Abstract

The Confessions of Augustine was a dual conversation--on the one side, between Augustine and God; on the other between Augustine and his reader. This thesis seeks to make a connection to the inner-struggles openly exposed by St. Augustine in his writing Confessions and the inner-struggles we (and I in particular) face in today's search for inner peace. In Chapter 1, I introduce Augustine's search for inner peace through his intellectual, emotional, spiritual and authentic analysis of (a) his affiliation with different philosophies and (b) his own conscious and unconscious behaviour in daily upheavals, challenges and struggles. In doing so Augustine challenged me to emulate his search since it has been, and still is, my life long passion to find answers to the questions life presents me with. In Chapters 2-9 I challenge the reader and myself with topics that were relevant then and are relevant now. The topics discussed are all open to personal interpretation, never the less intended to make the reader aware of the need for self reflection since ultimately we are all responsible for our own choices and actions (or non-actions).