Episode 11 - Fate Journal Episode

This episode explores how to align with the world as it happens and move forward in the best way possible. By journaling on how fate affects your life, gain deeper insight into your personal patterns and think about ways you can make improvements. This episode pairs with Episode 12 and Episode 13, which are the guided meditation episodes on this topic.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:16

Hi, everyone, and welcome to the Guided Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. I'm your host, John Stillman. This is a journaling episode about fate. So if you're new to the podcast, go listen to episode one for an explanation about how this podcast works. If you've already done so, then you know that I'm going to give you some prompts to journal about that are related to the upcoming episode. So you are going to need to have your journal handy. In this episode, we'll be journaling about fate and more specifically, the stoic idea known as amorfati or the love of fate. If you're driving right now, this is not the podcast for you. None of our episodes pair well with driving except episode one, and this one asks for reflection and honesty. So feel free to come back to this later. If you're not driving, find something to jot your ideas down on a notebook, your phone, a tablet, whatever you're most comfortable using. Before we begin the journaling prompts, let's take a moment to talk about what a morfati really means. The Stoics believe that the universe unfolds according to nature, through cause and effect, often in ways far beyond our understanding or control. Events happening not because they are fair or unfair, but because they are a natural result of what came before. Morfati goes beyond mere acceptance. It's not just saying, this happened and I can't change it. It's learning to say, this happened, and I will not only accept it, but I will use it. Marcus Aurelius reminds himself that whatever happens to him was waiting to happen, woven into the fabric of the universe long before he was born. Rather than resisting fate, he works to cooperate with it. To love your fate does not mean enjoying pain or seeking hardship. It means trusting that whatever life hands you can be met with courage, virtue, and wisdom, and that nothing is wasted if you respond well. Personally, I feel that fate is intertwined with its cousin luck. It is said that luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Preparation is something you can control. Opportunity is something you cannot control. Preparation is buying the lottery ticket. Opportunity is having the numbers drawn. When those two intersect, that's when luck happens. But opportunity happens because of fate. I know many people don't believe in fate, but I look at it this way: there are so many things that can impact any given situation. Think about all the rules and procedures and people's decisions and animals' behaviors and weather and whatever that can influence our everyday life. I like to think of it as the universal equation. There are so many inputs into that equation that it's something we can never predict. And fate is just that universal equation playing itself out. It's something we have no control over. So fighting back against it is a fool's errand. But learning to love fate and making the best of the universal equation at any given point in time is really what Amorfati is all about. Journaling about Amorfati helps us reframe setbacks, disappointments, and unexpected turns, not as interruptions to life, but as part of it. So let's explore that together. As always, pause the podcast whenever you need time to write. First question. When you hear the word fate, what feelings or associations come to you? Do you think of fate as something neutral, comforting, frustrating, unfair, or mysterious?

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Next question.

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The Stoics believe that our character is formed not by ease, but by challenge. How have difficult or unwanted events in your life strengthened qualities like resilience, patience, humility, or clarity?

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Write down any connections you notice. Next question.

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What parts of your current life are you resisting right now? What would it feel like to stop arguing with those circumstances and instead ask, how can I work with this?

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Next question.

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Loving fate does not mean giving up agency. It means focusing your efforts on how you respond. What aspects of your response to life are always within your control, no matter what fate brings?

SPEAKER_00 5:08

List a few.

SPEAKER_01 5:45

Fate will unfold whether we resist it or not. The Stoics remind us that peace comes not from controlling life, but from aligning ourselves with it, from meeting whatever happens with courage and good character. Amorfati is not a single decision, it's a practice. When you're ready, you can move on to the guided meditation episode on fate and amorphat, where we'll work with these ideas in a calm, embodied way. Thanks for stopping by, and we'll catch you in the next episode.