{"id":"01KJR8RF6KCT84WHBBE6FCG0DV","cid":"bafkreiapakwl45kliwi4qmndqe7ysbikcobvgwekfvwela7hpewn3uk3hm","type":"person","properties":{"_kg_layer":0,"action":"desire to know","description":"The narrator of these confessions, recounting his intellectual and spiritual journey from Manichaeism towards the Catholic faith and his struggles with theological concepts.","emotional_state":"Woe is me","initial_belief_system":"Manichaeism","label":"speaker","perspective":"first-person","profession":"rhetoric teacher","quest":"understanding of time and foreknowledge","recalled_stage":"boyhood","role":"narrator","state_of_knowledge":"know not what time is","state_of_mind":"on fire to know this most intricate enigma","unrecalled_stage":"infancy"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KJR8M0JHPZXCPKJ34HTYXSWW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KJR8RF6Q70QW7X2CT4VGZNFX","peer_label":"Infancy","predicate":"transitioned_from","properties":{"description":"The speaker describes his progression from the stage of infancy to boyhood, which displaced the earlier stage.","source":{"id":"01KJR8Q69D4MP5C5NZ0M462TSR","label":"Source","type":"text_chunk"},"source_text":"Passing hence from infancy, I came to boyhood, or rather it came to me, displacing infancy"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RF3GQZ7XRAA0JYSQAHNG","peer_label":"Boyhood","predicate":"transitioned_to","properties":{"description":"The speaker describes his progression from infancy to the stage of boyhood, where he was no longer speechless but able to speak.","source":{"id":"01KJR8Q69D4MP5C5NZ0M462TSR","label":"Source","type":"text_chunk"},"source_text":"Passing hence from infancy, I came to boyhood, or rather it came to me, displacing infancy. Nor did that depart,--(for whither went it?)--and yet it was no more. For I was no longer a speechless infant, but a speaking boy"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RF41NE2CKMQJ5PYMD7QD","peer_label":"Understanding","predicate":"learned_to_speak_through","properties":{"description":"The speaker learned to speak by practicing sounds in his memory, attributing this ability to the understanding given to him by God.","source":{"id":"01KJR8Q69D4MP5C5NZ0M462TSR","label":"Source","type":"text_chunk"},"source_text":"did myself, by the understanding which Thou, my God, gavest me, practise the sounds in my memory"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RFPQZQS6HBBPFDANJRRD","peer_label":"Parental Authority","predicate":"depended_on","properties":{"description":"During his early life, the speaker's actions and life were subject to and influenced by the authority of his parents.","source":{"id":"01KJR8Q69D4MP5C5NZ0M462TSR","label":"Source","type":"text_chunk"},"source_text":"yet depending on parental authority and the beck of elders"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RGH9NCXHK2JS867TP10E","peer_label":"miseries and mockeries","predicate":"experienced","properties":{"description":"The speaker recounts the suffering and ridicule he endured when obedience to his teachers was demanded.","source":{"id":"01KJR8Q69D4MP5C5NZ0M462TSR","label":"Source","type":"text_chunk"},"source_text":"O God my God, what miseries and mockeries did I now experience, when obedience to my teachers was proposed"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RFQTH3F57AEY1A7452PH","peer_label":"School","predicate":"was_sent_to","properties":{"description":"The speaker was put into school to receive learning, though he initially questioned its use.","source":{"id":"01KJR8Q69D4MP5C5NZ0M462TSR","label":"Source","type":"text_chunk"},"source_text":"Next I was put to school to get learning"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RFQTH3F57AEY1A7452PH","peer_label":"School","predicate":"was_punished_at","properties":{"description":"The speaker was beaten at school if he was idle in learning, a practice judged right by their forefathers.","source":{"id":"01KJR8Q69D4MP5C5NZ0M462TSR","label":"Source","type":"text_chunk"},"source_text":"if idle in learning, I was beaten"}},{"peer":"01KJR8R5M8VXDW8Z6YHQTCPK14","peer_label":"God","predicate":"prayed_to","properties":{"description":"As a boy, the speaker began to pray to God, his aid and refuge, asking not to be beaten at school.","source":{"id":"01KJR8Q69D4MP5C5NZ0M462TSR","label":"Source","type":"text_chunk"},"source_text":"For so I began, as a boy, to pray to Thee, my aid and refuge; and broke the fetters of my tongue to call on Thee, praying Thee, though small, yet with no small earnestness, that I might not be beaten at school"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RMZ9WCXXJYKPNP3SEK20","peer_label":"commands of my parents","predicate":"sinned_by_transgressing","properties":{"description":"The speaker confesses to sinning by disobeying the commands given by his parents.","source":{"id":"01KJR8Q69D4MP5C5NZ0M462TSR","label":"Source","type":"text_chunk"},"source_text":"I sinned in transgressing the commands of my parents"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RMZR9B6C61JQWA8XG94X","peer_label":"commands of my masters","predicate":"sinned_by_transgressing","properties":{"description":"The speaker confesses to sinning by disobeying the commands given by his masters (teachers).","source":{"id":"01KJR8Q69D4MP5C5NZ0M462TSR","label":"Source","type":"text_chunk"},"source_text":"I sinned in transgressing the commands of my parents and those of my masters"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RFVMX2AAWJ4XKMNBW6ST","peer_label":"Play","predicate":"loved","properties":{"description":"The speaker admits that his disobedience stemmed from his love of play, which was his 'sole delight.'","source":{"id":"01KJR8Q69D4MP5C5NZ0M462TSR","label":"Source","type":"text_chunk"}}},{"peer":"01KJR8RN4F11Y591VJG64DPZ29","peer_label":"mark of His cross","predicate":"was_sealed_with","properties":{"description":"Even from birth, the speaker was symbolically marked with the sign of the cross, indicating an early connection to Christian faith through his mother.","source":{"id":"01KJR8Q69D4MP5C5NZ0M462TSR","label":"Source","type":"text_chunk"},"source_text":"I was sealed with the mark of His cross"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RGEMY1DJPV3XZR2XG3VN","peer_label":"Baptism of Christ","predicate":"sought","properties":{"description":"During a near-death illness in boyhood, the speaker eagerly sought the baptism of Christ from his mother and the Church.","source":{"id":"01KJR8Q69D4MP5C5NZ0M462TSR","label":"Source","type":"text_chunk"},"source_text":"I sought, from the pious care of my mother and Thy Church, the mother of us all, the baptism of Thy Christ"}},{"peer":"01KJR8Q69D4MP5C5NZ0M462TSR","peer_label":"Source","predicate":"extracted_from","properties":{"extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:14.454Z","source":{"id":"01KJR8Q69D4MP5C5NZ0M462TSR","label":"Source","type":"text_chunk"}}},{"peer":"01KJR8RMY5Z14GFJFB6ZPH725J","peer_label":"Time","predicate":"desires_to_know","properties":{"description":"The speaker expresses a strong desire to understand the fundamental nature and characteristics of time.","source":{"id":"01KJR8Q6G2V37MWWCMHXDR1GEP","label":"Source","type":"text_chunk"},"source_text":"I desire to know the force and nature of time"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RYDTYYW1RQ1MTWY0863B","peer_label":"Heavenly Bodies","predicate":"refutes_claim_that","properties":{"description":"The speaker explicitly rejects the notion that the motions of celestial objects are what constitute time itself.","source":{"id":"01KJR8Q6G2V37MWWCMHXDR1GEP","label":"Source","type":"text_chunk"},"source_text":"Let no man then tell me, that the motions of the heavenly bodies constitute times"}},{"peer":"01KJR8R5M8VXDW8Z6YHQTCPK14","peer_label":"God","predicate":"confesses_to","properties":{"description":"The speaker repeatedly makes confessions to God, acknowledging his lack of understanding about time.","source":{"id":"01KJR8Q6G2V37MWWCMHXDR1GEP","label":"Source","type":"text_chunk"},"source_text":"And I confess to Thee, O Lord, that I yet know not what time is"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RMY5Z14GFJFB6ZPH725J","peer_label":"Time","predicate":"acknowledges_ignorance_of","properties":{"description":"The speaker explicitly states his lack of knowledge regarding the true nature of time, despite being able to speak about it.","source":{"id":"01KJR8Q6G2V37MWWCMHXDR1GEP","label":"Source","type":"text_chunk"},"source_text":"I yet know not what time is"}},{"peer":"01KJR8Q6G2V37MWWCMHXDR1GEP","peer_label":"Source","predicate":"extracted_from","properties":{"extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:26.457Z","source":{"id":"01KJR8Q6G2V37MWWCMHXDR1GEP","label":"Source","type":"text_chunk"}}},{"peer":"01KJR8Q6G293PJ5D8PPYX3SAXN","peer_label":"Source","predicate":"extracted_from","properties":{"extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:29.293Z","source":{"id":"01KJR8Q6G293PJ5D8PPYX3SAXN","label":"Source","type":"text_chunk"}}},{"peer":"01KJR8R5M8VXDW8Z6YHQTCPK14","peer_label":"God","predicate":"believed","properties":{"description":"The Speaker initially believed God to have the physical shape of human flesh, a notion he later found unseemly.","source":{"id":"01KJR8Q6BF7BR7KJV1T86JS8MT","label":"Source","type":"text_chunk"},"source_text":"it seemed to me very unseemly to believe Thee to have the shape of human flesh, and to be bounded by the bodily lineaments of our members"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S6GZBK6GHVHQFB2G2RZN","peer_label":"Human Flesh","predicate":"struggled with the concept of","properties":{"description":"The Speaker's initial inability to conceive of God without bodily form was a major cause of his theological error.","source":{"id":"01KJR8Q6BF7BR7KJV1T86JS8MT","label":"Source","type":"text_chunk"},"source_text":"when I wished to think on my God, I knew not what to think of, but a mass of bodies (for what was not such did not seem to me to be anything), this was the greatest, and almost only cause of my inevitable error"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S6G8PRXR28E4CFZ8Z169","peer_label":"Evil (Concept)","predicate":"believed","properties":{"description":"The Speaker, influenced by Manichaeism, believed evil to be a physical substance with its own foul and hideous bulk.","source":{"id":"01KJR8Q6BF7BR7KJV1T86JS8MT","label":"Source","type":"text_chunk"},"source_text":"For hence I believed Evil also to be some such kind of substance, and to have its own foul and hideous bulk"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S6TQ0VNC6YFZNENB1HXY","peer_label":"Manichaean Doctrine of Evil","predicate":"conceived","properties":{"description":"The Speaker conceived of two opposing masses, influenced by Manichaean dualism, with evil being narrower than good.","source":{"id":"01KJR8Q6BF7BR7KJV1T86JS8MT","label":"Source","type":"text_chunk"},"source_text":"I conceived two masses, contrary to one another, both unbounded, but the evil narrower, the good more expansive"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S6TT952D733PVCA0SNDW","peer_label":"Catholic Faith","predicate":"endeavoured to recur to","properties":{"description":"The Speaker's mind endeavoured to return to the Catholic faith, but he was driven back by his misunderstanding of it.","source":{"id":"01KJR8Q6BF7BR7KJV1T86JS8MT","label":"Source","type":"text_chunk"},"source_text":"For when my mind endeavoured to recur to the Catholic faith, I was driven back, since that was not the Catholic faith which I thought to be so"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RE9ASSVJ2EZY47NJ72AM","peer_label":"Jesus Christ","predicate":"believed","properties":{"description":"The Speaker believed Jesus Christ was extended for salvation out of God's most lucid substance, but only in a way he could imagine in his vanity.","source":{"id":"01KJR8Q6BF7BR7KJV1T86JS8MT","label":"Source","type":"text_chunk"},"source_text":"our Saviour Himself, Thy Only Begotten, I believed to have been reached forth (as it were) for our salvation, out of the mass of Thy most lucid substance, so as to believe nothing of Him, but what I could imagine in my vanity"}},{"peer":"01KJR8REJ3XZHYDFK5JKT9RHP3","peer_label":"Rome","predicate":"came to","properties":{"description":"The Speaker came to Rome to diligently practice teaching rhetoric.","source":{"id":"01KJR8Q6BF7BR7KJV1T86JS8MT","label":"Source","type":"text_chunk"},"source_text":"I began then diligently to practise that for which I came to Rome, to teach rhetoric"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RX8NZ446EY77AD4FQNJJ","peer_label":"Milan","predicate":"came to","properties":{"description":"The Speaker came to Milan after being sent by Symmachus.","source":{"id":"01KJR8Q6BF7BR7KJV1T86JS8MT","label":"Source","type":"text_chunk"},"source_text":"To Milan I came"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RC90MA484QJAVK6C7F7D","peer_label":"Ambrose","predicate":"came to","properties":{"description":"The Speaker came to Ambrose, the Bishop of Milan, upon his arrival in the city.","source":{"id":"01KJR8Q6BF7BR7KJV1T86JS8MT","label":"Source","type":"text_chunk"},"source_text":"To Milan I came, to Ambrose the Bishop"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RC90MA484QJAVK6C7F7D","peer_label":"Ambrose","predicate":"listened to","properties":{"description":"The Speaker listened diligently to Ambrose preaching, initially to evaluate his eloquence rather than the content.","source":{"id":"01KJR8Q6BF7BR7KJV1T86JS8MT","label":"Source","type":"text_chunk"},"source_text":"And I listened diligently to him preaching to the people, not with that intent I ought, but, as it were, trying his eloquence"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S6TT952D733PVCA0SNDW","peer_label":"Catholic Faith","predicate":"began to find defensible","properties":{"description":"The Speaker began to perceive that the Catholic faith, previously thought indefensible against Manichaean objections, could be maintained without shamelessness.","source":{"id":"01KJR8Q6BF7BR7KJV1T86JS8MT","label":"Source","type":"text_chunk"},"source_text":"the Catholic faith, for which I had thought nothing could be said against the Manichees' objections, I now thought might be maintained without shamelessness"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S9F9QYG2WXSH2602FE5P","peer_label":"Scriptures","predicate":"understood interpretation of","properties":{"description":"The Speaker understood how places of the Old Testament were resolved 'in a figure,' which corrected his previous literal understanding that had caused spiritual harm.","source":{"id":"01KJR8Q6BF7BR7KJV1T86JS8MT","label":"Source","type":"text_chunk"}}},{"peer":"01KJR8S9F9QYG2WXSH2602FE5P","peer_label":"Scriptures","predicate":"blamed his despair regarding","properties":{"description":"The Speaker blamed his despair in believing no answer could be given to those who hated and scoffed at the Law and the Prophets, after many places were explained.","source":{"id":"01KJR8Q6BF7BR7KJV1T86JS8MT","label":"Source","type":"text_chunk"},"source_text":"I now blamed my despair, in believing that no answer could be given to such as hated and scoffed at the Law and the Prophets"}},{"peer":"01KJR8Q6BF7BR7KJV1T86JS8MT","peer_label":"Source","predicate":"extracted_from","properties":{"extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:40.804Z","source":{"id":"01KJR8Q6BF7BR7KJV1T86JS8MT","label":"Source","type":"text_chunk"}}}],"ver":5,"created_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:06.579Z","ts":"2026-03-02T21:55:41.239Z","edited_by":{"method":"system","user_id":"01KJ60XQBHJ0GBGTP9X8HXAPPM"}}