Idipsum in Augustine's Confessions

Idipsum in Augustine’s CONFESSIONS

Introduction

Interpreting this term idipsum in Augustine’s Enarrationes in Ps. 121, 3, Aimй Solignac translates idipsum as Being itself (L’Кtre mкme) in his supplementary notes to the Confessions (BA 14, 550-552). According to Solignac, firstly idipsum has a biblical meaning; ‘ego sum qui sum and qui est’ in Exodus.

Secondly it has a metaphysical meaning; Being or existence in the precise meaning. Being unchangeable. Being everlasting. Solignac’s conclusion is in general correct. However, it seems to me the connotation of term is more subtle.

Furthermore any effort of defining of this term idipsum is impossible. Idipsum is idipsum. Augustine himself says: what is idipsum? How can I find any other expression than idipsum?

In my paper I would like to try in the following order to approach to the puzzling significance of this term idipsum in the Confessions.

i) Idipsum in the case of Augustine’s reading Psalm 4 (Conf. 4, 8-11)

ii) Idipsum in the experience at Milan (Conf. 7, 10, 16)

iii) Idipsum in the experience at Ostia (Conf. 9, 10, 23-26)

Part 1. Idipsum in Psalm 4

1.1 Discovery of the self :

Before examining the notion of idipsum in the remarkable passage that Augustine wrote about his mystical experience at Ostia (In this paper O is an abbreviation of Augustine’s experience at Ostia), I would like to draw attention to the dramatic scene of Augustine’s reading Psalm 4, in Book 9, 4, 7 (Here, P is an abbreviation of for the scene of Augustine reading Psalm 4). Is there a significant relationship, between P and O? Or, is there no particular connection? It seems to me, there is a profound connection.1 Augustine focuses his thought on the term idipsum in Psalm 4, verse 9, in P. P prepares the ground for Augustine’s meditation that is later developed in O. While reading Psalm 4 at Milan, Augustine proceeds through each verse by merely reciting and singing with charged emotion, but without giving any allegorical exegeses, such as in Ennarationes in Psalmos 4 written in 392. 2

What cries I sent up unto thee, my God, whenas I read the Psalm of God,…3

Augustine wholeheartedly longs for his former Manichaean friends to be with him here, listening to him reading Psalm 4 and watching his serious expressions

as he is deeply moved by the sacred verses. Augustine determined resolutely yet fairly to " withdraw the service of his tongue from those marts of lip-labor. 4 " Augustine thought that language with its problematic rhetoric was worn out, and therefore he anticipated the renewal of language. Augustine dares not to interpret these verses as he did elsewhere, instead he cries out in a loud voice. Here to cry does not strictly mean to shriek or to scream. When Augustine says 5 : " and with a loud cry of my heart called I out in the next verse (v.9) ", " with a loud cry of my heart " he alludes to a speech-act of new born language, that prepares him to respond to the word of God, spoken in silence in O. By reading Psalm 4, therefore, Augustine not only examines the objective meaning of the text. He also finds a subjective significance to see him reflected in the mirror of the text. Augustine discovered not only the self, but also idipsum in the text of Psalm 4.6 In the next section (1-2), consideration will be given to Augustine’s discovery of the term idipsum, v.9. In this context idipsum is the destination of his pilgrimage, the Odyssey of the soul.

1-2 Discovery of ‘ idipsum’:

Of the 10 verses of the Psalm 4, Augustine only comments on verse 9.7 Augustine continues to say:

Oh in peace! Oh for that Self-same! Oh what said he: I will lay me down and sleep: for who shall hinder us whenas that saying shall be brought to pass which is written, Death is swallowed up in victory? And thou surpassingly art that Self-same, thou who art not changed, and in thee is that rest which forgets all troubles; . . . (Underlined by the author.)

It is noteworthy that Augustine combiens the two phrases, " in peace " and " for that Self-same ". From an ecclesiastical aspect, " Death is swallowed up in Victory " refers to Saint Paul’s prediction of resurrection. The expression, " in thee is that rest ", reminds us of the Leitmotiv 8 at the beginning of the Confessions: