ABSTRACT
What prevents us from sustaining beatitude in mortal life, according to Augustine, is our inability to expel the fear of loss – ultimately of death, the most complete loss. Our enjoyment of anything we love and desire is haunted by the fear of its loss. Nor can the authors simply choose to desire only the things they securely possess, and only so long as they securely possess them. All they can do is despair of being ultimately fulfilled, or hope to be blessed with a secure and eternal good (as Augustine proposes), or know that they are so blessed. For Augustine, as they saw, their fallen condition cuts us off from knowing this with certainty. The same is true for Spinoza, at least as he reads the allegory of the Fall. But for Spinoza they can escape the Fall. First, however, we must understand it.
