Reflections on the ‘De Musica’ of St Augustine
Aelred Squire OP

For Augustine, these rhythms as they are realized in the world carry with them an impression of being only approximations to, or imitations of, patterns which lie deeper than the things themselves. Indeed it is this that makes the delusion of sensation so baffling, for there can be no real suggestion of being cheated where there is no hint of a hidden truth withheld. Hence, too, our delight in the things of the senses, in colour and music, cakes and roses, and the soft touch of the flesh. They call us back to something that in them we never discover. What is it?

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Originally published in Blackfriars, vol. 35, no. 416, Nov. 1954.