case, let’s accept it—as we accept what the doctor
prescribes. It may not always be pleasant, but we embrace it
—because we want to get well. Look at the accomplishment
of nature’s plans in that light—the way you look at your own
health—and accept what happens (even if it seems hard to
accept). Accept it because of what it leads to: the good
health of the world, and the well-being and prosperity of
Zeus himself, who would not have brought this on anyone
unless it brought benefit to the world as a whole. No nature
would do that—bring something about that wasn’t beneficial
to what it governed.
So there are two reasons to embrace what happens. One is
that it’s happening to you. It was prescribed for you, and it
pertains to you. The thread was spun long ago, by the oldest
cause of all.
The other reason is that what happens to an individual is a
cause of well-being in what directs the world—of its well-
being, its fulfillment, of its very existence, even. Because the
whole is damaged if you cut away anything—anything at all
—from its continuity and its coherence. Not only its parts,
but its purposes. And that’s what you’re doing when you
complain: hacking and destroying.
- Not to feel exasperated, or defeated, or despondent
because your days aren’t packed with wise and moral
actions. But to get back up when you fail, to celebrate