boethius wrote the consolation of philosophy

As the mystic scholar Evelyn Underhill wrote in her introduction to The Cloud of Unknowing, contemplation was a common practice in the Middle Ages in Europe and all over the world. This approach may sound silly, even outdated for our day and age. As the monk explained, entering this “cloud of unknowing” is similar to entering a “darkness,” where we know nothing and are therefore open to experiencing what comes from the exercise. The anonymous monk who wrote The Cloud of Unknowing tells us that contemplation is an exercise in humility, moreover, because it asks that we set aside not only our daily activities but also the knowledge that we carry within us from those activities. The focus of The Cloud of Unknowing is on the importance of contemplation-its effects on the mind and soul as it relates to religious experience-as a respite from adversity or what the author calls the “active life” which we all must lead as workers, family members, or students in society. The previous essay of this series, which focused on the 14 th century mystic text, The Cloud of Unknowing, introduced the theme of knowledge and Christianity. Men’s minds are obviously such that when they lose true opinions they have to take up false ones, and then a fog arises from these false ideas, which obscures that true vision. Still, for the literary man who has studied books most of his life, like Boethius, this wisdom is never gone and can be recovered.

Philosophy’s role in the work is more than thought: She represents a form of superior wisdom which is easy to forget in moments of strife. In “The Consolation of Philosophy,” Boethius is not writing to console us, but to console himself.

Boethius wrote the consolation of philosophy