Stoicism for a Better Life – Weekly exercise (October 4, 2020)

Hello there,

For this exercise, let us look at an excerpt from Epictetus’ Discourses I 6-1&2:

“Show me someone who isn’t a slave! One is a slave to lust, another to greed, another to power, and all are slaves to fear…No servitude is more abject than the self-imposed.” 

Amor Fati…most of us have heard this core Stoic precept already, right? Well you may be surprised to know that the term was actually coined by Nietzsche. Nietzsche was known for a lot of things including wrongly being associated with the Nazis (it was his sister who repackaged some of his work after his death), having the best moustache of any philosopher ever (yes I stand by this claim) and going completely bonkers at the end of his life. How bonkers? Oh boy…he lost his mind completely…and I mean completely, to the point where he was feasting on his own feces (a disease known as Coprophagia …it is a behavior that can manifest itself in the terminal stages of a schizophrenic patient).

But before his mental illness took over, NIetzsche wrote some of the most intricate and insightful works on the human condition. He was not a Stoic, but anyone who’s read his work can pick up on the Stoic undertones. Moreover, he talks about the Stoics and their indifference to all that happens and summarized this approach with the words Amor Fati which is now part of the Stoic lexicon.

Our Stoic guides urge us to take this a step further. Instead of simply accepting what happens, they urge us to actually enjoy what has happens (no matter how “bad”) because it is part of the same universal reason that made you and gave you your consciousness.  Amor Fati It’s not just accepting fate, it is loving everything that happens. So as an practical exercise this week, try and find a way to love all that happens to you, no matter how unpleasant it may be. Because remember, the same universal reason, the same sequence of cosmic events that made that thing happen, also gave you life and awareness and consciousness to observe and experience it.

Let me know your insights on this exercise. It’s not an easy one, but can be a very rewarding one. All my social media contact info can be found on my Patreon page. Let’s keep the conversation going on Twitter, Reddit or Patreon.

Anderson Silver

(Author of “Your User’s Manual”, “Vol 2: Your Duality Within”, and Vol 3: Your Dichotomy of Control)