AUGUSTINE ON THE UNCONSCIOUS MIND: INTELLECT AND MEMORY IN ON THE CATECHIZING OF THE UNINSTRUCTED 2.3. AND THE LITERAL MEANING OF GENESIS XII

In chapter 2.3 of On the Catechizing of the Uninstructed (cat. rud.), Augustine describes a mental process involving various interactions of the conscious and unconscious mind. The process involves a descent in the realm of the soul from a vision in the highest part (an intellectual vision) which necessarily diffuses itself throughout the spiritual realm of consciousness and then to the physical sensory realms of expressed speech. Cat. rud. is actually a lengthy letter which Augustine wrote to a younger colleague, Deogratias, a Carthaginian deacon, in response to his questions.

In this letter, Augustine tells about how he endeavors to express the ‘great idea’ motivating his orations, while in the process of composing his sermons. He admits his personal dissatisfaction at seeing or hearing the result, which he attributes to the incapacity of words or signs to represent the magnitude of the original inspiring thoughts, which he had experienced prior to the composition.

As I will argue in this paper, Augustine’s conception of the ‘unconscious mind’ plays a role in this incapacity. First and foremost, it must be said that there is no existing term in ancient history which conveys our modern term ‘unconscious’. Ancient thinkers did have a conception of the general meaning of our terms consciousness and in my view, of unconsciousness as well. Especially in works of Augustine, who wrote prolifically on the soul and the workings of the mind, we can recognize and glean the meaning of these modern terms to some extent from his expositions.

Augustine’s train of thought in the passage in question in cat. rud. 2.3, may not be immediately transparent to the modern reader. We therefore need to look at his epistemology in his theory of the three visions from The Literal Meaning of Genesis, (De genesi ad litteram - gen. litt.), book XII to arrive at a fuller understanding as to what he is precisely referring to. These three visions are, respectively, intellectual, spiritual and corporeal vision. Augustine’s treatise on the consciousness in gen. litt. XII, provides more detailed indications of the interplay of the conscious and unconscious mind, not immediately evident in cat. rud.

This paper will first elaborate briefly on the difficulties of interpreting ancient terminology, then it will explain the passages in cat. rud. After a short exposition on the three visions in gen. litt. and in particular intellectual vision, the passages in cat. rud. will be reiterated. In short, this article aims to show how the unconscious mind plays a role in cat. rud. and generally in Augustine’s thought.