Coronavirus Threatens False Human Happiness Relying on Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy

“The Consolation of Philosophy” is one of Boethius' treatises representing Boethius' philosophy. Boethius’ political collapse has occurred at the time of writing “The Consolation of Philosophy”. In this treatise, he has sought to find out whether happiness, such as wealth, power, honor, etc., which are not lasting and eternal, can give true peace to Man. In fact, he has sought an eternal peace.Just as a political collapse causes loss of power, wealth, honor, etc. for Boethius or any other politicians, Corona disease, with its peculiarity of "epidemic" process, has imposed heavy economic and psychological consequences on humans. This article sought to find out whether Boethius's consolation of philosophy in dealing with false happiness could be generalized to a pandemic like Corona similar to the cases of political collapse and its aftermath. To this end, we analyzed Boethius' views on false happiness and true goodness in “The consolation of philosophy”.According to Boethius, what distinguishes the true goodness from false happiness is its stability. True peace depends on achieving happiness that is eternal. True goodness should not be like happiness of Man’s material part, which is unstable and may be destroyed at any moment by the factors that are considered necessary for the unstable world. Thus, for Boethius, true goodness is related to Man’s immaterial component, the soul, which is immortal. In fact, philosophy has helped Boethius to become acquainted with the true nature of welfare and realize that changes in wealth and welfare are inherent, concluding that what is variable cannot be eternal. The only real property and wealth that worldly events and changing things cannot take from Man is his own truth, to which he must pay a due attention. Boethius is of the belief that even if Man loses all the qualities that distinguish him from others and what he possesses, he is still a human and his humanity is not destroyed by losses. Therefore, the purpose of his life must be drawn out on the basis of this true essence. If this is Man’s basic criterion of life, his losses, illness, political downfall, etc. do not matter anymore. What is important is to return to his self-nature. What we achieve is always with us and we will not be at peace until we achieve it.The desire for true goodness is naturally in human’s  soul and what keeps Man away from this goodness is paying attention to false external happiness such as wealth, honor, power, etc. Boethius believed that all creatures seek to achieve a single goal, namely happiness, in different ways and this happiness is the most perfect good. Since it encompasses all goodness, there is no goodness above it; thus, whoever achieves this supreme goodness would not seek anything else. Philosophy helps Man to be guided towards goodness, i.e., God, through self-knowledge and the process of returning to his self.Boethius believes that these new conditions are not the result of a political collapse that changes wealth and welfare, but that change and instability are inherent in them and appear only in new conditions, no matter if this new situation is a political collapse or an epidemic or any other phenomenon. The importance of these new conditions is in reminding the instabilities of wealth and material prosperity and human's need and desire for an eternal thing -- a real and fixed thing that cannot be lost. Recognizing and evaluating the new conditions and analyzing the reasons for these misfortunes and losses serve Man as a reminder to know himself and the end of his life, thus trying to achieve the eternal truth. This is the path that Boethius takes in the wake of the political collapse and its necessities. Therefore, there is no difference between Corona disease and political collapse or between one person and many people; the nature of unhappiness is variability and instability. Whether it is related to a natural phenomenon, a disease, or a political equation, it reveals a changing nature.