"God is best known in not knowing him"

Saint Augustine’s assertion that “God is best known in not knowing him” explores the paradoxical relationship between the human mind and the divine. Throughout his philosophical and theological writings, Augustine insisted that God transcends all finite understanding. Our attempts to define, describe, or construct comprehensive images of God inevitably fall short, not because God is unknowable in the sense of being wholly indifferent to us, but because God’s nature lies so far beyond our limited intellect that any human conception ultimately fails to capture the fullness of the divine.

Here, unknowing does not advocate for ignorance, but for a humble acknowledgment of the boundaries of human comprehension. Augustine points to a profound form of knowledge rooted in humility and reverence, a “knowing” that recognizes its own limits. When one accepts the inability to grasp the infinite, one paradoxically comes closer to the truth, experiencing awe and wonder rather than reducing the mystery of God to human terms. The process of “not knowing” is itself a deep participation in the mystery, where wonder, faith, and love become more meaningful paths to encounter than analytical certainty or doctrinal precision.

Augustine’s insight resonates with the tradition of “negative theology,” which emphasizes talking about God by negation, saying what God is not rather than what God is. By recognizing that God is beyond all categories and attributes, the soul is liberated from idolatrous projections, opening itself to transformational encounter instead of mere conceptualization. In the silence of intellectual humility, the believer enters a form of contemplative knowing that is deeper and richer, marked not by possession of knowledge but by receptivity and surrender.

Knowing God, therefore, means letting go of the compulsion to control the mystery and allowing faith to dwell in holy ignorance, where love and awe become true forms of understanding. In this, the soul draws closer to God than any finite knowledge could achieve.