Xn3cTs

On the eve of the day when I was thrown into this world, I go back reflecting on the happenstances that have helped me, for better or for worse, become the person that I am.

There is a saying which goes: “Man proposes, God disposes.” How our life turns out in the end is a matter of both fate and faith, destiny and freedom.

I believe (in my destiny), therefore I will accept (my fate). Besides, we can’t do otherwise. It’s in our nature (fate?) as human beings to always try to see or incorporate our misfortunes into the greater scheme of things and find their lessons and/or meanings.

As regards faith and reason, being a philosopher doesn’t necessarily mean eschewing faith, and thereby seeing it as the enemy of the intellect or reason. The very idea of a person who claims to be a “philosopher” presupposes that he has “faith” in wisdom and its attainability and/or communicability. Now of course, religious “faith” is another matter. Some philosophers see it as a “sacrificium intellectus.” Thus, the popular notion of an opposition between faith and the intellect.

I, for one (who would rather be tagged as a philosophaster), value the intellect and don’t disregard faith. I do understand that there are many things that go beyond the realm of reason. As Blaise Pascal (in “Pensees”) said, “The heart has reasons of its own which reason itself doesn’t understand.”

I’m an INTP (Introverted, iNtuitive, Thinking, Perceiving) in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). (Which means that Thinking is my dominant way of dealing with reality.) But even so, I’m also a FOUR in the Enneagram. (Which means that I’m also quite romantic and a bit irrational.)

When I grow up and before I turn into stardust, like my idol and pal Fritz, I’d like to be grateful for everything that has happened to my life.

As he says in “Ecce Homo: How One Becomes What One is”: “My formula for greatness in a human being is amor fati. That one wants nothing to be different, not forward, not backward, not in all eternity. Not merely bear what is necessary, still less conceal it… but love it.”

best regards,
ian

Tags: Blaise Pascal, Ecce Homo, Enneagram, Faith, Fate, Life, Love, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Nietzsche, Pensees, Reason

This entry was posted on Monday, May 5th, 2008 at 4:11 am and is filed under Life, Nietzsche, Philosophy, Psychology, spirituality. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.