Letter 9: 1. Although you know my mind well, you are perhaps not aware how much I long to enjoy your society. This great blessing, however, God will some day bestow on me.

Letter 9 (389 AD) To Nebridius — Augustine sends greetings. 1. You know my mind well, but you may not realize how much I long for your company. God will grant me this great blessing someday. I read your letter — so genuine in what it expressed — where you complain about being alone, seemingly abandoned by the friends whose company was the sweetest pleasure of your life. But what can I suggest except what I am sure you are already doing? Commune with your own soul, and lift it up, as far as you can, toward God. For in him you hold us too, by a bond far stronger than bodily images, which for now we must make do with when remembering each other. You hold us through that faculty of thought by which we grasp the very fact of our separation. 2. In looking over your letters — and answering all of them has certainly meant wrestling with questions of no small difficulty and importance — I was stopped cold by the one where you ask how certain thoughts and dreams are put into our minds by higher powers or superhuman agents. The question is enormous. As your own good sense must tell you, answering it properly would require not a letter but a full conversation or an entire treatise. Still, knowing your abilities, I will try to scatter a few seeds of thought that might shed some light, so that you can either work out a complete answer on your own or at least not give up hope that this important matter can be investigated with real results. 3. I believe that every movement of the mind produces some corresponding effect in the body. We can observe this even with our dull, sluggish senses when the mental movements are strong — when we are angry, or sad, or happy. From this we can reasonably suppose that even when thought is quietly at work, and no physical effect is detectable by us, there may be effects detectable by beings of an airy or ethereal nature [angels or spirits in late antique cosmology], whose perceptive powers are so acute that compared to theirs, ours barely deserve to be called perception at all. These footprints of mental activity, so to speak, which the mind stamps on the body, may not only persist but persist with something like the force of habit. And it may be that when these traces are secretly stirred and played upon, they carry thoughts and dreams into our minds according to the will of whatever being is doing the stirring. And this is done with astonishing ease. For if our earthbound, sluggish bodies can achieve nearly incredible feats of dexterity — playing musical instruments, walking tightropes, and the like — it is perfectly reasonable that beings who act upon our bodies with airy or ethereal powers, passing through them without hindrance, would be capable of far greater speed in moving whatever they wish. We might not perceive what they are doing, yet we are affected by the results. We have a rough parallel in the way excess bile drives us to more frequent outbursts of anger, even though we do not perceive the mechanism. The bile produces the effect — and at the same time, our giving in to angry feelings increases the bile. 4. If that parallel does not seem exact enough to you as I have stated it here in passing, think it through more fully on your own. The mind, when continually blocked and frustrated in what it wants to do, becomes continually angry. Anger, as near as I can judge its nature, seems to be a turbulent eagerness to remove whatever is restricting our freedom of action. That is why we vent our anger not just on people but on things — the pen we are writing with, smashing or snapping it in frustration. The gambler rages at his dice, the artist at his brush, every person at whatever tool they think is getting in their way. Doctors themselves tell us that frequent fits of anger increase bile production. But then, when bile increases, we become angry at the slightest provocation, almost without any cause at all. So the effect that the mind's activity produced on the body is capable, in turn, of moving the mind again. 5. These matters could be explored at much greater length, and our understanding could be deepened and made more certain through a wider survey of relevant evidence. But take this letter together with the one I sent you recently about images and memory, and study that one more carefully — it was clear from your reply that you had not fully understood it. When you add what I said there about the mind's natural faculty of addition and subtraction in thought, you will see that it is possible for us, both in dreams and in waking thought, to picture bodily forms we have never actually seen.

Letter 9 (A.D. 389) To Nebridius Augustine Sends Greeting. 1. Although you know my mind well, you are perhaps not aware how much I long to enjoy your society. This great blessing, however, God will some day bestow on me. I have read your letter, so genuine in its utterances, in which you complain of your being in solitude, and, as it were, forsaken by your friends, in whose society you found the sweetest charm of life. But what else can I suggest to you than that which I am persuaded is already your exercise? Commune with your own soul, and raise it up, as far as you are able, unto God. For in Him you hold us also by a firmer bond, not by means of bodily images, which we must meanwhile be content to use in remembering each other, but by means of that faculty of thought through which we realize the fact of our separation from each other. 2. In considering your letters, in answering all of which I have certainly had to answer questions of no small difficulty and importance, I was not a little stunned by the one in which you ask me by what means certain thoughts and dreams are put into our minds by higher powers or by superhuman agents. The question is a great one, and, as your own prudence must convince you, would require, in order to its being satisfactorily answered, not a mere letter, but a full oral discussion or a whole treatise. I shall try, however, knowing as I do your talents, to throw out a few germs of thought which may shed light on this question, in order that you may either complete the exhaustive treatment of the subject by your own efforts, or at least not despair of the possibility of this important matter being investigated with satisfactory results. 3. It is my opinion that every movement of the mind affects in some degree the body. We know that this is patent even to our senses, dull and sluggish though they are, when the movements of the mind are somewhat vehement, as when we are angry, or sad, or joyful. Whence we may conjecture that, in like manner, when thought is busy, although no bodily effect of the mental act is discernible by us, there may be some such effect discernible by beings of aërial or etherial essence whose perceptive faculty is in the highest degree acute — so much so, that, in comparison with it, our faculties are scarcely worthy to be called perceptive. Therefore these footprints of its motion, so to speak, which the mind impresses on the body, may perchance not only remain, but remain as it were with the force of a habit; and it may be that, when these are secretly stirred and played upon, they bear thoughts and dreams into our minds, according to the pleasure of the person moving or touching them: and this is done with marvellous facility. For if, as is manifest, the attainments of our earth-born and sluggish bodies in the department of exercise, e.g. in the playing of musical instruments, dancing on the tight-rope, etc., are almost incredible, it is by no means unreasonable to suppose that beings which act with the powers of an aërial or etherial body upon our bodies, and are by the constitution of their natures able to pass unhindered through these bodies, should be capable of much greater quickness in moving whatever they wish, while we, though not perceiving what they do, are nevertheless affected by the results of their activity. We have a somewhat parallel instance in the fact that we do not perceive how it is that superfluity of bile impels us to more frequent outbursts of passionate feeling; and yet it does produce this effect, while this superfluity of bile is itself an effect of our yielding to such passionate feelings. 4. If, however, you hesitate to accept this example as a parallel one, when it is thus cursorily stated by me, turn it over in your thoughts as fully as you can. The mind, if it be continually obstructed by some difficulty in the way of doing and accomplishing what it desires, is thereby made continually angry. For anger, so far as I can judge of its nature, seems to me to be a tumultuous eagerness to take out of the way those things which restrict our freedom of action. Hence it is that usually we vent our anger not only on men, but on such a thing, for example, as the pen with which we write, bruising or breaking it in our passion; and so does the gambler with his dice, the artist with his pencil, and every man with the instrument which he may be using, if he thinks that he is in some way thwarted by it. Now medical men themselves tell us that by these frequent fits of anger bile is increased. But, on the other hand, when the bile is increased, we are easily, and almost without any provocation whatever, made angry. Thus the effect which the mind has by its movement produced upon the body, is capable in its turn of moving the mind again. 5. These things might be treated at very great length, and our knowledge of the subject might be brought to greater certainty and fullness by a large induction from relevant facts. But take along with this letter the one which I sent you lately concerning images and memory, and study it somewhat more carefully; for it was manifest to me, from your reply, that it had not been fully understood. When, to the statements now before you, you add the portion of that letter in which I spoke of a certain natural faculty whereby the mind does in thought add to or take from any object as it pleases, you will see that it is possible for us both in dreams and in waking thoughts to conceive the images of bodily forms which we have never seen. About this page Source. Translated by J.G. Cunningham. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 1. Edited by Philip Schaff. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1887.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1102009.htm>. Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is feedback732 at newadvent.org. (To help fight spam, this address might change occasionally.) Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.