Wealden autumn, Sussex, England; Hazhir Teimourian.
The Consolations of Autumn : Sages in Hard Times
“ ... a wonderful, wide-ranging book.
I had been planning to read it at a later date, because of my workload,
but I keep dipping into it and not wanting to re-emerge.”
Sarah Montague, presenter, the Today Programme, BBC Radio 4.
How
did
the
great
sages
of
the
past
try
to
remain
functional
human
beings
in
the
face
of
loss,
misfortune,
illness,
old
age,
even
social
calamity?
How
did
they
fight
the
lonely
battles
that
most
of
us
will
have
to
fight
at
one
or
other
stage
of
our
lives?
How
did
their
particular
experience
of
life
equip
them
for
those
battles?
To
what
extent
did
they
succeed?
Was
it
hard
to
lead
a
semblance
of
a
normal
life
to
enable
them
to
be
useful
to
those
near
them?
Could they justify remaining a little detached when civilisation itself collapsed around them?
As
he
approached
the
75
th
year
of
his
life,
and
as
he
saw
chunks
of
the
world
seemingly
descend
into
Malthusian
turmoil,
the
political
commentator
Hazhir
Teimourian
sought
inspiration
in
the
lives
of
the
philosophers,
artists
and
scientists
he
admired.
He
found
that
for
some,
the
challenge
was
almost
continuous.
These
included
Socrates,
Darwin
and
Pasternak.
For
a
few,
such
as
Boethius
and
Beethoven,
darkness
fell
early.
For
yet
others,
such
as
Seneca
the
statesman,
the
end
arrived
reasonably
late,
but
did
so
suddenly
and
brutally.
Nearer
our
time,
Bertrand
Russell
sought
refuge
from
depression
during
the
First
World
War
in
work
and
in
involvement with public affairs.
Teimourian
sought
strength
also
in
the
works
of
the
poets,
for
poets
invoke
beauty,
love
and
longing,
joy
and
sorrow,
to
speak
to
our
hearts.
So
a
segment
of
this
book
is
an
anthology
of
poems
that
have
enriched
his
life
over
the
years.
They
include
a
few
by
himself
that
he
wrote
in
exceptional
moments
of
sorrow
or
elation.
But
he
has
chosen
them
in
a
spirit
of
realism.
Misfortunes
and
calamities
such
as
illness,
bereavement
and
social
collapse
cannot
be
underplayed
with
the
preacher
of
serenity
remaining
credible.
Thus
the
anthology
includes
sections
on
loss and solace, as well as on love, joy and hope.
The
book
ends
with
an
appendix
of
four
autobiographical
talks
commissioned
by
BBC
Radio
4
and
praised
by
the
press.
They
tell
the
author’s
own
unusual
story,
his
journey
from
a
remote
mountainside
in
Kurdish
Middle
East
to
the
most
exclusive
halls
of
London.
Hopefully,
they
will
cast
a
little
more
light
on
what
he
says
elsewhere
in the book.
Readers
may
also
be
interested
in
the
occasional
‘blog’
that
Teimourian
writes
under
the
title
of
‘
Reflections
on
a Drifting Humanity
’. They can be found in the WordPress site:
www.HazhirTeimourian1.Wordpress.com
.
Hazhir Teimourian