  Even during the Middle Ages, Augustine’s readers disagreed on the precise nature of his theory. One thing that seems clear from these passages alone is that divine illumination is an influence that we receive in an ongoing way throughout our lives. Thomas Aquinas would later understand illumination as an infusion all at once at the start (see below), but this seems untenable as an interpretation of Augustine. The mind needs to be enlightened “from outside itself”; “it is not itself the nature of truth”; “you will light my lamp, Lord” (he has not done so already); truth “walk[s] with me,” rather than merely setting me in motion at the start.