What does Amor Fati mean?

What does ‘Amor Fati’ mean? This is Latin phrase which translates as ‘Love of Fate’ or ‘To Love One’s Fate’.

Amor Fati or Love of Fate is an important concept in Stoic Philosophy, a school of thought founded by Zeno of Citium in Athens in 301 BC. Famously, this was also the philosophy that was followed by Marcus Aurelius, and his journaling on Stoicism in his daily life can be read today in his book ‘Meditations’.

In simple terms, ‘Amor Fati’ is an attitude to life of the acceptance of events in life as a ‘good’ occurrence to be embraced and not avoided, wished otherwise or merely put up with.

This concept mirrors one of the views of Epictetus which can be summarised as ‘remember what is in your control’.

This embracing of an event or problem outside of your control is to encourage you take benefit or learning from it or to challenge you to overcome it. This overcoming, benefit perceiving or learning mindset then leads to an explosion of personal growth and opportunity, rather than passivity and despondence which leads to victim mindset.

Marcus Aurelius said “what you throw on a fire is fuel for that fire”. In this he means that when you encounter events or problems in life, your response can be growth and strength, if you take from these events useful lessons but to do this the events themselves have to be embraced, even if they would not have been wished for.

Embracing events and becoming better for having experienced them, no matter what the event is.

Amor Fati.

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Memento Mori – What does Memento Mori mean?

Epictetus– Who is Epictetus?

SOURCES

Holiday, Ryan: ‘Daily Stoic Blog‘

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