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We live in times in which chaos is ever-increasing, in which the distinction between good and evil is being thrown to the winds.
Indeed, our entire culture's primary aim seems to be to shatter the dignity of the life of man in God.
We are trapped in the cult of the personality, self-absorbed in twisted individualism fostered by countless gurus. We are filled with
grand delusions. We are drowning in a sea of endless chatter. The tinsel lures and diversions of this age catch us in a vast trap. We
are intent only on increasing our standard of living, not our standard of life.
As the poet W.B. Yeats wrote:
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We had fed the heart on fantasies,
The heart's grown brutal from the fare. |
Yet the light is the same as before. It is our eyes that are closed. The task that the St. Augustine Society (SAS) has undertaken is to
seek the truth about humanity with all our heart, and to share our insights with others. We are building on the work of our
predecessors - key figures such as Augustine, Dante, Blake, Velasquez, Goya, to name a select few - who have boldly explored the
parameters of the conflict within man, the dramatic struggle between light and darkness, between truth and lies.
We are firmly convinced that today many intelligent and insightful men and women lead "lives of quiet desperation". This is a lawful
consequence of the nature of our society, as elaborated below. We are not likely to change society in our lifetime, but we can be
strengthened and emboldened greatly, thereby freeing ourselves from "the continual crashing of the chains of our frailties", as
Augustine put it. To strengthen the individual is the goal of the St. Augustine Society.
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