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Book Two: The Way of Life of the Manichaeans
- The Catholic University of America Press
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THE WAY OF LIFE OF THE MANICHAEANS [54.197.64.207] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 13:58 GMT) BOOK TWO THE WAY OF LIFE OF THE MANICHAEANS Chapter 1 DO NOT BELIEVE ANYONE would hesitate to admit that the question of good and evil pertains to moral doctrine , and it is this which concerns us in the present discussion. Therefore, I wish that men would bring to this inquiry minds sufficiently clear and penetrating as to be able to see the supreme good than which nothing is better nor more sublime, and to which the pure and perfect rational soul is subject. For, if they had a perfect understanding of this good, they would recognize it at once as that which is most properly called the supreme and primary being. For that must be said to be in the highest sense of the word which remains always the same, is identical with itself throughout and cannot be corrupted or altered in any part, and which is not subject to time, nor different now from what it used to be. This is being in its truest sense. For the word being signifies a nature which subsists in itself and is altogether changeless. And this can be said of no other being than God, to whom there is absolutely nothing that is contrary, for the contrary of being is non-being. Therefore, there is no nature contrary to God. But since we approach the contemplation of these things with a mental vision impaired and made dim by foolish imaginings and a perverse will, let us do our best to come to some sort 65 66 SAINT AUGUSTINE of knowledge of this important matter, proceeding carefully step by step, not as men who are able to see, but as ones who are feeling their way. Chapter 2 (2) You Manichaeans often, if not always, ask tlLOse whom you endeavor to win over to your heresy where evil comes from. Suppose that I had just met you for the first time. And here, if you do not mind, I request a favor-that you lay aside for the time being the impression that you already know the answer, and approach this great question as an untrained mind would approach it. You ask me where evil comes from, and I, in turn, ask you what evil is. Who is asking the right question, those who ask where evil comes from although they know not what it is, or he who thinks he must first ask what it is, so as not to perpetrate the greatest of all absurditiesseeking out the origin of an unknown thing? You are quite correct in asking who is so blind mentally as not to see that the evil for any kind of thing is that which is contrary to its nature. But once this is established, your heresy is overthrown. For evil is not a nature if it is that which is contrary to nature. Yet you claim that evil is a certain nature and substance. Moreover, whatever is contrary to nature opposes nature and attempts to destroy it, seeking to make what is cease to be. For a nature is nothing else than that which a thing is understood to be in its species. And just as we call what a being is by the new word essence or, more often, substance, so the ancients who did not have these terms used the word nature. And, therefore, if you are willing to put aside all obstinacy, you will see that evil is that which falls away from essence and tends to non-being. (3) When the Catholic Church declares that God is the author of all natures and substances, those who understand what this means, understand at the same time that God is not THE WAY OF LIFE O~' THE MANICHAEANS 67 the author of evil. For how can He who is the cause of the being of all things be at the same time the cause of their not being-that is, of their falling away from being and tending to non-being, which is precisely what sound reason declares evil to be. And how can that species of evil of yours, which you like to call the supreme evil, be contrary to nature, that is, to substance, when you claim that it is a nature and a substance ? For if it acts against itself, it destroys its own being, and if it were even to succeed...