July 13
Nothing happens to me against my expectation — not because I foresee everything, but because I have granted fate its due.
Letters to Lucilius, Letter 71 (freely rendered)
Listening mode
Nothing happens to me against my expectation — not because I foresee everything, but because I have granted fate its due.
When something goes wrong, the first thing you sometimes say is: “That can’t be.” Yet it has plainly happened. The sentence expresses less a surprise than a protest. Somewhere in you a silent agreement was in force, under which your day, your body and the people around you do not cross certain limits.
Being surprised and feeling passed over are two different things. The one concerns what you know, and no one knows enough never to be surprised. The other concerns a claim you never voiced and only notice once it is violated.
Giving up this claim sounds reasonable, but it comes at a price. Some indignation is also a form of attachment. Someone who hears news of an illness and says “Not him!” is defending not a plan but a person they don’t want to lose. An equanimity that no longer even knows this sentence might be calmer, but also poorer.
You will probably say the sentence anyway. Only then it is more a name than an objection.
