Agostinho: a inquietação como fonte

The purpose of this text is to approach Saint Augustine (354-430) and Etty Hillesum (1914-1943), with regard to the mystical experience. At first glance,it may seem that there is an abysmal distance between one author and another. Right. Augustine lived between the 4th and 5th centuries and witnessed the decline of the Roman Empire. In turn, young Etty Hillesum lived in the 20th century -a brief life -but enough to witness the horrors of Auschwitz. The link between these two authors, therefore, is supratemporaland occurs through the search for the mystical path, which both sought. Etty, a reader of Augustine, declares in herDiary, repeatedly, that what is important is the path of interiorization, the path of seeking oneself, in the depths of oneself. It is what matters in dark and obscure times, perhaps to endure them with more dignity and lucidity. Augustine, who had lived many centuries before, also saw violence and iniquity, and restlessness has always been his source. Indoor fountain to which to return. This is not self-centeredness,an upside-down narcissism, but a spiritual, mystical exercise, looking for inner territory, mystical corners whose source is restlessness and, at the same time, strengthening oneself.