The Steps to Wisdom

Many religions have a step system that helps illustrate purification rituals. For Catholics, there is confession and reconciliation, for Buddhists there is the Eightfold Path; but I found the most interesting example of their purifications was Augustine's seven steps to Wisdom. In these set of steps written in book II, Augustine gives us seven steps towards purification of the mind and preparing mentally and emotionally in order to better understand the scriptures. However he also believes this will focus the energies and faculties of our individual humanity towards important things like the scriptures.



This is a relatively interesting concept, the idea that one must be pure of heart and mind to understand the scripture live our temporal lives well. Especially since this writing is not canonical to the Roman Catholic faith. The time spent contemplating these ideas is very thorough as well. Almost like the inevitable stages of grief, Augustine’s steps illustrate unavoidable challenges of the mind towards wisdom. He describes several steps in the system may cause the individual to feel “sorrowful” for the true nature of knowledge is not boastful. The individual must then pray to God for strength to continue despite these challenges.



Augustine’s dedication towards the faith and his own mind are inspirational to me as a thinker. He takes painstaking time to clearly express what he needs to, yet he is a fan of brevity on these subjects which have troubled others for centuries. He has developed a discernible method for overcoming philosophical strains on the mind from grappling with theological questions he muses on in his writing. In a way this method also helps us read Augustine as well since it prepares us to focus our minds on his philosophic texts which contain a lot of information which requires time spent unpacking his ideas.