In the Confessions, Augustine wrote of his struggle to understand how evil exists in a world created by God. He asked how this was possible and why God allows evil in his creations because God is extremely good. After delving deeper into the search for a solution, Augustine concluded that evil does not exist and that things deemed evil are caused by free will. This article will argue that Augustine successfully demonstrated that evil does not exist by explaining his earlier explanation of the origin of evil as taught by the Manichaeans, explaining Augustine's teachings, and finally using textual descriptions of Augustine's reluctance to convert as support for his conclusion When Augustine joined the Manichaeans he was faced with questions about evil and its origin which allowed the group to teach Augustine Manichaean ideas about the origin of evil. Manichaean belief is not explicitly explained by Augustine (perhaps because people of Augustine's time already knew about Manichaeans). The text's glossary explains the allusion by explaining that the Manichaeans attributed evil to an evil force (Satan) that is in combat with God (Confessions 330). This evil is thought to have elements that are also evil and in one of these the human body has been included, which means that human beings are intrinsically evil (Glossary of Confessions. 330). Intrinsic evil contrasts with Augustine's vision which attributes the origin of evil to a will that favors lesser things, because he maintains that "human beings, therefore, are not ultimately responsible for their own actions" (Glossary of Confessions. p. 330). This would mean that God created evil things, which is in direct conflict with God's good nature and evil is caused by the divine. Augustine finally rejected the M...... middle of paper ......enlightened” Augustine's body (Confessions VIII. 5, p. 148). In this example, despite Augustine's willingness to succumb to God, he found that his habits had made him incapable of doing so. His will in favor of inferior things held Augustine closer than his will toward God, which led Augustine to choose the lesser good, which left him "in the midst of that great tumult which I had raised against my soul in the chamber of my heart." (Confessions VIII, 7, p. 152). His two wills tore him apart until he completely abandoned his earthly lust for divine spiritual desires; supporting his conclusion that free will in favor of lesser goods causes evil. Therefore, free will is the ultimate source of evil. Through the narration of his life, Augustine successfully demonstrated that evil is not an intrinsic quality of man, but is caused by free will and therefore is man's fault..