7.29.2013 DILIGE, ET QUOD VIS FAC

the following is taken from 'abounding grace' an anthology of wisdom edited with commentary by
m. scott peck

'the first of the quote in the chapter 'diligeence' is in latin.
it was spoken by st. augustine at a time when
latin was the closest thing we had to a universal language
(english did not yet exist).
because latin tends to be the most elegantly condensed of languages,
this quote is not easily translatable.
but i have placed it first because when i do translate it,
i believe you will find it to be simultaneously
the most incontrovertible and the most liberating moral prescription
ever made.

dilge, det quod vis fac, it reads.
although somewhat condensensed
the last four of the five words are simple.
they simply mean: 'and what you want do.'

dilige is not do simple.
it is declined in the exhortative tense,
meaning
1. BE DILIGENT!
and what st. augustine meant by this was what i've already mentioned:
take the time, energy, thoughtfulness, and care that the endeavor deserves.
it so happens, however, the dilige has two other alternative translations
from the complex language of latin.
one is the exhortation
2. LOVE!
the other is the exhortation to
3. LOVE GOD.
i believe that st. augustine meant all three in one.
if i am correct about this,
then his exhortation offers us the greatest of all paths to moral freedom.

translating his exhortation in its fullest, i think he was saying,
'if you are being loving,
if you are loving God,
and if you are being diligent about it all,
then you can do whatever you want.
what you do under those circumstances will inevitable
be moral and pleasing in the sight of God.'

submission to those three preconditions may seem a strict or severe commitment,
even to some calvinists.
to me they seem a small price for the liberation of knowing that i am on the right
track.