“Our hearts find no peace until they rest in you” (21). The return to God, the means to do so, the ways in which man distances himself from Him in the first place, are central themes in the Confessions of Saint Augustine; a historical work that serves as confession, praise and examination of faith. Autobiographical in nature, Augustine's work tells the story of his life and spiritual journey in retrospect, considering each event and its importance within the broader framework of his religious philosophy, the result of the fusion of Neoplatonic thought and Catholic theology. Through this fusion, Augustine is able to reconcile God and "evil", make a distinction between the physical and spiritual realms, and expound his views on how one can come to know and love God in the truest sense possible; how to return to him. One of the major problems Augustine had when he began his examination of spiritual matters was the apparent existence of evil. Augustine could not reconcile the notion of an immutable and omnipotent God with the evil he saw in the world. If God were truly omnipotent and the creator of everything, how could evil exist if God did not contribute to its creation? Thus in his early years Augustine joined the Manichaeans, who believed that God was not omnipotent, but rather in constant battle with evil and opposing forces. Such ideas of evil and God's connection with the physical realm distanced Augustine from God. Fortunately, Augustine was dissatisfied with the Manichaeans, whose flowery words proved devoid of substance and whose cosmological predictions proved less accurate than science and were often the product of coincidence. Even after rejecting the dualism of Manichaean thought, Augustine struggled to re... middle of paper ... to be similar to God, or even simply closer to God, being rooted in the tangible world, attempts are invested frequently and inappropriately in the physical realm, ultimately distancing us from God. Most sins are really just misdirected attempts to be like God. “Sloth masquerades as the love of peace…Extravagance masquerades as fullness and abundance... The spendthrift pretends to be generous... The envious struggle for promotion... Grief devours his heart at the loss of what he was pleased to desire, because he wants to be like you, to whom nothing can be done take away” (50). Through introspection we can move from physical to spiritual matters, searching the soul for an internal memory of God, and therefore better serve God (and the Force). , as long as the love is through God. “Love them therefore in Him” (82).