Everlasting Fate
A thought experiment in the eternal recurrence of our actions
This week’s Meditation at a glance:
Imagine you were forced to relive your entire life, exactly as you have now, repeating the same emotions, actions, and events. How would knowing this change the way you acted? This week we explore how an eternal recurrence can shape our actions and our fates.
In The Gay Science, Friedrich Nietzsche proposes an interesting thought experiment:
“What if some day or night a demon were to steal into your loneliest loneliness and say to you: "This life as you now live and have lived it you will have to live once again and innumerable times again; and there will be nothing new in it, but every pain and every joy and every thought and sigh and everything unspeakably small or great in your life must return to you, all in the same succession and sequence...”
In other words, if we were to have to live our lives over, identical to how we have experienced them, how would we live them knowing this?
Nietzsche’s response:
“Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse the demon who spoke thus? Or have you once experienced a tremendous moment when you would have answered him: 'You are a god and never have I heard anything more divine.' If this thought gained possession of you, it would change you as you are or perhaps crush you. The question in each and every thing, 'Do you desire this once more and innumerable times more?' would lie upon your actions as the greatest weight. Or how well disposed would you have to become to yourself and to life?”
The Stoics would answer the question with virtuous acts, living every action as best as they could, making the most out of every act, every moment, every emotion. To use the cards we’re dealt to our advantage, whether they are good or bad.
The movie Groundhog Day plays into this concept of the eternal recurrence. Phil Connors (Bill Murray) is forced to relive the same exact day over and over again. A massive egotist, Connors is more concerned with getting what he wants than acknowledging the existence of his fellow citizens. He soon finds out how lonely and boring an existence of one can be. It is only when he does an unselfish act for another that he is set free.
Epictetus liked to use the analogy of a theater performance to demonstrate the concept, saying:
“Keep in mind that you are an actor in a play that is just the way the producer wants it to be... Your job is to put on a splendid performance of the role you have been given, but selecting the role is the job of someone else.”
To the Stoics, our fates are dictated by the actions we take and the ways in which we respond to the situations we endure that we may not have control over. Therefore, the actions we take have real-world consequences, not just to our fates, but to how we develop ourselves.
If we were forced to live our lives over, every moment, every emotion, exactly the same, wouldn’t we want to ensure those actions and emotions were set right? That they were to the betterment of ourselves and the world?
Some argue that performing altruistic acts are not virtuous if the act itself provides any type of comfort, joy, or happiness because you too are benefiting from the act. But by acting in good faith and for the benefit of another, the act itself is still virtuous. Just because you get enjoyment out of the act doesn’t mean the act is not good. The emotion (happiness) that accompanies the act is, as the philosopher Christian B. Miller describes it, a by-product of doing something good.
“When I drive my car, my goal is naturally to arrive at my destination. That is why I get in my car--it is the goal I am ultimately aiming for. At the same time, a by-product (or side effect) of my driving is that I enjoy the breeze on my face as I drive with the window down. Now my goal in driving is not to feel the breeze. Yet it is still true that when I drive I have this experience as a by-product, even though it is not part of my goal.”
Doing good, performing just acts, these are first and foremost, if the intention is right, the goal and happiness is the by-product of trying to achieve that goal.
If we’re going to be forced to do something for eternity, we may as well make sure we do it good, being the best versions of ourselves we can.
“It's unfortunate that this has happened,” Marcus Aurelius writes to himself in book four of Meditations before responding:
“No. It's fortunate that this has happened and I've remained unharmed by it - nor shattered by the present or frightened of the future. It could have happened to anyone. But not everyone could have remained unharmed by it ... Can you really call something a misfortune that doesn't violate human nature?... Does what's happened keep you from acting with justice, generosity, self-control, sanity, prudence, honesty, humility, straightforwardness, and all the other qualities that allow a person's nature to fulfill itself? So remember this principle when something threatens to cause you pain: the thing itself was no misfortune at all; to endure it and prevail is great good fortune.”
Our lives are what we make of them. We should try to make them as great as we can and it starts with our actions.
Three Bullet Summary:
Our fates are dictated by the actions we take, both proactively and reactively to the events we experience in life
If we were forced to relive all those moments again, verbatim for how we have, we should ensure the actions are virtuous and beneficial
Just because we get joy from performing a virtuous act does not mean the act itself is not virtuous, it is simply a by-product of our actions
Thank you again for reading and I hope you found this useful. Please feel free to heart, comment, or ask questions about this post. Suggestions are always appreciated and considered.
Until next week,
D.A. DiGerolamo