Boethius, The Consolation 3.24

. . . “This then,” said she, “is a simple, single thing by Nature, only divided by the mistakes of base humanity; and while men try to gain a part of that which has no parts, they fail both to obtain a fraction, which cannot exist, and the whole too after which they do not strive.”

“Tell me how they fail thus,” I said.

“One seeks riches by fleeing from poverty, and takes no thought of power,” she answered, “and so he prefers to be base and unknown, and even deprives himself of natural pleasures lest he should part with the riches which he has gathered. Thus not even that satisfaction reaches the man who loses all power, who is stabbed by sorrow, lowered by his meanness, hidden by his lack of fame.

“Another seeks power only; he scatters his wealth, he despises pleasures and honors that have no power, and sets no value upon glory. You see how many things such a one lacks. Sometimes he goes without necessaries even, sometimes he feels the bite and torture of care; and as he cannot rid himself of these, he loses the power too which he sought above all things.

“The same argument may be applied to offices, glory, and pleasure. For since each one of these is the same as each other, any man who seeks one without the others, gains not even that one which he desires.”

“What then?” I asked.

“If any man desires to obtain all together, he will be seeking the sum of happiness. But will he ever find that in these things which we have shown cannot supply what they promise?”

“No.”

“Then happiness is not to be sought for among these things that are separately believed to supply each thing so sought.”

“Nothing could be more plainly true,” I said. . . .

—from Book 3, Prose 9

The more something is one, the more it is perfect. The more something is joined together, the more complete it becomes. The more something is good, the more it includes all lesser goods within it. If I am seeking that which leaves nothing to be desired, and to which nothing more can be added, then I must also of necessity be seeking unity, simplicity, and purity.

Instead of pursuing only what is relative, I should turn to what is absolute. Instead of focusing merely on the part, I should look at the whole. Instead of limiting myself to the effect, I should proceed to the cause.

This may sound like terribly abstract metaphysics, but it has always helped me to examine such matters as concretely as possible. If I am looking at many things in front of me, what makes them many is precisely that in some way or other they are all different from one another. If they are different, that means that each has something that the other doesn’t, and while each is good in its own way, it is hardly good in the way of another.

Consider a table filled with all sorts of different tools. Every tool is designed for its own distinct task, sometimes one that is quite specific or specialized. A screwdriver, a hammer, a wrench, or a saw will be helpful for one job, but useless for another.

And now think about how people will sometimes use only one tool at the expense of the others, and then they wonder why they aren’t getting the job done. It will be fruitless trying to mow the lawn with a kitchen knife, or frame a picture with a blowtorch. We then get quite frustrated, and even blame the tools, and say that the job is impossible to complete.

This is something like what happens when a man narrows in on one aspect of life at the expense of the others, and then he wonders why he is not yet happy. He confuses the “one” thing he needs with only one separate part of the whole, and does not see that the “one” thing he needs is what binds all the parts together in the whole. He has divided things instead of joining them.

I was talking about tools with my daughter one day when we I was tinkering in the garage, and she thought deeply for a moment. “Wait,” she said, “if each tool is really only good for a few things, what’s the one thing that can get all the things done? Is there like some kind of super-tool?”

These are the sorts of moments as a father, or as a teacher, or generally just as a human being, that I enjoy the most. She started imaging what sorts of qualities a tool would need to have in order to get everything done, but quickly realized no one physical object could ever do all those things. A jack-of-all-trades is the master of none.

“So what’s that one thing you would need,” I asked her, “that’s better than all the tools, and that can help you fix anything?”

She frowned for a bit, and then suddenly smiled, pointing with her finger at her head. “You need a person who knows how to use all the tools, and when to use them!”

No one tool on the workbench is enough; the unity of purpose within the mind of the craftsman is what provides the whole context. Look to the source.

So one man believes he will be happy by becoming rich, and he dedicates himself completely to this task, but he doesn’t pay any attention to power or pleasure. Another man believes he will be happy by becoming powerful, but he doesn’t pay any attention to pleasure, or honor, or wealth, or glory, or anything else that shares in the whole of goodness.

Whatever particular form this error may take, it involves confusing the individual pieces with the way those pieces should all fit together.

Written in 9/2015