Ready For Everything
An excerpt from Seneca's Letters From A Stoic finds the philosopher and playwright challenging the notion of letting the inevitable dictate our emotions. Using astrology as a backdrop for the argument, he asks, "What is to be gained from this sort of knowledge?" He goes on to state that mere awareness of a planet's movements does not change, in itself, whether or not something will or will not happen.
In edifying Stoic form, Seneca presents both the alluring illusion (that of the faux comfort gained by asserting inflated importance on cyclical planetary movements) and the productive alternative:
"...I don't know what's going to happen; but I do know what's capable of happening—and none of this will give rise to any protest on my part. I'm ready for everything. [...] I look for the best and am prepared for the opposite."
What philosophy unlocks is a readiness for everything. We need not be fortune tellers, nor need we invest disproportionate amounts of energy in deciphering signs that, if true, only illuminate what cannot be changed. We'd be better served by addressing what drives this desire to preemptively know and understand at the root: We want control, and cosmic awareness affords a false sense of this.
If we know who we will or won't interact with well, or when something is or isn't in retrograde, we feel as though we're able to protect ourselves or optimize for certain outcomes. We become the sort of people who avoid possibilities versus the ones with the resilience to be ready for any possibility.
A dynamic and ever-evolving world, with dynamic and ever-evolving people, favors those who prioritize their own ability to evolve. Do not fall into the compelling trap of over identifying with what is, creating self-fulfilling prophecies as a result.
Become the person who is ready for everything.
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