Fate Permitting

It’s Friday of Stoic Week (The Painted Porch calls this week the most important week in the Stoic liturgical calendar... tongue in cheek of course). Today’s lesson was about the “Stoic reserve clause.”

A Stoic lives in the here and now. The past is to be learned from but not worried about, because it is beyond our power to control. The future hasn’t happened yet. All we have is right now.

This does not mean that ancient Stoics were inactive; far from it. The 2014 Handbook tells us that Stoics were often thought of as political trouble makers because they always insisted on acting from moral principles. They just realized that the actions we take may bear fruit, or they may not.

So we prepare for the future, but we recognize that our plans may be disrupted, and if they are, they are.

A Stoic says “I’ll see you Saturday, fate permitting.” It's a useful reminder.

There is a parallel here with Christianity and Islam. When I was in Ireland I often heard older country people say they would do something “please God,” or if God pleases. I think that in Islam practitioners often say “Insha’Allah,” or “If Allah wills it.”

Of course if you go around saying “If fate permits it” all the time you may seem strange to other people. That’s fine if you do, but on the other hand it may draw attention to yourself, and that attention might be a replacement for Stoic virtue. In other words you may be doing it to grandstand. On the other hand it might be a nice icebreaker, useful for introducing Stoicism to people. I don’t know.

The Handbook gives us another phrase to use, though: “If nothing prevents me.” I like that.

See you next time, if nothing prevents me.

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Public domain image courtesy of the New York Public Library