We lost our simple integrity in the rebellion that constitutes original sin. We shattered into separate centers of reason, will, and appetite. And often, more than censure for each. The punishment, then, of sin, fits the crime of sin perfectly. And as Augustine says a bit further on, “It was since man forsook God by pleasing himself that he was handed over to himself and because he did not obey God he could not obey himself. Hence came the more obvious misery where man does not live as he wishes to live.”
The great irony of this punishment is that it is precisely the opposite of what we thought in sin we would gain. What Adam and Eve wanted, Augustine proposes is what we thought was mastery, and yet they were delivered over to their servitude. The pride of the transgressor, shown in search for excuses, was worse than the sin itself; and so we are made more impotent by our very desire for inordinate power. This is the deep logic of punishment, the most immediate victim of our sin is ourselves.
(Page 343). Notes from http://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/books-that-matter-the-city-of-god.html
Leadingchurch.com 