine did,that his suffering was a gift from God to him to awaken him to thestrivings of his soul and the meaninglessness of his self-centered pursuitof glory: Thus I was sick at heart and in torment, accusing myself with a new intensity of bitterness. However, Rousseau shows at the end of hiswork the same pugnacious self-concern he showed at the beginning: I have told the truth. ToAugustine, the essence of life is not building a worldly reputation butbuilding a relationship with God. Rousseau, on the other hand, endlessly analyzes the wrongs he does inlife, but never seems to consider that God or his relationship with Godmight give him some relief from his regrets. Augustine would likely have compassion for Rousseau'ssuffering as he struggles to win personal and political victories whichwill bring him none of the peace his soul seeks. In the middle of his Confessions, Rousseau stops to assess the firstthirty years of his life, and to briefly preview for the reader the nextthirty years, drawing a stark comparison between the two periods: You have seen my peaceful youth floe by in a uniform and pleasant enough way. This suffering, Augustinewould argue, is what Rousseau should have heeded more seriously and if hehad it would have brought him to the realization that he needed God to findthe peace he sought. I loved the evil in me" (Augustine 623-624). To Augustine, Rousseau's obsession with what others think of him,with his earthly reputation, with challenging anyone who might doubt him ornot think highly of him, are indications of an immature human being. if I were master of my own destiny and that of my book, it would not see the light till long after my death and theirs. . . Although Augustine might not be attracted to such cuttingcriticism of others, he would at least see it as a sign that Rousseau iscapable of seeing through appearances to a deeper truth under the surface.However, that ability does not bring Rousseau to the deepest truth of all,namely, God, and the need of every human being for God. Augustinesees his stealing as a sign of a deeper and darker reality within, atendency toward sinfulness which required not a page or two of writtenanalysis such as Rousseau offers, but a complete transformation of one'sspirit, mind and heart through relationship with God. Unlike other thinkers who profited from persecution, with respect togaining faith and wisdom (such as Socrates and Boethius), Rousseau is madeeven more self-centered, petty, and antagonistic by his suffering.Augustine might say that a self-centered man such as Rousseau, who appearsincapable of considering God as a means to peace and true growth,ultimately sees himself as a god, or God Himself. . . Excerpt from Confessions. . My purpose is to display to my kind a portrait in every way true to nature, and the man I shall portray is myself (Rousseau 17). Augustine confesses his own thievery in a way which gives a darkerpicture of sin than Rousseau draws. The thrust of the study will be the religious component presentin Augustine's own Confessions and absent from Rousseau. Rousseau confesses his thievery andlying to his readers and seems to be immediately relieved of his guilt andregret, as if it were an aberration which quickly came and went. to preserve them (Rousseau 373). Aurelius. . He has harmed the girl certainly, but he has broken his connectionwith God through such a sin as well, and, from Augustine's perspective, hewill not find the peace and absolution he seeks unless he directs hisconfession not only to his equally fallible readers but also to God. . New York: Penguin, 1953.----------------------- 9 After favouring my wishes for thirty years, for the next thirty fate opposed them; and from this continual opposition between my situation and my desires will be seen to arise great mistakes, incredible misfortunes, and every virtue that can do credit to adversity except strength of character (Rousseau 261). As Augustine writes,"Nor had I any desire to enjoy the things I stole, but only the stealing ofthem and the sin. So guilty is Rousseau that he claims that thesuffering it has caused him has in large part led to the writing of hisentire autobiography, that is, the present work. The Confessions. . Rousseau may seem himself as a fully honorable man, a man whocommitted one sin and was thereafter somehow made immune to yielding to thetemptations which visit every other human being many times every day. He should stopblaming others for his suffering but instead should look inward for his ownrole in bringing that suffering about. . For it has secured me for the rest of my life against any act that might prove crimina l in its results (Rousseau 89). . He may see himself as a superior and unique individualwithout compare. Hemay see himself as somebody who sees God as a curiosity needed by othersweaker than he. ToAugustine, the suffering resulting from such evil is an essential part ofhis turning to God for salvation away from sin. This study will discuss the life of Jean-Jacques Rousseau as heexamines it in his Confessions and in a way which St. The world, then, full of fools, liars, sinners, hatred of the truth,inferior beings all, are lined up in the name of darkness to try to destroyRousseau and his brilliant, unique mind, life and book. Again, one might expect that by the end of the book, after over sixhundred pages, the author might display some sign that he had matured as aman, perhaps after having recognized that there is something more to lifethan proving to others that one is superior to them and that they hadbetter agree with him, or else. I only know that the gifts Your mercy had provided sustained me from the first moment (Augustine 617). At times, the work by Rousseau seems to be dominated by the author'sview of his life as a mission to expose the sins of others while he triesamidst them to live that life of honor for which he credits himself.However, again and again, Rousseau does return to the suffering whichunderlies all his humor, all his irony, all his judgment of others' flaws: Here begins the work of darkness in which I have been entombed for eight years past, without ever having been able, try as I might, to pierce its hidden obscurity. Augustine, however, would see him as alike every otherhuman being who ever lived, a deeply flawed being who can be healed onlythrough God. Every reader must decide for herself or himself whether Rousseau islikely to be telling the truth when he says here that this was not only themost serious sin he committed in his life but the only such serious sin, orcrime, whatsoever. I do not know. Augustine would tell him to accept himself finally asa member of a profoundly flawed race which needs God to find salvation. To Augustine life on this earth haslittle or nothing to offer a human being who realizes that spirituality isreality and that one's true home is in "the eternal Jerusalem" (Augustine647), or Heaven. . Anyone . . From the beginning to the end of his book,Rousseau displays a pride, an ambition, an egoism which seems trulychildish if not pitiful. If one expects Rousseau to gain wisdom or humility through a life ofsuch variety, such ease followed by adversity, one will be disappointed.Rousseau's autobiography is the story of a man forever proud, forever self-centered, forever blind to the possibility of or need for any transcendentpower which will lift him above his shallow if sensational concerns. . . In the abyss of evil in which I am sunk I feel the weight of blows struck at me; I perceive the immediate instrument; but I can neither see the hand that directs it nor the means by which it works (Rousseau 544). this is aman who will never be able to see or accept the fact that the sufferingvisited upon him is visited upon every human being--no matter how specialhe or she believes himself to be. Works CitedAugustine, St. He praises God and asks Him for the power to write ofthe foolishness of his life: "Give me leave, O my God, to speak of my mind,Your gift, and of the follies in which I wasted it" (Augustine 622). This is the whining of a man who finds it impossible to takeresponsibility for the results of his own egoism and ambition. Augustine wouldlikely have read Rousseau's work, identified with his very human failingsand longings, and suggested that the French revolutionary turn to God andJesus Christ for the solace and serenity he obviously has not found inpolitics, writing, philosophy, and other wholly earth-bound pursuits. In any case, from Augustine's point of view, Rousseau'sconfession of his "calumny" against the girl falls short of the markbecause he fails to understand that his sin is first and foremost againstGod. Augustine would tell Rousseau that he should not deny such suffering,but should use it for his spiritual growth and liberation. His first words are those of a self-obsessedbraggart who sees himself as uniquely superior not only to hiscontemporaries but to all those before and after him: I have resolved on an enterprise which has no precedent, and which, once complete, will have no imitator. . Rousseau is concerned above all with hisimage, his reputation, the charges against, suggestions he had a venerealdisease, that he was corrupt. Augustine would look at these concerns andtell Rousseau to stop defending himself against the charges of men, stoptrying to prove that he is better than everybody else, that he isincomparably unique. Augustine recognizes thatthe terrestrial realm offers no such peace, and much such suffering: What have I to say to Thee, God, save that I know not where I came from, when I came into this life-in-death --or should I call it death-in-life? Augustine wouldunderstand. he praises God for his education, which he hated andresisted at the time. Augustine would argue that such shallow, Godless, self-centered pursuits will never bring Rousseau the peace and freedom he seeks. The greatest attraction of Rousseau's work is his delightfullycutting sense of humor, especially as he applies it in cutting up theimages others have of themselves. . If he does see himself asa god, or at least as a being superior to all other human beings, and ifthen he is attacked by others, it follows that those others are devils.Rousseau, in fact, sees life as a conspiracy against him, born of others'jealousy of him and fear of him as a fearless truthteller: My Confessions are not intended to appear in my lifetime, or in the lifetime of the persons concerned. For example, as a youth,Rousseau stole and lied, blaming a girl for his crime. . He goes so far as to saythat the "evil consequences" of his act against the girl has had a positiveimpact on his life: I have derived some benefit from the terrible impression left with me by the sole offense I have committed. But the attempts made by my powerful oppressors, who dread the truth, to destroy every trace of it, compel me to make every effort . Augustine gives praise to God for everything in his life, from hismother's milk on. 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