All We Can Do Is Propose

There is a great expression: Man proposes, God disposes. You don’t have to be religious to understand or agree with it. It just means: All we can do is plan...then life intervenes. Certainly, the Stoics built much of their philosophy around this humble but brilliant insight. Seneca spoke repeatedly of the power of Fortune to dash all our plans and intentions to pieces. All we could do was be ready—was prepare for a whole swath of possibilities. What we get from Marcus Aurelius was the idea that it’s better to accept what God—or the logos—disposes. To say to these sudden changes in plans, “Oh, actually, that’s what I wanted all along. It’s actually even better this way!”That’s what Amor Fati is. A love of fate. An embracing of what happens, even if it is the exact opposite of what we proposed. Because it still presents its own opportunities. Whatever we have been deprived of by this swing of circumstances, we remain in possession of our character and our power to respond. Today, what you’ve proposed may not come to pass. Your plans may well be dashed to pieces. And so? Shrug it off. It was never your call anyway—all you were entitled to was a request. Then the chips fell. Now you have to respond. And propose what you plan to do about it. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. 📢 Share | ⚙️ Manage Subscription

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:06Ryan Holiday?

  Welcome to The Daily Stoic, where each day we read a short passage designed to help you cultivate the strength, insight, wisdom necessary for living the good life. Each one of these passages is based on the 2,000-year-old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women. For more, you can visit us at DailyStoic.com. All we can do is propose. There is a great expression, "Man proposes, God disposes." You don't have to be religious to understand or agree with it. Just means, "All we can do is plan, then life intervenes." Certainly, the Stoics built much of their philosophy around this humble but brilliant

• 0:48Ryan Holiday?

  insight. Seneca spoke repeatedly of the power of fortune to dash all our plans and intentions to pieces. All we could do was be ready, was prepare for the whole swath of possibilities. What we get from Marcus Aurelius was this idea that it's better to accept what God, or the logos, disposes. To say to these sudden changes in plans, "Oh, actually, that's what I wanted all along," it's actually even better this way. That's what amor fati is, a love of fate, an embracing of what happens, even if it is the exact opposite of what we proposed, because it still presents its own opportunities. Whatever we have been deprived of by this

• 1:31Ryan Holiday?

  swing of circumstances, we remain in possession of our character and our power to respond. Today, what you've proposed may not come to pass. Your plans may well be dashed to pieces. And so, shrug it off. It was never your call, anyway. All you were entitled to was a request, then the chips fell. Now you have to respond and propose what you plan to do about it. Don't forget to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or your favorite podcast app. And if you don't get the Daily Stoic email, go to DailyStoic.com/email.