Disordered Love and the Order of Goods

The chapter's central question

The order of love is not a ranking table that tells us to hate what is finite. It's a call to love good things like money, accomplishments, and relationships in a way that you can handle them. If you make the approval of others the final basis for your value, even the slightest indifference feels like a catastrophe. This is not because the object is bad, but because an infinite role is required of the object.

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So why do we suffer and become so unhappy because of love? Augustine offers an explanation from his philosophical and theological perspective. This is because the ‘object of love’ and the ‘order of value’ have been reversed.

This is called a distortion of the ‘Ordo Amoris’. In the world, there are values ​​that will never change (truth, virtue, pure love for neighbors, eternal rest), and there are finite values ​​that will one day disappear (money, luxury goods, social status, praise from others).

Finite things deserve to be loved as ‘useful means for living.’ But what happens if a person makes money or the approval of others the ‘highest purpose of my life’ and devotes his soul to it? Because we have placed the pillars of our lives on a fleeting shadow that can disappear and betray us at any time, even the slightest wind blows causes our souls to fall into a swamp of anxiety, jealousy, and fear and cry out.

Context and nuance

Augustine's emotional thinking unfolds where ancient philosophy, Christian theology, and reflection on his own life meet. 『Confessions』 is an autobiography told to the reader and at the same time a prayer speaking to God, and 『City of God』 explores how the direction of love creates order for individuals and communities.

Language that speaks of ‘higher values’ can be misused to trivialize real bodies and relationships. However, what Augustine takes issue with is the confusion between treating usable objects carelessly and using the ultimate good that should be enjoyed as a possession. Proper order should lead us to love our concrete neighbors more responsibly.

Do not oversimplify it this way

If we take Augustine's anxiety and love out of its religious context and turn it into a statement of modern psychology, the point is lost. For him, the object of true rest is clearly God. Non-religious readers may also ask the question, ‘Am I making something finite into an infinite source of satisfaction’, but this does not completely replace the original theological argument.

Philosophy in life

Have you ever achieved everything that others envy, but still feel an emptiness in your heart and endless anxiety?

Honest confession without self-deception: Confiding in my diary my inner deficiencies, jealousies, and weaknesses without any embellishment.

Primary-source guide

Primary guide: Confessions I, VIII, and X; City of God XIV.6–9.

Pathos Editorial · Reviewed 2026-09-12