0745685749 enemies democracy

20 The Inner Enemies of Democracy
custom; and custom not resisted, became necessity’
(VIII, 5). The being that we are can choose what it wants
– but we do not choose our being, we are not a creation
of our will. The central example given by Augustine of
these unconscious motives is the attraction we feel for
a person, friend or lover: we do not love those we have
chosen, but we choose those we love.
As he is not the master in his own home, and does not
know the nature of the forces that drive him, the human
being cannot rely on his will, or demand that it lead
him to salvation. Freedom is not an illusion, but we are
never entirely free; at most we can move towards greater
freedom, and be freer today than yesterday. Man will
never attain divine freedom.
The attempt to control our unconscious impulses
fully, to overcome human powerlessness permanently,
leads to what Augustine called original sin. The concept
was already present in Paul’s epistles, but it was
Augustine who developed the doctrine in his fight
against Pelagius. Original sin is a lack or a weakness
found in any individual of the human race, inherited
at birth – it is thus a fundamental defect, independent
of his will and of his efforts to overcome it. Augustine
sometimes suggested that this defect is the presence
within us of ardent and irrepressible desires, or concupiscence:
sexual libido, gluttony, lust. But original sin
itself, that of Adam and Eve, was not the result of such a
desire, but stemmed rather from the breaking of a single
command: not to taste the fruit of the tree of knowledge.
Having chosen to learn for themselves what constitutes
good and evil, and thus become capable of directing
their own existence, our first parents committed a sin:
they rejected obedience and opted for autonomy. Thus,
St Paul says that ‘by one man’s disobedience many
were made sinners’ (Romans 5:19). Original sin is the
choice of pride at the expense of humility; it is the rejection
of external authorities and the desire to be one’s