Nietzsche was the one who did the job for me. At a certain moment in his life, the idea came to him of what he called “the love of your fate” (Amor fati). Whatever your fate is, whatever the hell happens, you say, “This is what I need.” It may look like a wreck, but go at it as though it were an opportunity, a challenge. If you bring love to that moment—not discouragement—you will find the strength is there. Any disaster that you can survive is an improvement in your character, your stature, and your life. What a privilege! This is when the spontaneity of your own nature will have a chance to flow. Then, when looking back at your life, you will see that the moments which seemed to be great failures followed by wreckage were the incidents that shaped the life you have now. You’ll see that this is really true. Nothing can happen to you that is not positive. Even though it looks and feels at the moment like a negative crisis, it is not. The crisis throws you back, and when you are required to exhibit strength, it comes.
– Joseph Campbell
(Via the Upaya newsletter)
It’s true isn’t it… When I look back at the disasters and wreckages I’ve endured, I see such strengths and positive and wonderful things coming right on their heels. I’d hate to have had the way so easy I would never have had to test myself. and grow.
very true.
Nietzsche is so dynamic, anyone can read into his writings and find meaning. , Amor Fati could be taken as a positive aspect of humanity, an inbuilt strength. Personally i think his philosophy is open to interpretation. i mean, hell, Hitler used Nietzsche’s concept of the Ubermensch to further the idea of Nazism, and the Arian ethnic preeminence. Sorry, went a little off track there. Anyway, i think this concept of Amor fati shows that we are perhaps like a piece of metal ready to be forged. The hard times in our life represent the process of the blacksmith putting the metal under extreme heat and pressure, the highpoint in which we are set in water, some people weaken from the process while others are made as strong as steel.