"Fate leads the willing, and drags the unwilling."
Imagine that you are a dog chained to a wagon. You have limited reach, depending on the rope to move around, but you are limited based on the movement of the wagon. If the wagon moves forward and that is the path that you want to move towards, it will be an easy time to stroll along. If however the wagon is turning left and you want to move right, the grip on your neck will tighten, until you have a sudden pull in the opposite direction. This is the exact metaphor that the early Stoics used to describe a rational universe and humanity’s ability to react within it. The idea was simplified by Seneca the Younger, the Roman philosopher of the imperial era: "Fate leads the willing, and drags the unwilling." This rational universe – the logos or fate, is the natural order to, well… everything. This is the metaphor I use constantly when things do not go my way – so much so that I have an image of a dog tied to a rope on my phone’s screen with the quote for me to see every time I pick it up.
I think this metaphor is also a perfect way to introduce the blog on theprovidenceforge.com. This website and everything associated with it, is a way to express the ancient philosophy of the Stoics in the modern world as I understand it. Although life has changed drastically since the time of Seneca, humankind still struggles with the expectations that we have for ourselves, especially if the world around us does not conform with our vision of how it should be. Having this discrepancy between our values and the external world creates internal stresses that we often times do not fully understand. These stresses come about in negative emotional reactions such as anger, depression, anxiety or a complete ignorance of how to behave in a society. This internal stress created within me a physical reaction that reached a crescendo of panic attacks that lasted for weeks. It is only after a complete analysis of our situations, our past and an extreme acceptance of reality that we can rectify this rift and allow ourselves to be pulled by the wagon – without struggle. And heal.
The name of the website also has some deep meaning to me. Providence: “the foreseeing care and guidance of God or nature over the creatures of the earth” is something that I truly believe. You can refer to it as God, nature or whatever your religious beliefs might be – but I have no doubt that the universe has an order to it that we cannot fully understand with a higher power. I did not come to this understanding on my own. It took a lot of study – reading many books, the bible and listening to lectures in philosophy, history and psychology. After years of internal and external conversations, I started to understand fully about the world and my role within it. The idea of the “forge” was applying this knowledge to my personal experience. I have made many mistakes in my life and it wasn’t always easy. The struggles were even more intense than what I willing to accept initially and many of which I had little control. I ignored it for so long, pulling the rope away from the wagon at times, but it was under this pressure made me work on myself. To be the father, husband, professional and individual I wanted to be. I had to reinvent and form myself in to something new and different – but using the same material, stretched and formed in the fire of life.
Hope you enjoy this experience with me as I start this journey. I am sure it won’t be easy at first. I am learning so much on the technical aspect of starting a website and putting myself out there in a way that I have never done before. I want the wagon to be on a smooth straight line ahead of me, but I know there will be twists and turns with the occasional pothole. When those unexpected turns of the wagon happen, I will let it lead me.
Wishing you all well,
Musonius
Founder of TheProvidenceForge.com
Lead me, O Zeus, and thou, O Destiny,
Wherever your decrees have fixed my lot.
I follow willingly; and, did I not,
Wicked and wretched, I must follow still.
Fate guides the willing, but drags the unwilling.
- Seneca. (ca. 65 CE). Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium, Letter 107, sec. 11
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