C32
The greatest power of choice we have, is the power over what we think and feel. Many forget this. Many feel subject, even enslaved, to their thoughts and feelings. Yet this is the opposite of how things are. As things are, we have almost no control over the world around us, and near total control over how we think. Some may protest and say that we can sing and dance, fight and fuck, write and build. But all of these things come from a thought that decided to do them. So if this is a power shared by Ubars and slaves alike, why is its proper exercise so hard to come by? How many miserable nobles and icon of commerce are there? How many happy slaves and low-caste laborers? If the purpose of one's brief, unique life is happiness, why is it that seems almost entirely independent of wealth, social station, even agency? It comes down to a principle that was perfectly embodied by my day with my Master, "Amor Fati" in Latin, "love your fate." My fate was peculiar yesterday, and demonstrated that no matter what happens, one can always find some sweet outcome. It all began with the sweetest of outcomes, the little flutters of life within my belly. I feel them both, tremors of life within me, my Master's children. For the first time, they feel like what they are; little people, trembling spirits, growing like a kindling flame. That flame lit my mood as I moved about the farm for my next task, that of verr shearing. Yet tragically, the beloved verr, Wendy Woolbottom, had perished. At first, I blamed myself, but in the spirit of loving my fate, decided to make the best of it. Or, more to the point, I decided to make the best of Wendy. I prepared a recipe for verr chops and set to it. Once again, fate was its usual fickle force. I burnt the first plate I made, managed to create something adequate the second time, ate it, and then created two sumptuous plates for my Master. Once He returned, He ate one of those plates, praising me considerably. He even fed me one, so because of the trial and error of a single failed plate, I ended up having two plates of verr chops. Given that I'm eating for three, this suited me just fine. Right before we went to gaming and furring, we talked of this notion of loving fate. We had just touched on the matter of what unites and divides people in society, and how distrust brings out the worst in people, when the subject of Stoicism arose. I remarked that the Stoics were often misunderstood, as people think them grim, hence the connotation of "fatalistic" that my Master pointed out. Yet Stoicism is founded in gratitude and learning, the principle of Love Your Fate, for it is uniquely yours, you alone control your thoughts, and you may as well enjoy it. Besides, lifelong learning is also a tenet of that philosophy. That lifelong learning and fickle fate was put on display as my Master and I played the Royal Game of Ur. We both tried new strategies, yet both had to admit that we were unsure as to their effectiveness given that the dice were so lopsided. He won, and so His strategy was surely superior for the situation. Yet would it hold out? Only more turns on fates wheel, more trials and errors, will tell. So it goes, for both slaves and Ubars; for both Epictetus, a former slave and the father of Stoicism, and Emperor Marcus Aurelius, a champion of it. So it goes for Wendy Woolbottom, who first became a horrid mistake on my behalf, and then led to a feast. So it goes for Rosarita Frijoles, who replaced Wendy Woolbottom, a more exotic verr with a more exotic coat and name. So it goes for us all. We are all subject to the roll of the dice, trying to determine if our plans are effective or merely fortunate. Yet just as Ubars fall and slaves are sometimes made nobles, there is no telling what is ahead. The only power over it is whether we love it or not.