LITERATURE: The Consolation – In Action

No lesson is learned the better than when lived.  And often that which seemed one way, becomes another when applying a different theory.  That which seemed most difficult to me of Philosophy’s logic was that of honor in striving for achievement. 

"But, when it comes to the location of the good which they desire, they are blind and ignorant.  They dig the earth in search of the good which soars above the star-filled heavens.  What can I say to show what fools they are?  Let them pursue their riches and honors and, when they have painfully accumulated their false goods, then they may come to recognize the true."  (Book III, Poem 8, p. 49)

While I have never had the opportunity nor the urge to accumulate great wealth, honor that comes with earning and hard effort has always been of great–and now I see, unjustified–importance.  For that which can be too readily conferred is not worth holding as a source of happiness.  The satisfaction is in the having done, but must be done with and one must move beyond. In understanding pride and honor,its transient nature need be seen as such.  Last night I learned to apply this reasoning to an event in a forewarning manner, instead of searching through memory to depend upon the understanding.  Lesson learned.

I see where Boethius, through Philosophy, is heading, and in wrapping up Book III, he starts to create the alternate lifestyle that can (he claims) offer true happiness.  Nature is but a foundation, but it is the false images given it by man that fool him onto the wrong paths.

"Therefore, that which is self-sufficient, which can do everything by its own power, which is honored and famous, is not this also most pleasant and joyful?

(…) "Then," Philosophy went on, "it must be granted that, although the names of sufficiency, power, fame, reverence, and joy are different, in substance all are one and the same thing."

(…) Human depravity, then, has broken into fragments that which is by nature one and simple; men try to grasp part of a thing which has no parts and so get neither the part, which does not exist, nor the whole, which they do not seek."  (Book III, Prose 9, p. 51)

The total package.  Let’s go for it.