The Reserve Clause

personal development stoicism Jul 08, 2019
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"We carry our fate with us - and it carries us." - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 3.4

Some people have a really hard time with the idea of fate. What's so upsetting about the idea that everything is happening as it was intended?

I think many don't like the idea that Providence* is in charge because that means that they are not.

Why not embrace fate instead? That your life and that of others is unfolding as it should and is meant doesn't mean you don't have a role to play. Indeed, it actually means you are even more "on the hook" for your thoughts, words, and deeds. 

Adopting a posture that your efforts and aspirations are being pursued with the reserve clause, "fate permitting," doesn't mean that you're letting life happen to you. Instead, such an approach acknowledges that life is happening through you.

Whether you believe in or accept fate, you have a role to play in your life, the lives of others, the world, and even the cosmos.

Play that role well.

*Providence is the idea that God, Nature, or something else greater than yourself provides foreseeing care and guidance over earthly creatures and events.


Scott Perry, Chief Difference-Maker at Creative on Purpose

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