Everything That Happens Is Perfect, According To The Stoics
An important number of Stoic philosophers support the idea that there is a universal order in everything that happens. In other words, everything that happens is perfect, in one way or another. In other words, only what needs to happen happens: whatever has to happen, will happen. Among those who support this perspective are great thinkers such as Seneca.
The perfection mentioned by these philosophers is not the total absence of errors, defects or difficulties. They refer to a kind of coherence whereby each piece fits into place. There is an internal logic in the facts that always ends up prevailing.
On this point, the Stoics agree with Eastern philosophies and a large number of religions. Everything that happens is perfect because it goes towards a destination. Not necessarily a destiny written in advance, but configured by countless circumstances that come together to give rise to everything that constantly happens to us.
everything that happens is perfect
There are a number of circumstances that mark a destiny for us from the moment we are born. First, the simple act of being born is not a choice. Then comes our genetic make-up, which is not a deliberate decision either. Furthermore, we are also registered under one gender or another at birth. All of this, taken together, already defines a large constellation of circumstances that determine our lives.
To this we can add the fact that we do not choose the parents who bring us into the world. Not nationality, social class, family or the immediate environment in which we were born. Likewise, we also have no control over the historical moment in which we were born. These multiple conditionings are completely beyond our control.
As if all of this weren’t enough, our destiny is shaped, in large part, by the place we occupy among our siblings and by the physical and emotional state our parents were in at the time we came into the world. So many dangers will shape our training. For the Stoics, everything that happens is perfect because it results in a unique and exclusive way of life.
The acceptance
Obviously, many of these initial events that we can call “fate” contain contradictions, difficulties and problems. However, they also point out a specific path that each one of us must follow, according to their particularities. From there, everything that happens is perfect because it develops the essence of who we are.
The mistake is to assume that there are universal models or paradigms for the human being. There is no ideal time to be born, nor ideal parents, nor any of the other circumstances can be without contradictions. Not realizing this leads us to an absurd nonconformity.
And it’s absurd because it ‘s useless to rebel against the impossible. We can deny a lot, but that doesn’t change anything. In fact, the better we learn to accept this unique and exclusive reality we live in, the less exposed we will be to suffering. It is as if a rose is rejected for not being a carnation. Absurd.
Accepting is not resigning
Neither Seneca nor the other Stoic philosophers think that acceptance of the only destiny that belongs to us amounts to resignation. Much less a bitter resignation that leads to impotence. Instead, they advocate that we should embrace what happens to us, understanding that everything that happens is perfect. We must celebrate this mystery that makes us completely unique in the world.
We have, in any case, a margin for action. She is small, but she exists. It manifests itself as the possibility of choosing one path or another, for one action or another, at different times in life.
Stoics insist that acceptance of the universal order materializes when we do not deny the results of our actions, but when we approach them as revelation.
What we are and what we do in our life is not commendable if it is “correct”. All of this has an intrinsic value, because it is the expression of a destiny that has already been widely traced. Our role is to try to understand it, guide it, and gratefully accept what it brings us.
