"Amor Fati?"
“A will to live without rejecting anything in life which is the virtue I honor most in the world”
Albert Camus
I hope our Newsletter finds you safe and well amidst the morbidity and mortality inflicted upon us by the COVID-19 virus. A pandemic that has altered life as we know it by greatly impacting our lifestyles, and creating a heightened awareness of our human frailties. Amor Fati is a Latin phrase meaning, love of one’s fate. It is also a favorite phrase with the existential philosophers- and the author’s as well. As we now are forced to navigate this dark night of adversity, we find ourselves looking at the sun through the clouds of our human frailties and fears, in our search for a sanctuary. To help us better navigate our encounter with the COVID-19 virus maybe, taking a little stock in this phrase will assist us to reintroduce ourselves to life’s necessities and priorities, by reducing all our idealisms as a mendacity in the face of what is truly necessary. Or as Nietzsche stated, “do not wage war against what is ugly- but to make life beautiful.” He does not promote suffering as good, but rather a prerequisite for good. Marcus Aurelius, A roman stoic, wrote ”A blazing fire makes flames and brightness out of everything thrown into.”
To simplify and paraphrase the great philosopher’s interpretations of Fati Amor I will leave you a few thoughts to ponder:
- Be a person who is capable of uncompromising acceptance of reality;
- Great adversity is the ultimate liberator of spirit; and
- In essence, we doubt that pain makes us better, but makes us more profound.
I hope these insights prove to be of value to you, to be as tools to build a better life. I will direct you to the link to my Poem “
An Existential Virus
” performed by Susan Bond.
Existentially,
Rich
Existentially,
Rich
