A Troubled Augustine

In the beginning of Book 7, St. Augustine seems greatly troubled. He is constantly wondering and pondering over God's incorruptibility and man's corruptibility. In Chapter 12, St. Augustine finally comes to the conclusion that "Every Being is Good." (Hence the title of the chapter)

"It was manifest to me that beings that suffer corruption are nevertheless good. If they were supremely good, they could not be corrupted. If they were supremely good, they would be incorruptible, and if they were not good at all, there would not be anything in them to be corrupted. Corruption damages a thing, and it would not suffer damage unless its good were diminished" (Book 7: Problems of Thought and Belief, Chapter 12: Every Being is Good, pg. 172)

This excerpt from the book reminds me of our conversation about how evil is the lack of good. We finally came to the conclusion that you can't have an evil without a good, while here, Augustine says you cannot be evil, unless there was some good to turn into evil.

~Hannah