What prompted this week’s post was the unrelenting news of misfortune from those I care about. There really was no end to it. My son lost an amazing job in off-shore wind, because Trump was no longer willing to give out licenses; Mariia is coming up to her third year with us and no sign of peace in Ukraine. And on and on… Speaking with friends recently has made me feel that Fortune’s wheel has become stuck – with us at the bottom.
So how do we cope with such random events that sometimes feel like a very personal persecution?
O Fortuna
As I often do, I turn to the wisdom of the ancients. For all our troubles, they are fairly insignificant when compared to those of plague, famine and almost perpetual war. How did they work out ways to cope?
They used allegory and symbol to explain the inexplicable. The wheel of fortune of which we are familiar goes back much further than the Middle Ages, but the sentiment was similar. Life is decided by fates beyond our control and the image of a blind and indifferent woman spinning the world seemed a pretty apt one.
The mighty fall and the poor are raised up – until the wheel turns once more. And if we find ourselves at the bottom, what then?
The Wheel of Fortune in the modern world
You may be wondering what Classical and Medieval thinking has to do with you. Well, a lot, actually. Though we may not refer to Fortune or the stars as an explanation of our situation, she still has something to teach us.
Modern thinking tends to place suffering as an aberration, a swerving from our proper path. It is not to be tolerated. We should, if necessary, medicate it away. It is not an inevitable part of existence.
Except it is. Ask anyone; they all have their difficulties and struggles – some extreme – yet we still imagine that pain and suffering are unwarranted and a deliberate assault upon ourselves.
The first noble truth of Buddhism is that life is suffering. Depressing? Perhaps, but if we follow the next three truths, we discover that suffering is, in part a mental state, an unwillingness to accept things as they are.
The Stoics, for whom I have a great deal of admiration, are equally clear that life is what it is. That is we live a just and virtuous life, what happens to us will be accepted with equanimity.
Despite what appears to be a rather Eeyore like view of existence neither of these groups were gloomy souls. The Stoics lived life as it came, enjoying the good times and enduring the bad. The Buddha is almost always presented as laughing.
Acceptance
What we can learn from these ancient minds is that acceptance is the route to a kind of contentment (happiness is something other). When we reject our situation (or cannot change it) we are embroiled in anger and frustration. If, in contrast, we embrace it – even if it is something horrible like a terrible diagnosis, we can at least keep our minds well.
This is not a lazy form of passivity, for both doctrines require a life of self-discipline and kindness. I don’t think that it means turning a blind eye to injustice.
Resilience
A counterpoint to combat Fortune’s vagaries is resilience. Perhaps this is the least popular notion in our time. No-one wants to wait more than 24 hours for a parcel to be delivered; if our car breaks down, it is a tragedy. I often wonder what those living in the developing countries must make of us!
Just as muscles grow when we challenge them to ever greater feats, so we thrive when we find the resolve and dedication to overcome our difficulties.
Gratitude
For me, the third protection against the vagaries of fate has to be gratitude. Strangely, it is in valuing what we have rather than despairing for what we lack that leads to our well-being. And there is always so much to be grateful for. Whenever you are feeling down, look about you and consider how much is available to you that was not available even one hundred years ago. Start with the essentials: food, shelter, safety, water. When we start from our basic needs, the list gets very long indeed. It is always a fruitful exercise.
And for me, nature always adds its own delights. Half hour in a garden or park will spark more joy than any shopping spree.
My son has now secured an even better job in renewable energy not dependent upon government whim. For him, Fortune’s wheel has turned. But, if Fortune’s wheel seems stuck at the bottom for you, do not despair – your time will come. If you are enjoying life’s pleasures – rejoice in their fleeting joy. The ancients may be outdated, but they still can teach us much.
A word of apology! If you find more errors than usual in this post, it is because my updated software is not helping! I’ve been fighting my computer for two days, learnt lots about computing and I think, just about, have managed to fashion this into something readable. Ah the irony. Fortune was clearly not smiling on me as I wrote this!