A delayed train, a rejected application, a broken relationship - life regularly hands us circumstances we would rather not have. Amor Fati, Latin for 'love of fate', offers a different response : instead of merely tolerating what cannot be changed, embrace reality and work with it.
The phrase is most closely associated with Friedrich Nietzche, although it has affinities with the ancient Stoic attitude towards fate. For Nietzsche, it meant more than resignation - it called for an active affirmation of life, including its difficulties. To love one's fate does not mean believing that everything that happens is good; it means accepting what has happened without becoming trapped in resistance to it.
A failure can become a lesson; an unwanted change can reveal a new direction; a difficult person can become an exercise in patience. When something goes wrong, instead of asking, 'Why did this happen to me?', ask, 'Why did this happen to me?', ask, 'What can I do with what has happened?'
The challenge is not to love every circumstance but to meet whatever comes with the freedom to respond wisely.
Courtesy. The NIE of 30 Aug.
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