March ‘24 1-to-1 Wiseletter (Shakespeare)
In today’s 1-to-1 Wiseletter, we’ll be breaking down a quote from Shakespeare.
Quote:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves - Cassius, from William Shakespeare’s play, Julius Caesar.
Unlike the ancients who credited Fate with steering their lives, we take personal responsibility for ours.
Once upon a time, Fate determined the misfortune and fortune of human existence. In this kind of world, there’s no real choice. Free will can’t truly exist. What has been, will be again.
But this changed when the West became Abrahamic. Liberated from the spinning wheel of the Zodiac, man became an individual free to choose wrong. Hence the “fault” or cause of misfortune, dropped out of the stars—astrological Fate—into man himself. Man’s self-consciousness reached a point at which he now became not only responsible for his actions, but also capable of sacrificing for his future.
We don’t look at wild animals this way. When a bear kills another in a territory dispute or the female praying mantis chews off head of her mate, we don’t accuse and try them for murder. We say they live in the state of innocence once enjoyed by humans before our fall from Eden.
The Fall from Eden is the moment free will emerges and the future becomes real; real in that it's unknowable, not fated to be a repeat of the past. This is the essence of individualism.
QUESTION:
What should you be sacrificing for your future?
Cheers,
John
