A old world
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I read this book, or better said, re-read it, when very sick and in considerable pain. Somehow, it seemed right at the time, and emotionally I was prepared for it.
I found it quite entrancing and was prepared to follow its arguments through and it must, like all philsophy, be read slowly and thoughtfully. I would recommend reading it, and hence five stars. Its not necessarily the greatest book you will read, but it is calm, measured and more or less the musings of a man on the edge of existence. The poetry is excellent.
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Philosophy: the Guru
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I originally wished to read Boethius because he had been such a famous name that kept cropping up in my own studies in Musicology when I was young, he having been the person who coined the term "Music of the Spheres" in the Pythagorean tradition of cosmic harmony. "The Consolation of Philosophy", however, took me totally by storm. 6th century Roman nobleman Boethius composed this masterpiece while imprisoned, shortly before his brutal execution by bludgeoning. Boethius begins his treatise by bemoaning his fate, the turn of events in his life that have brought him to such devastation. Enter the embodiment of Philosophy, who assumes the role of Boethius's spiritual guide. Step-by-step, Philosophy raises Boethius, and the reader, to higher and higher levels of thought by means of Classical logic. Boethius is systematically shown the path to enlightenment by his enchanting guru and, by the end of the work, Philosophy has firmly established the Absolute nature of the One Supreme Being, that Truth and Happiness are synonomous with God, that the illusory appearances of "good" and "bad" fate (karma, if you will) are merely the projections of our own misunderstanding of the ultimate goodness of God. It is a beautiful and powerfully mystical work, made even more potent by the circumstances under which it was composed. We can only hope that Boethius held fast to these enlightening words as he was executed shortly after having penned them. This touching work can be viewed as a metaphor for the human condition in general, in which all of us are imprisoned by situations of our own making, from which our ultimate liberation comes when we embrace the Ultimate Truth presented by the purity of Philosophical Revelation.
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Poor old Boethius
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The wheel of fortune... you can't rely on luck to help you through the tricky times. And Boethius certainly had his, falling foul of the Emperor and being banished to the edge of Empire to be tortured to death. While imprisoned he wrote the consolation... Lady Philosophy comes to Boethius to cheer him up with some second-hand Aristotle and indifferent poetry, although in retrospect a cake and a chisel would probably have been more useful. Widely translated over the ages by Henry VIII among others this book has had a far-reaching influence down the years. Interestingly Boethius was a Christian but turned to philosophy rather than religion when he was up against it. An absorbing read... And one that you'll remember for many years.
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