By Brendan Myers, Canadian Author & Philosopher
O Books, 2008 (256 pages)
In this taskmaster of a book, Brendan Myers sets out to discover the ancient origins of our modern virtues through time and different cultures. Myers main goal in this work appears to be to define virtue and to explore the depths of its other side — the negative as well as the positive aspects of virtues and how they only truly serve us when we apply them in balance. In reading this book, one is taken on a journey from storytelling at a fire through fragments of proverbs and on to heroic virtues’ dance with fortune and fate hoping for an outcome of apotheosis. Then the reader is taken a little further ahead in time to the philosophers of Greece and Rome with their love of reason and the rational mind. Afterward, Myers takes the reader even further into the future to the Humanism of the Renaissance rising up from the darkness of the Middle Ages with the rediscovery of Pagan texts on every subject and their influence on the art of the time. Myers takes us to speak to Machiavelli and reveals why his ideas were not so diabolical after all. Then the reader travels into the age of Romanticism which fought against all the Enlightenment and Age of Reason stood for and why the two co-existed at the same time. Author Brendan Myers even covers the Pagan virtues found within Tolkein’s classic Lord of the Rings trilogy and J.R.R. Tolkein’s intent to use his writing to encourage good morals in the world. The fifth section of The Other Side of Virtue is a body of philosophy intended to help the reader take all they’ve learned of virtue in the previous chapters and try to apply it to themselves within their own lives.
Overall, this is a short but thorough work on the philosophy of virtues, morals, ethics and their Pagan origins. The Other Side of Virtue is a very well thought-out and well-written work, as all Brendan Myer’s writings are, and comes off to the reader as a labour of love by the author. This work fills a gap in the modern Pagan community and publishing world –that of a code of ethics within Pagan religions. Too often I hear from modern Witches and Pagans that there aren’t enough moral guidelines in Pagan religions and modern Witchcraft traditions, but Brendan Myers presents them extensively in this work doing all the hard work for the reader. There is something for everyone in this book no matter what culture one is from or what religion one practices, but especially if you follow a Norse or Greek path. I’ve found The Other Side of Virtue to be of great value as food for both mind and spirit. I highly recommend it to anyone with interested in learning the practices of lost ancient virtues and seeking for the root of our modern virtues in the ancient Pagan past.
This review can also be heard on Episode 72 of the Wigglian Way podcast
Here is the video trailer for the book:
Filed under: Books - Non Fiction Tagged: | Brendan Cathbad Myers, Brendan Myers, ethics, history, morals, Paganism, philosophy, religion, theology, virtues
