St. Augustine and Sustainability
Yesterday was the birthday of St. Augustine (354 CE). I remember laughing out loud when I came across this in his “Confessions” (ca. 400 CE) in a “History of Philosophy” class in college:
‘What did God do before he made heaven and earth?’ I do not give the answer that someone is said to have given, evading by a joke the force of the objection: ‘He was preparing hell for those prying into such deep subjects.’ I do not answer in this way. I would rather respond, ‘I do not know.’
I’m with you, Augustine. I think it’s up to all of us to figure out what’s going on here – including the notion, for those who believe in the Supreme Being, of what a loving God asks from the race of people He created. I happen to like what a friend of mine told me recently: “I view God, the Creator, as the Supreme Artist. How can we expect Him to regard humankind, defecating, as we are, on His artwork?”