Boethius, The Consolation 2.2

. . . “What is it, mortal man, that has cast you down into grief and mourning? You have seen something unwonted, it would seem, something strange to you.

“But if you think that Fortune has changed towards you, you are wrong. These are ever her ways, and this is her very nature. She has with you preserved her own constancy by her very change.

“She was ever changeable at the time when she smiled upon you, when she was mocking you with the allurements of false good fortune. You have discovered both the different faces of the blind goddess. To the eyes of others she is veiled in part; to you she has made herself wholly known.

“If you find her welcome, make use of her ways, and so make no complaining. If she fills you with horror by her treachery, treat her with despite and thrust her away from you, for she tempts you to your ruin.

“For though she is the cause of this great trouble for you, she ought to have been the subject of calmness and peace. For no man can ever make himself sure that she will never desert him, and thus has she deserted you.” . . . 

—from Book 2, Prose 1

As soon as I recognize Fortune as being fickle, I might assume that everything in life is unreliable. No, it only means that I should never rely on anything that has change as its only constant. Some things in this life will, by their very fluid nature, always slip away from me. Other things in this life will, by their very permanence, never let me down. The trick lies in being able to distinguish between the two.

There is always a rhyme or reason to why things will play out as they do, even as they may not play out in a way that is pleasing or convenient to me. My mistake has long been that I hope each and every other cause will produce effects for my profit, and that the nature of those other causes is intended to gratify me.

This is precisely the vanity that a dependence upon Fortune may breed in me. It has nothing to do with me, and does not depend upon me, yet I foolishly choose to depend upon it.

I can’t rely on Fortune when she is pleasant, and curse her when she is unpleasant. There’s that darn double standard again.

I am prone to finding excuses and loopholes, so I will look to all the people I know who seem to have always benefited from Fortune. This describes many of the folks I went to school with. They were born rich, were raised with entitlements, and as a result were given every opportunity to make something of themselves. If there is a need for anything, a useful connection will fulfill the need. If mistakes are made, they are easily covered up. If failure rears its ugly head, favors are called in.

I was once sitting in the back seat of a Jaguar XJ12, racing down a quiet residential street at eighty miles per hour. Those blue lights came on, and I was sure I would be walking home. I chastised myself, because I sadly knew the driver was even drunker than I was. An officer came to the window, was passed a business card, and within a minute we were on our way. No ticket, no warning, just “Drive safely, sir.”

Now how could that sort of life not be reliable? At times it has seemed quite a consistent way to manage life.

The fact that Fortune is always changeable does not mean it comes to us all in the same way. Some never seem to be without her blessings, and others seem to be constantly without them. We tend to call the first group winners, and the second group losers. But some of us get a bit of each. That’s the luck of the draw.

The real problem with relying on Fortune is not how often she is there, or how often she isn’t there, to fix my problems. The real problem with relying on Fortune is the very fact that I assume she even can fix my problems to begin with.  Whether Fortune smiles or frowns, counting on her, on what has very little to do with me, is the biggest of my problems.

I am not managing my life at all when I presume to think that what happens to me takes any precedence over what I do for myself.

The bad face can sometimes remind me not to trust in the good face. Boethius has seen the bad face, and this will help him to not rely upon Fortune.

Seeming curses often end up being blessings.

Written in 7/2015

IMAGE: Bad luck for some, not a problem for others.