Happiness and Sin: A Two-Sided Coin The American dream is based on one thing, happiness, but what

    The American Dream is a lifelong objective that many Americans aim for. This Dream is not the same for every person in the United States, and throughout the course of American history, it has changed gradually. From the beginning of time, the dream was to own land and to live off of it, but now it has branched out into so much more.  According to Google Dictionary the American Dream is “the ideal that every U.S. citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative.” This is not always the case because though Americans work for what they have and to be where they are, the American Dream is not always attainable. Some believe that the American Dream is just a dream and sometimes it is, but it can also be a reality. To attain the reality of the “dream” there are obstacles that differ for everyone. Of these challenges are wealth, gender, inequality, race, and social class. The American Dream can remain a dream or become a lifestyle depending on the hard work one is willing to put in.

In the Confessions by Saint Augustine, this great philosopher experiences many problems and emotions related to sin and evil. As a boy, he often felt darkness, blindness, and confusion while attempting to find rest in God. Augustine started out in childhood with a restless heart because he had to live in two different worlds. These worlds consisted of his mother’s Christian faith, and the world of everything else. These two worlds confused and disturbed Augustine as a child. Augustine’s father was pagan and his mother was Christian, and they both wanted him to be very successful in the world. As he became confused, he began asking questions that could not be answered such as, “Humans often feel restless, but what is it they need to feel at

During that time, not only did he face numerous bouts of “soul searching,” he also engaged in intellectual examinations of events often viewed as acts of dissidence. Whether by acting out his erotic desires or by playful thievery, Augustine delved into examining the nature of sin as a means of understanding man’s true intentions with every action. As Augustine discussed and acted out his sexual desires, he stood firm to his idea that he did it out of an innocent need for love. In addition, Augustine’s pear theft acted as a means of showing that one who commits a criminal offense may not fully understand all of the implications it may hold for that person.

First, let's define "American Dream". "American Dream" is what you would consider a "perfect life." It can be full of happiness, money, love, food, cars, whatever you desire, everyone has a different opinion. One person’s American Dream may be totally different from someone else’s, that is what makes us all individuals. My American Dream would include a good job and lots of money, spare time for my family and I, and most importantly, healthiness.

The American dream has changed drastically thru our history. Back in the 1950 and 1960 the American dream was to have the house with the white picket fence and the 2 ½ kids. Now the dream for a lot of people is to be able to pay their bills and maybe have enough money to go out for a nice little dinner that you did not have to cook yourself. The American dream is dead, it is because the concept has changed from the idea that everyone can improve their life through hard work to the idea that everyone can become a millionaire through virtually no work. The United State at one point used to have everything you needed to make this dream happen. But since jobs have been moving over sees we have lost all of that. The American Dream is so

Through everybody’s eyes is their own version of the American Dream. Whether it’s the stereotypical dream with a good job, a family, and a house with a white picket fence, or it could be just getting by at the end of the month financially. The American Dream doesn’t have a specific image but rather a particular mindset. Lots of people have a goal in their life that they have to work hard to be successful towards that goal, but in most cases that goal may be unrealistic.

“Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” is every person’s god given right, but what exactly is happiness? Americans have fallen in love with the idea of success, we fantasize about cars, clothes and caviar. We want to be living the high life, but the only way to access the high life is to work for it. To climb the ladder of success till you get to the summit. It’s the American Dream, but that’s just it, it’s nothing but a dream, a fantasy. The reality of life is a boring and stressful existence where many of us are just struggling to make a few dollars. It would suffice to say that the American Dream is in all actuality the American Nightmare. The American Nightmare is a pitiful existence inside a self-made

The American Dream is one of those terms that people refer to when talking about immigration, financial status, and so much more. But what does the term really refer to? People used to think of the American Dream as financial prosperity, religious and financial freedom, and all around success. Now, the term may mean something similar, but people are much less focused on it. If anything, the American Dream today is focused on gaining material goods and proving your bank account is larger than your neighbors. With today’s economy, laws and regulations, immigration customs, and overall attitude towards work, people are seldom focused on achieving the American Dream.

In St. Augustine’s Confessions, Augustine’s worldly experiences throughout his autobiography are crucial to his understanding of Christianity. Augustine reflects on his childhood experience of stealing pears from his neighbors to understand his sinful nature. Augustine struggles to understand his motivation for taking the pears when he knows that the pears are not necessarily better than those at his own home. He finally recognizes that this transgression is of the most wicked nature because he was sinning for the sake of sinning. “Now let my heart tell you what it was seeking there in that I became evil for no reason. I had no motive for my wickedness except wickedness itself”(29). By reflecting on a worldly experience, he is able to reach a

The American Dream is a dream to live in a place where someone’s rights and freedoms can not be taken away from them and where they can achieve their goals without anyone stopping them no matter what their background is. People achieved the American dream through motivation and hard work. Although as time passed, they became too lazy to actually work for it. Somewhere along the way, people began to interpret the American dream as a dream to live in wealth. Because of this, it has made them think that happiness is defined by how much money they have. They also started to find ways to get rich quick without working for it. Many people question whether or not the American dream is attainable or too far fetched. The American

The American Dream can mean different things depending on who is asked. Some will answer it is the freedom of religion, class or race, others will claim it is about the ability to choose where they want to work, what they want to wear, or what’s for breakfast the next day.

     America has been labeled "The land of opportunity," a place where it is possible to accomplish anything and everything. This state of mind is known as "The American Dream." The American Dream provides a sense of hope and faith that looks forward to the fulfillment of human wishes and desires. This dream, however, originates from a desire for spiritual and material improvement. Unfortunately, the acquisition of material has been tied together with happiness in America. Although "The American Dream" can be thought of as a positive motivation, it often causes people to strive for material perfection, rather than a spiritual one. This has

In this paper I will write about Augustine and his thoughts and ideas on sin in the Confessions, where sin originates and whether or not I believe that Augustine’s conception of sin has a place in modern society. From all of this I will conclude that through Augustine's work and findings, Augustine’s conception of the human person and their human actions are somewhat relevant today, due to the fact Augustine set a standard for what human nature is, known as the ability to desire, think and do, yet, people see the human differently today than Augustine did. At the same time his ideas of original sin and how the evil nature of humans is associated with original sin are still very relevant today.

2. Augustine says that these games people play takes us further away from God and more towards temptation. We learn how to read and write for bad reasons that lead to corruption. What drives human beings is to greed and being better than the next person. Human beings are always trying to out do one another in everything so that people will be envious. Augustine would say that what drives me is my love for my family and wanting a better life for them, but I have strayed away from who I once was. I have lost contact with God and need to go back and find him. I need to find myself.

What is the “American Dream”? The American Dream has always been characterized by a thriving job market, opportunities for advancement, stability, etc. It is “the pursuit of individual achievement without consideration for moral or legal restrictions” (Angulski, 2013). This idea dates back as far as 1630 to the puritan colonists. It was first established within a sermon given by John Winthrop while sailing to Massachusetts. This sermon set into motion the ideals that we have adapted today enveloping the “American Dream”. From then on Americans put their faith in the theory that if you work hard and do the right thing you will manifest your goals and eventually attain success and comfortability. The dream of the time was to live in a land where there existed a right to religious freedom and opportunity. This ideal has stuck to this day, however the validity may is no longer intact. The American Dream is a mere afterthought within today’s society, overtaken by massive debt and loss of opportunity. The American Dream is the greatest asset we as a country possess, “the fact that people from across the world still want to come to America to fulfill their dreams, to join a society that they see as dynamic, exciting, and full of potential, is a testament to the great potential of America to improve lives and offer opportunity for all” (Ross, 2016).