De beata vita opens with a debate over the conditions of happiness and closes with an oratio in which Augustine grounds happiness in one’s relation to the Christian Trinity. Scholars routinely discuss either the work’s “philosophical” or “theological” halves but not both. I argue for a holistic reading by applying Contra Academicos’ method: ARP. Aporetic debate shows that happiness depends on having good things, moderation and God, yet stumbles on whether one who seeks God “has God” or not. Reflection on a wealthy individual who doesn’t care about virtue or truth stirs up debaters’ own desire for truth. Augustine’s oratio uses this desire to move beyond aporia, suggesting that a partial grasp of truth “admonishes” individuals to seek the whole of truth. He credits the Holy Spirit with this admonition and identifies the Son as the whole of truth and “measure of the soul.” A seeker after God thus has God the Spirit but not God the Son. The work’s overarching argument integrates philosophy and theology, reason and emotion. While explicitly skeptical language of plausibility is absent, reading this dialogue in terms of ARP makes the best sense of the work as a whole.