 I've often said that when I first read the Confessions, and even now when I read it again, I felt as if Augustine was telling my own story, or perhaps I should say that my story is in many ways a distant echo, a pale shadow of his. Perhaps you may feel the same. What a powerful description of how we can come under the conviction by the Holy Spirit. We don't want to look honestly at ourselves, and especially to look ourselves in the eye because of some moral struggle. We place ourselves behind ourselves, as Augustine calls it, so that we don't have to face the truth about ourselves. But when the Holy Spirit convicts us, He makes us face the truth about ourselves, so that we can detest the ugliness of sin, as He does, and admit our disorder and yearn to be healed.