ari's blog

So I’ve been reading some really great books for class, and I decided I’d post my weekly papers up here as blogs….so yea. *awkward pause*

This first book is called “The Consolation of Philosophy,” by Boethius.  Just a little bit of background—Boethius was a renowned philosopher and politician during the medieval age, and was wrongfully accused of treason, and exiled and later executed (quite brutally).  It’s pretty ironic that his most famous work was written while he was in exile on the brink of execution, but it’s such a wonderful book and applicable to just about anything.  In the broadest sense, “The Consolation of Philosophy” is a book about why people do the things they do, and why the world is the way it is.  I can’t possibly explain the entire book in detail (which is why I post these reflections..but be warned, they’re not over all the parts in the book), so my recommendation is this: READ IT!

Anyway, here goes the first post. 

Book I starts out with Boethius writing a poem depicting his sorrowful emotional state, as he wallows in his self-pity.  His “nurse,” Philosophy, appears to him and he tells her of his situation—he was falsely accused and charged with desiring safety for the Senate, and says to Philosophy, “And now you see the outcome of my innocence—instead of reward for true goodness, punishment for a crime I did not commit.”  Boethius was robbed of all his possessions and banished, and he believes that he was the victim of injustice.  However, Philosophy goes on to “cure” Boethius, showing him the error of his ways.  He has lost sight of what he used to believe in and has developed an attachment to earthly possessions, which are temporal and can be taken away at any moment—therefore it is not ideal to develop an attachment to these things.  “[His] defenses have been breached and his mind has been infiltrated by the fever of emotional distraction.” 

Developing a detachment to material possessions is Philosophy’s main teaching in this book.  It is an idea that has been prevalent in many other texts, such as in St. Augustine’s Confessions, where he describes his spiritual journey toward Catholicism.  His attachment to his worldly affairs was the main barrier preventing him from fully converting to a Christian, but once he overcame that, he was able to fully devote his life to God and live a much more fulfilling life. 

Boethius goes through a similar situation as St. Augustine in the sense that he has had difficulty detaching himself from his worldly affairs.  Boethius is in a state of resentment because the good that he has done has only gotten him punishment.  From Boethius’s perspective, it is the doing of the corrupt and evil that has left him in his current situation; however, Philosophy believes that it is his own doing—that he has fallen off the bandwagon and let his infatuation with earthly possessions infiltrate his mind, which has affected his health greatly.  I think that Boethius does not realize his attachment to material things because generally, it is in the nature of a human being to blame anyone but himself.  It is never our fault; it is always brought on by outer forces.  However, and especially in Boethius’s case, being able to understand that Fortune does not belong to any human being and can be taken away as quickly as it was given is important, as attachment to gifts such as wealth, health, and power are not the path to true happiness. 

Something that occurred to me as I was reading the text was the question of, who was Philosophy?  In the book she is described as Boethius’s old nurse, but the way she was described, with varying heights and robes made of “imperishable material” does not make her sound like a typical human being.  I think that maybe Boethius creates this discussion with Philosophy as a way to comfort himself in this dire situation and make sense of why he has been imprisoned and construct a theory of good and evil, and why evil has prospered over good.  This “conversation” between Boethius and Philosophy was really Boethius’s contemplation with himself—his formulation of thoughts and theories of why the good that he has done has only gotten him punishment.    

**A later correction made by my lovely Great Texts professor: The woman is an allegory of philosophy, and philosophy is simply the love of wisdom.**

Hey everyone! This is my first blog—with many more to come.  I was never big on blogging until I took a new media studies class, which got me more into the whole blogging/twitter/youtube thing.  I had fun blogging but wanted to be able to blog about whatever I wanted and not just that certain class, and thus, this blog was created. And be sure to subscribe to my youtube channel, ariadneaberin!

Ari xx